UG makes Prof. Amina Mama 1st female occupant of Kwame Nkrumah Chair

The University of Ghana has installed Professor Amina Mama as the fourth occupant of the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies.

By this feat, she goes into the history books as the first ever female to occupy that position since the chair was established. Prof. Amina Mama takes over the mantle from Prof. Horace Campbell.

The university organized a colourful ceremony at the  Great Hall of the University of Ghana (UG) last Wednesday to celebrate her achievement and enstollment. The position was conferred on Prof. Mama during a colouraful durbar witnessed by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, and the Director of the Institute of African Studies, Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata.

There were professors, members of the University Council, colleagues of the Institute of African Studies (AIS), university personnel, and students in attendance.

The Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies was established to advance the study and learn about Africa’s history, trajectory, and present challenges.

The chair aims to honour Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, among other things, for his foresight and commitment to academic achievement in Ghana and Africa.

Prof. Mama expressed her thanks to the institution for the honour of serving as the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies. She saw that non-Africans were distorting authentic African tales via the usage of social media, and she challenged the young to take control of the continent’s enterprises, economy, and cultural creation through digital platforms, and to utilize this to convey the true African stories.

“Can we re-shape our consumer appetites and desires to build up a Pan-African cultural economy with the infrastructure and resources to unlock African talents and direct them to the advancement of Africans?” she queried.

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According to her, the present situation called for much more trans-generational collaboration, more transnational collaborations, and Pan-African collaborations that included all social strata, all genders, languages, and cultures.

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She stated that one of the values upheld by President Nkrumah was equitable respect for both sexes.  For his part, the Managing Director, AngloGold Ashanti Limited, Mr. Eric Asubonteng, underscored the need for gender equity at all levels of society, including industry.