Africa Writes 2016 returns

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Africa Writes 2016 returns!



Check out highlights from last year's event here.




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What's your favourite Adinkra symbol?

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Screenshot of hand-painted Adinkra symbols from charity Mmofra_Ghana.  I put this question to MisBeee readers after blogging recently about the origins of Adinkra in the post: 'Adinkra - more than just a pretty face'. A dinkra is a series of ideographic symbols from Ghana and the Ivory Coast depicting age-old proverbs that incorporate aspects of Asante culture, flora and fauna. These symbols are strongly linked to religion, language, and geometry but in modern times are used widely in and outside Ghana for their aesthetic appeal. The list includes jewellery, pottery, clothing and architecture.  Below is a snapshot of some of the responses I received, feel free to add your own. All images below come from adinkra.org.  Kwame from Birmingham My favourite symbol is Gye Nyame because everything starts with God, and ends with God. God creates, sustains and destroys and generates again. It is self-germinating. The symbol of Gye Nyame looks like a circle when con...
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Gold Coast: a lucid look into Denmark's colonial past

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Cape Coast Castle one of the locations for the film, image © Emmanuel Ackroh*  I had my reservations about watching Gold Coast – a film inspired by the Danes and set along Ghana’s idyllic coastlines.  The 2015 film, written and directed by Daniel Dencik, is a depiction of 19 th century life three years after the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was officially but not totally banned in 1833. Slavery was finally abolished in Danish colonies in 1848, according details from the BBC. Undoubtedly my concern was how the film, which was co-produced by Ghanaian film-maker Kwame Boadi, would portray this sensitive and brutal practi s e of African subjugation for economic gain. And I was not sure I wanted to relive that sense of horror again.   I say 'again' because as a teenager, visiting one of the very castles that formed the backdrop to the film, left a lasting and palpable impression on me. I had walked those same steps the actors walked on the Elmina C...
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All Hail the Ghanaian Trotro

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This blog is written in tribute to every trotro (Ghanaian mini bus) I rode during my eight-month stay in Ghana. A must for every traveller ©  MisBeee Writes I know some people see them as rickety, rusty and dangerous forms of transport. But for me - a diasporan accustomed to the English bus system - trotros gave me unique insight into Ghanaian culture. They helped me navigate Accra's ordered yet chaotic roads and improved my mental arithmetic. Yes, it is true that a couple of my nice dresses got jammed and torn as I tried to descend from them. And I am the first to admit that I pondered getting a tetanus jab once or twice after drawing blood from the rusty vehicles. And YES I can still smell that acrid, sulphurous boiled egg aroma mixed with ‘scent e no, a gye bebia' (stale sweat). But believe me, I gained a whole lot more than I lost. Assimilation I came to live in Accra in 2008 before the new Achimota bus station was built. I was immediately baffled at...
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Adinkra - more than just a pretty face

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What is Adinkra ? I put that question to friends and family recently expecting some consistency in the response. But I was surprised by how varied the replies were and how complex and mysterious the Adinkra story is. Aya (Fern) means defiance, endurance © MisBeee Writes According to the majority of people I polled, Adinkra is the umbrella term for ideographic symbols that relate to historical events, philosophy and spiritual beliefs of the Akan people. These symbols make use of flora, fauna and shapes to depict age-old maxims and sayings. I have read diverging accounts that these symbols number 400, while others suggest the total is nearer 1,000. Robert Sutherland Rattray in 1927 formally recorded a sample of around 50 in his book 'Religion and Art in Ashanti' but since then more have emerged to incorporate modern phenomena, which scholar G.F.Kojo Arthur records in his book 'Cloth as Metaphor Re-reading the Adinkra Cloth Symbols of the Akan of Ghana'.  Alt...
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The Chronicles of Odumkrom: All the drama of Shakespeare brewed in a Ghanaian pot

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Watching 'The Chronicles of Odumkrom - The Headmaster' - reminded me so much of my school days reading Shakespeare. A trailer of 'The Chronicles of Odumkrom  - the Headmaster' © Trumpet Africa The Ernest Kofi Abbeyquaye film exudes all the hallmarks of a typical Ghanaian drama...The well-meaning individual, a problem that threatens to destabilise that individual and or his family, and those archetypal characters hungry to bring down the good. But unlike the myriad of Ghanaian dramas I've seen, I felt 'The Chronicles' successfully pulls the audience to the bosom of the protagonist - headmaster Master Andoh aka Charles Kofi Bucknor. Many Ghanaian dramas are successful in playing out scenes of tragedy - a common ingredient in Shakespeare's plays. But the fixation with witchcraft at times overshadows any chance to really explore the characters past a one-dimensional standpoint. In 'The Chronicles', I felt a part of Master Andoh's r...
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