Ghanaian
Resource Webliography
Prepared by Annie J. Daniel
Graduate Student - Louisiana State
University
LSU in Ghana - Study Abroad Program
Summer 2000
General Information on Ghana
A
Visit to Ghana with Annie J. Daniel
This
is a web site that has been created by Annie Daniel during a visit to Ghana
with the Study Aboard program at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA.
You will find general information about the Ghanaian people, their unique
culture, and the country of Ghana.
http://www.geocities.com/anniedaniel59/AnnieDanielInGhana.html
Ghanaian Home Page
General Information about Ghana – population,
birth rate, life expectancy, etc.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_general.html
DESTINATION GHANA
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/afr/gha.htm
Unofficial Ghanaian Dictionary
Locate common terms and phrases used in
Ghana.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_dict.html
FAQ: Frequently asked Questions
Frequently asked questions about Ghana.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_faq.html
Ghana, Climate
Learn about Ghana’s climate.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/gh_climate.html
The History of Ghana
Brief Political History and Government
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/gh_hist.html
FXConverter™ - The Currency Site
On this site you are able to convert all
types of foreign currency from around the world.
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic
Ghanaian Currency
The cedi is the official unit of currency in
Ghana. One cedi is divided into hundred pesewas.
http://www.ghana.com/republic/geninfo/currency.html
http://www.library.yale.edu/~fboateng/money.htm
Ghana, Geography
Ghana’s location on a general map of Africa
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/gh_loc.html
Government of Ghana
Government of Ghana – President, ministries,
the Parliament, etc.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_gov.html
Communication in Ghana
Information on Ghana’s telecommunications –
televisions, telepones, e-mail, etc.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_com.html
Ghanaian Languages
The official language is ENGLISH. However,
there are several government and non-government sponsored languages and
dialects.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/lang.html
Ghana, Defense
Defense Forces Branches:
Army, Navy, Air Force, Police Force, Civil
Defense
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/gh_def.html
Washington Post – Ghana Website
General Information about Ghana
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/worldref/country/ghana.htm
Africa News On-line
Daily news about Africa online – This site
features Ghana
http://www.africanews.org/west/ghana/
Republic of Ghana Website
This site is the official site of Ghana and
it contains general information about Ghana.
http://www.ghana.com/republic/index.html
GHANA - A Country Study
A very well researched Library of Congress
country study on Ghana.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ghtoc.html
Fun/Quiz/Games
Have fun with Ghanaian facts – play games and
take quizzes
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/fun.html
Music of Ghana
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_music.html
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
The Smithsonian Museum, located in Washington, D.C., has a number of online exhibits and resources as well as general information on tours and educational programs.
Museum of African Art
Find out about lectures, videos, films, educational programs, and a schedule of special events at this African art museum in New York City.
Ghanaian People
Ethnic Groups – major groups in Ghana
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/tribes.html
Source: http://www.gla.ac.uk/~gkea04/ashanti.html
Major Groups:
Ashanti, Dagomba, Ewe, Fanti, and Ga
Ashanti Kingdom
No history of Ghana can be written without
the Ashantis. The Ashantis are one section of the people known as the Akans in
Ghana.
Images of Ghana
Great images of the sites in Ghana.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_images.html
Glimpses of Ghana
Enjoy viewing the arts and culture of Ghana.
http://www.ghana.com/republic/shots/index.html
Death in Ghana
In Africa, Funerals Use Rituals of Joy to
Ease Sorrow
By Stephen Buckley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 22, 1997; Page A01
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/africanlives/ghana/ghana.htm
African Lives
An collection of occasional articles about
everyday life in Africa.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/africanlives/front.htm
CULTURE: FACES IN FARAWAY PLACES
http://members.tripod.com/~burchcom/portrait.html
PBS Kids’ Africa
This site looks at Ghana from the perspective of the Ghanaian children.
http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Kids/quest/pre_sk.htm
Tourist Information about
Ghana
Tourism, General
Entry Requirements
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/tourist/general.html
FXConverter™ - The Currency Site
On this site you are able to convert all
types of foreign currency from around the world.
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic
Ghanaian Currency
The cedi is the official unit of currency in
Ghana. One cedi is divided into hundred pesewas.
Local Times Around the World
This guide attempts to list all of the
world's countries, and many of its islands, with a pointer to the local time in
the region.
Yahoo! Weather – Accra
Find out about the weather in Accra and other
areas of interest.
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/Accra_GH_f.html
Latest News in Ghana
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/gh_news.php3
Ghana’s guide to the Internet
African Americans
Africans in American
A look at the transformation of Africans
after their arrival to the Americas
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aiaold/part1/1i3019.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aiaold/part1/narrative.html
African vs. African-American
A shared complexion does not guarantee racial
solidarity.
Author: TRACIE REDDICK.
http://www.library.yale.edu/~fboateng/akata.htm
African American Culture
Explore a variety of websites on African
American Culture.
http://lsumvs.sncc.lsu.edu/classes/voholm/African.htm
Africana.com
Developed by Professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Kwame Anthony Appiah,
this site is a comprehensive portal to all things African and African-American
on the web. Review daily news and information about Africa and America.
Clothing, Fabrics and Fashion
Clothing
Dressing in Ghana traditionally reflects the
geo-political division of the country into north and south. Kente is the most
popular cloth for festive occasions. Cloth is commonly worn by men from the
smock which is becoming a gown for all occasions is common among men from the
north.
Ghana's kente cloth has spread in popularity
around the world. The kente identifies where a person is from, and sometimes,
their station in life. The first president of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
used both the smock and the kente cloth widely to portray Ghana's culture in
the area of clothing. The kente cloth and the smock can be purchased at any
commercial market in the urban areas where they are sold by numerous merchants.
Types of Kente Cloth
This reviews the different types of kente
cloth.
http://www.ghana.com/republic/kente/kente.html
HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GHANA'S KENTE
CLOTH
This site teaches all about the kente cloth.
http://www.ghana.com/republic/kente/index.html
Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity
A Smithsonian exhibit about the kente cloth of Ghana and how African Americans identify with the kente.
http://www.si.edu/nmafa/exhibits/kente/top.htm
What is Kente?
More history of the kente cloth, Kente is an
Asante ceremonial cloth hand-woven on a horizontal treadle loom.
http://users.erols.com/kemet/kente.htm
MEANINGS OF SYMBOLS IN ADINKRA CLOTH
Adinkra is one of the highly valued
hand-printed and hand-embroidered cloths. Its origin is traced to the Asante
people of Ghana and the Gyaman people of Cote' d'lvoire (Ivory Coast).
http://users.erols.com/kemet/adinkra.htm
Ghana Mall Online
Shop for Ghanaian products on the Internet
Education in Ghana
University of Ghana
The University of Ghana was established in
1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast, an affiliate college of the
University of London. Following independence in 1957, the university was
organized as the University of Ghana and, in 1961, began to award its own
degrees.
Ghana, Education
Education in Ghana
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/ghana/general/gh_edu.html
West African Food
Soups, which are more like sauces, are the
mainstay of Ghanaian cuisine. They're usually fairly thick broths and are eaten
with a starch. Popular stews include groundnut, garden egg, fish, bean leaf and
forowe, a fishy brew with tomatoes. Other main courses are jollof rice, a
paella-like dish with meat; kyemgbuma, crabs with cassava dough, meat and
potatoes; and gari foto, eggs, onions, dried shrimp and tomatoes accompanied by
gari (course manioc flour). Another ubiquitous staple is fufu, which consists
of cassava, yam, plantain or manioc that has been cooked, pureed and mashed
into a ball. Kelewele, a spicy dessert of fried plantains seasoned with chilli
pepper and ginger, is a popular street-stall item, as is askenkee, a cool,
white, nonalcoholic beverage made of corn. Pito (millet beer) is the booze of
choice in the north, while palm wine is more popular in the south.
Recipes from Ghana
A collection of references and recipes of Ghanaian
cuisine.
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Miscellany/Recipes_from_12913.html
African Restaurants Directory
This site is for diners wishing to become
acquainted with African cuisines and cultures; students of African cultures,
societies, institutions, and languages; and Africans and Africanists
transplanted to new environments who wish to maintain culinary links with past
experience.
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Miscellany/African_Restaurants.html
The Fufu Lover's Guide to African
Restaurants
This informal guide (new as of September
1996) to restaurants serving African food from Sub-Saharan Africa is composed
of two parts: the top part, where you can enter information and comments on any
Sub-Saharan African restaurant you may know about, and the bottom part, where
your comments and those of previous visitors are displayed.
http://www.concentric.net/~jmuehl/afrifood.shtml
The Economy at the Time of
Independence
Cocoa was the dominant cash crop but
food-stuffs, vegetables and fruit for home consumption also flourished. Typical
crops were yam, plantain, cassava, maize, okro, pineapples, oranges and
paw-paw. From the forest came game (bush meat), palm-wine and timber. The
railway wagons leaving Kumasi were packed with logs for export. The gold mines
explain why Ghana was called the Gold Coast before independence.
The majority of the population lived in
villages and worked on their farms, using a system of shifting cultivation. To
create a farm it was necessary to clear part of the natural forest, although
cocoa could have been grown between existing trees. There have been substantial
changes in the years since independence, principally the growth of the towns
and the decline of cocoa growing.
Ghanaian Neighborhoods and
Living Areas
The Village
The village is a social as well as an
economic unit. Everyone participates in the major ceremonies, the most frequent
of which are funeral celebrations which typically last several days. Attendance
at funerals is normally expected from everyone in the village and expenditure
on funerals is a substantial part of the household budget.
In each village there are people of
particular importance. The Chief (odikro) together with the Elders maintains
traditional customs and ceremonies and deals with disputes. The fetish priest
(okomfo) and the herbalist (odunsini) provide a medical service which can be
partly paid for in local produce (a hen, eggs etc.) as opposed to Western
medicine which requires cash payment, and usually a considerable journey to the
nearest hospital.
The Family
In traditional communities in Ghana, every
child is a treasured element of the society irrespective of how it was
conceived. Once it had been born, it is an accepted commodity, and the Ghanaian
in his right senses with his feet firmly fixed in his traditions will do all it
takes to see that the child grows in happiness.
Being young or old, the Ghanaian belongs to a
large family. Family in Ghana, goes beyond spouse and children. There are
parents, siblings, uncles, cousins, aunts, grand-parents and great
grand-relations. Behind every Ghanaian, there is the extended family which is a
source of strength and assurance. In times of difficulty, they all share the cost
of relief and also share the times of joy together. United we stand.
As in most developing countries, there is a
strong extended family system. Poorer members may seek financial assistance
from their better off relatives for school fees, medical expenses etc. But
visitors are always welcomed, even if their arrival may be a cause of financial
concern.
In Asante, the family line (abusua) passes
through the mother to her children. A man is strongly related to his mother's
brother but only weakly related to his father's brother. This must be viewed in
the context of a polygamous society in which the mother/child bond is likely to
be much stronger than the father/child bond. As a result, in inheritance, a
man's nephew (sister's son) will have priority over his own son. Uncle-nephew
relationships therefore assume a dominant position. (Legislation was introduced
in 1984 to change this traditional pattern of inheritance.)
The fetish priest, when possessed by the
gods, is particularly powerful at dealing with spiritual problems (e.g.
protection from the witchcraft of enemies). The herbalist relies on local
medicines to effect a cure. The linguist (okyeame) has no corresponding role in
western society. A man wishing to consult the fetish priest or the Chief
addresses his remarks to the Linguist, who then passes them on and returns the
reply (even though all three people are present together). The linguist is an
intermediary, acting as a buffer to reduce the severity of utterances and so
save delicate situations. If the Chief should make a harsh pronouncement, it is
the duty of the linguist to euphemise and clothe the statement in proverbs.
Source: http://www.gla.ac.uk/~gkea04/ashanti.html
FAMILY LIFE
Among the Akan, or Ashanti and Fanti people
of Ghana, affiliation within the clan is through women and not men. Thus,
mothers enjoy greater status than in other cultures.
http://cwr.utoronto.ca/cultural/english/ghana/family.html