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Emeritus Prof. J.H Nketia interacting with with Emeritus Prof. Kofi A. Opoku, founder of Kwabena Nketia Centre for Africana Studies (KNCAS), at the ceremony. Picture: BENEDICT OBUOBI
Emeritus Prof. J.H Nketia interacting with with Emeritus Prof. Kofi A. Opoku, founder of Kwabena Nketia Centre for Africana Studies (KNCAS), at the ceremony. Picture: BENEDICT OBUOBI

Research and document African values - Participants propose at Prof. Nketia lectures

Speakers at a maiden Emeritus Professor Joseph H. Kwabena Nketia Lectures have called for research and documentation of African traditional values to build a solid foundation for national development.

In separate statements, they underscored the need for school curricula to be anchored on relevant African culture, rather than focusing on foreign ideologies that did not resonate with African setting.

At the launch of the biennial lecture series at the Kwabena Nketia Centre for Africana Studies (KNCAS) in Accra yesterday, participants eulogised Prof. Nketia for his immense role in promoting African culture.

Participants were drawn from the Ministries of Education (MoE),Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts (MTCCA), the academia and a cross-section of the public.

It was on the theme: “Emeritus Prof. J.H. Kwabena Nketia’s Classical African Music and its Pan-African Aims: Biographing a Watershed of Ontology, Culture, History and Epistemology in the African World and beyond.”

African values

An Associate Professor at the Department of History of the University of Cape Coast, Dr Edmund Abaka, observed that in-depth knowledge about African history and culture was a building block for the continent’s development.

“We cannot do away with values that bind us together as a people, especially in the era of globalisation, because we have to make a case for the African identity,” he said.

Dr Abaka said it was important for field work to be prioritised in African universities to enable students to generate more content to improve upon existing knowledge on African culture and systems.

He asked the younger generation to strive to imbibe cultural values, rather than borrow foreign cultures that were in conflict with the local environment.

“Young people need to learn local languages and be able to communicate effectively, because that is how best we can be proud of our origin and identity.

“As we celebrate the country’s 60th anniversary and the work of Prof. Nketia, let us all go back to our roots because that is where our true prospects lie,” he said.

Advice

Prof. Nketia also urged the younger generation to strive and build upon what the older generation had achieved in the cause of Africa’s emancipation.

“I produced music and literary works during my prime ages, but I am here today, not to produce but to listen and feed my soul. So, the younger generation can build their future by doing something worthwhile today,” he said.

The Director of the KNCAS, Prof. Kwabena O. Akurang-Parry, entreated the public to patronise the lecture series, saying it was a viable platform to project Ghanaian and African culture.

He said a good knowledge of African history would promote unity and co-operation for nation building,“we need to know our past because the past will lead us to the future.”

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