On February 14, NYU Accra launched a new community engagement program, “Labone Dialogues by NYU Accra.” The program is a lecture series that seeks to facilitate intellectual discourse on pertinent issues and celebrate the life and works of renowned personalities.

NYU Accra is based in the Labone district of Accra, inspiring the name for the series. The inaugural event was  on the topic “Archives and Local Production of Knowledge: The Kofi Ghanaba Archives.”

Professor Awam Amkpa of NYU spoke about the creation of archives for personalities like the late Ghanaba (Guy Warren of Ghana) who was a world-famous drummer and Afro-Jazz influencer.

At the event, a copy of the Kofi Ghanaba Archives, a collection of the musical legend’s records and other literary materials, was presented to the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, to be studied.

According to NYU Accra Director Frankie Edozien, the lecture series is designed to engage the local  community;“It is a way of engaging issues and people in Ghana, about Ghana and the West African region.”

By sharing the Kofi Ghanaba Archives with the University of Ghana, NYU Accra is hoping to make Ghanaba’s works available to as many as would want to study him. According to Professor Edozien, “we do not want the archive to be limited to NYU” and housing a copy at the university ensures wider access. This is consistent with the theme of the “Labone Dialogues” and of Professor Ampka’s lecture: the importance of taking seriously locally produced knowledge and archiving of the life and works of prominent personalities especially in the literary space.

The next lecture will focus on the life and works of Ghanaian author, Professor Ama Ata Aidoo, over the last eight decades.

The Ghanian Times covered this inaugural event. You can read the article here.