LITAID

Decolonization, Appropriation and the Materials
of Literature in Africa and its Diaspora

Print Culture

What did Ghanaian print culture look like in the mid-twentieth century? Where was it written, published and read? What forms did it take? Who were its authors? What did they write? With these questions in mind, we are tracking written forms and practices in newspapers, periodicals and books, materials at the intersection of print and performance, and bringing together works produced and published locally with works that circulated across the continent or internationally. In doing so we are identifying an expanded group of authors, both Ghanaians and writers from elsewhere who engaged with Ghana in these years, documenting the activities of writers and others who participate in the making of literary works across a range of institutions, and considering in the broadest sense the materials of Ghanaian literature.

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Arts Education

How was arts education shaped in the Gold Coast and Ghana during the transition from colonial rule to independence? What happened when educational ideas and policies met everyday realities in schools, colleges, and cultural institutions across the country? This strand asks how arts education was developed and put into practice, not just by policymakers, but by education officers, administrators, and institutions closer to the ground. Through case studies of secondary and tertiary institutions, it explores where and how ideas about art, culture, and education were debated, adapted, and transformed.

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Literary Travellers

This strand is concerned with artists and intellectuals who travelled to the Gold Coast and Ghana in the 1950s, arriving from sites across Africa and its diaspora, and seeking resources for their own liberation struggles. Focusing on three authors – Richard Wright, Kamau Brathwaite and Guy Butler – it investigates their experiences in West Africa and the impact of these experiences on their literary practices. It also uses these authors as entry points for exploring the impact of Ghanaian decolonization on cultural production in the United States, the Caribbean and South Africa.

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