Know the Panelist for the Discussion on Indigenous Knowledge

Nana Kobina Nketsia V

Nana Kobina Nketsia V is currently the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area.

He is an Old Boy of Mfantsipim School (MOBA 1969), he read History at the University of Ghana, for his first degree. He did a PhD in African History at the University of Calabar, Nigeria with a thesis on the Oron. In Nigeria, he was a founding member of the Akwa Ibom Forum on National Issues (AKFON) and the Historical Society of Nigeria.

He has chaired both the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), and was a former member of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) among others.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed and much sought-after book titled “AFRICAN CULTURE IN GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT, THE GHANA PARADIGM”.

He is currently the Chairman of the Nana Kobina Nketsia IV Trust and Dr. Robert Mitchell Memorial Foundation; and serves on the Advisory Board of Care Ghana, all of which are non-profit organizations.

1. F. Kojo Arthur, Ph.D.

Executive Director: Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems (CEFIKS)

Accra/Tema – www.cfiks.org

Senior Research Fellow, National Museum of African Art. Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC – 2007- 2008 – Akan Woodcarvings

Associate Professor, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. USA, 1989-2010.

Policy Analyst, Center for Policy Studies in Education, College of Education, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 1986-1989.

Data and Policy Analyst, ICT use and impact in Florida Public Schools, Florida House of Representatives Oversight Committee (Department of Education), Tallahassee, Florida, March 1987 to May 1988.

Senior Research Fellow, African Specialist (Energy Resources, Aluminum and National Development), International Center for Development Policy, Washington, DC, October 1979 to August 1986.

PUBLICATIONS

Cloth as Metaphor: (re)reading the adinkra cloth symbols of the Akan of Ghana (2nd Edition),

2017, Bloomington, USA: IUniverse.

(Co-authored with Rev J. Y. Bannerman, Rev K. A. Dickson and J. E. K. Krampah)

Mfantse Nkasafua na Kasamibrenyi Nkyerɛase – Dictionary of Mfantse Words and Idioms, Vol. I and II, 2011 and2012.

Accra: CEFIKS Publications.

Cloth As Metaphor: (re)reading the adinkra cloth symbols of the Akan of Ghana, 2001, Accra,

Ghana: CEFIKS Publications.

Ghana: Once bitten, twice shy, New African (Nov, 2005), pp. 24-27

Professor Kodzo Gavua

Prof. Kodzo Gavua is an archaeologist and ethnographer. He serves with the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Ghana as a versatile scholar who engages in Museum and Heritage Studies, Economic Anthropology, Anthropology of Tourism and International Affairs among other fields of study. His research interests cover the effects of early cross-cultural interactions in Africa and their effects on society, culture, cultural heritage and economic development on the continent. Prof. Gavua has researched in Ghana, Canada, Cameroun, Belize, Sudan, and Tanzania. He is currently investigating and digitizing indigenous gold-forging as an endangered material knowledge system, in addition to other subjects that fall under the themes “Improving African Futures Using Lessons from the Past”, “Imagining Ghanaian Futures” and “Remaking Societies, Remaking Persons”. He has published widely and made presentations at several local and international academic gatherings. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bisa Brewa Museum, Sekondi, and has chaired the National Theatre of Ghana Board.

Dr. Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo (Mrs.)

Dr Eyifa-Dzidzienyo is a Fante and hails from Agona Nyarkrom in the Central Region. Her biological parents are late Mr Kwaw Ackom Eyifa and Mrs Janet Boadi Opoku, who is now remarried to Mr Emmanuel Appau Opoku. She started schooling at the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Demonstration at Asokore, then to New Juabeng Secondary Commercial School, both in the Eastern Region. She is married to a businessman, Mr Frank Enyonam Dzidzienyo, and has two children; Emmanuella Ama Seyram Dzidzienyo and Victor Kweku Selasie Dzidzienyo. She obtained her first, second and third degrees in Archaeology and Heritage Studies from the University of Ghana – making her first Ghana female to obtain a PhD in archaeology and heritage studies. She is also the first Ghanaian female lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies.

Dr Eyifa-Dzidzienyo has several publications to her credit, including Social Construction and the Invisible Gender Roles in Talensi House Construction; EAZ- Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift, and The Role of Museums in Education: The Case of the Museum of Archaeology, University of Ghana. Her PhD topic was Archaeology and Heritage Management Practices in Ghana; assessment of Tengzug Heritage Preservation and Development.

Dr. Nana Anima Wiafe-Akenten

Nana Anima Wiafe-Akenten is a Ghanaian media practitioner and the Head of the Akan-Nzema Department of the College of Languages Education, Ajumako Campus of the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana. She is the first person to receive a doctorate degree in the Twi language, one of the varieties of Akan

Wiafe-Akenten had her secondary education at the St. Roses Secondary School, Akwatia in the Eastern Region of Ghana between 1991 and 1993. She attended University of Ghana for her first degree, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Theatre Arts (Theatre for Extension Communication) in 1995. She received the Doctorate Degree from the University of Ghana in July, 2017 in Ghanaian Language Studies (Akan Linguistics – Media Discourse). Notably, she wrote her dissertation on Modern usage of Akan on radio and TV (Sɛ dea wɔde akan kasa dzi dwuma enɛ mbre yi wɔ radio ne TV so) in the Twi language, the first person to do so. According to her, the main challenge of writing an academic paper in Twi was correctly translating quotations and terminology of scientific writing from English.

Mrs. Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh

Secretary General

Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh is the Secretary General of the Ghana National Commission for UNESCO. In her role as head of Secretariat, she is the coordinator of Ghana’s presence and contributions to dialogue and action at UNESCO as a member state. She also advises government of Ghana on UNESCO matters. She is an experienced teacher, policy maker, educational manager and communications professional. Ama Serwah has postgraduate degrees in International Communications, Education, Educational Leadership and Management from the Universities of Leeds, Bedfordshire and Ghana respectively. She undertook her undergraduate studies in English and French at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.