Harvard, Birmingham Professors to speak at Sagrenti War anniversary symposium in Kumasi
Two eminent Professors of History, one of them a Ghanaian, are billed to speak at a symposium in Kumasi on February 6, 2024 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 3rd Anglo-Asante war, popularly known as Sagrenti War.
The two are Prof Emmanuel Akyeampong, the Ghanaian, who is the Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Harvard University Centre for African Studies and Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and Prof Tom McCaskie, the head of the Centre of West African Studies at Birmingham University.
The Juabenhene, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, the chairman of the 18-member Planning Committee for the 25th anniversary of the enthronement of Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the 150th anniversary of the Sagrenti War, announced this at the first meeting of the Asanteman Council for 2024 at the Manhyia Palace on Thursday, January 11.
About the 2 Professors
Prof Tom McCaskie who has authored a book on the Sagrenti War, was a Professor of Asante history. He is the author of State and Society in Pre-Colonial Asante; Asante Identities; and African mediators, the Asante and British colonial rule.
In 2015, fifty of his selected papers were reprinted as Asante, Kingdom of Gold by Carolina Academic Press. This paper is the tenth he has published on Asante since 2017.
Prof Akyeampong’s publications include Themes in West Africa’s History (2005), which he edited; Independent Africa: The First Generation of Nation Builders (2023); Between the Sea and the Lagoon: An Eco-Social History of the Anlo of Southeastern Ghana, 1850 to Recent Times (2001); and Drink, Power and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana,
Durbar
Nana Otuo Siriboe said the symposium, which will be held at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) will also feature other speakers. The dress code for the symposium is anything but white.
The Juabenhene who is also the chairman of the Council of State, said the symposium will be followed by a durbar on February 8 at Dwabrem of the Manhyia Palace. The event will allow Asanteman to reflect on the impact of the war. The dress code is black.
25th Anniversary
Giving some details on Otumfuo’s Silver Jubilee, which falls on Friday, May 6, the Juabenhene said a Thanksgiving Service will be held on the day.
However, the anniversary durbar has been pushed to coincide with Akwasidae on May 12. It will be held at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.
