As folk we must not lose sight of Francis Kwarteng's continuous indisputable senseless attention seeking.
As folk we must not lose sight of Francis Kwarteng's continuous indisputable senseless attention seeking.
Sam 9 years ago
ADJOA, you're completely useless commentator. Let's see what you can write or contribute instead of being a nuisance whenever history is being told. Now I dare Ahootan and his nephew SAS together with SARPONG the SKUNK to ref ... read full comment
ADJOA, you're completely useless commentator. Let's see what you can write or contribute instead of being a nuisance whenever history is being told. Now I dare Ahootan and his nephew SAS together with SARPONG the SKUNK to refute any of the facts intelligently outlined here. Bravo brother Kwarteng.
ICONIC-07 9 years ago
J.B. DANQUAH, AKOTO, BUSIA VICTOR OWUSU AND THE ETHNOCENTRIC-INWARD-LOOKING-TRIBAL UGCC-UP-PP-NPP 'LAZY- ELEPHANT' SURROGATES ARE INTRINSICALLY EVIL.
COME TO THINK OF THESE ASNTI-AKYEM PIGS ZEALOUS DESIRE FOR POWER DROVE T ... read full comment
J.B. DANQUAH, AKOTO, BUSIA VICTOR OWUSU AND THE ETHNOCENTRIC-INWARD-LOOKING-TRIBAL UGCC-UP-PP-NPP 'LAZY- ELEPHANT' SURROGATES ARE INTRINSICALLY EVIL.
COME TO THINK OF THESE ASNTI-AKYEM PIGS ZEALOUS DESIRE FOR POWER DROVE THEM TO HIDE A BOMB IN A FLOWER AND HANDED IT TO A CHILD TO KILL THE BEST PRESIDENT GHANA HAS EVER HAD, OSAGYEFO DR. KWAME NKRUMAH.
AKUFO ADDO IS A DANGEROUS SNAKE LIKE JB DANQUAH, BUSIA AND HIS OWN FATHER, WHO THINK UGLY ASHNTI-AKYEM IS IMBUED WITH INTELLIGENCE AND ROYAL BLOOD TO RULE GHANA. TWEA!
HAD IT NOT BEEN THE WITS OF UGLY ASHANTI CHIEF TO ALLOW THE TALL AND HANDSOME DAGOMBA & KOKOMBA -FULANI INDENTURED SERVANTS TO SLEEP WITH THEIR WIVES TO GIVE THEM TALL-HANDSOME CHILDREN, THE ORDINARY ASHANTI-AKYEM LOOKS LIKE THE MONKEY.
THAT'S WHY THE FANTIS CALL THEM SUANTIYI - MONKEY.
TAKE A LOOK AT AKUFO ADDO, AND ASK YOURSELF WHETHER HE HAS THE CHARISMA AND PRESIDENTIAL QUALITIES TO BE PRESIDENT OF GHANA
ALUTA CONTINUA !!!!!!!
Ghana 9 years ago
A smelly trokosi with his bad body odour calling somebody skunk, isn't that a paradox?
You are not even ashamed you were born out of an incestuous rape between a father and daughter.
A smelly trokosi with his bad body odour calling somebody skunk, isn't that a paradox?
You are not even ashamed you were born out of an incestuous rape between a father and daughter.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago
Given the history as presented, our choice for a University of Ghana renamed will be "NANA AKUMFI AMEYAW of Takyiman".
We are thinking his "fortitude" constitutes the first major skirmish and victory against NLM-UP-secess ... read full comment
Given the history as presented, our choice for a University of Ghana renamed will be "NANA AKUMFI AMEYAW of Takyiman".
We are thinking his "fortitude" constitutes the first major skirmish and victory against NLM-UP-secessionist, and defeat of their confederate agenda by the CPP, in 1956, 1 year before Ghana's independence.
THEN THIS: "...Dr. Botwe-Asamoah --“INDEED, IMPOSING DR. J.B. DANQUAH ON THE NATION AS A COMPATRIOT IS A MOCKERY OF GHANA’S UNITARY GOVERNMENT THAT KWAME NKRUMAH FOUGHT SO HARD FOR!”
OUR COMMENT: We agree!
Kojo T 9 years ago
Please do not fall for Dr SAS divertionary tactics.All he wants is to be the subject. Remain focussed
Please do not fall for Dr SAS divertionary tactics.All he wants is to be the subject. Remain focussed
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
I am not disputing the quote, but I just want to know in which of Aeschylus' works the quote comes from.
Please oblige me.
I am not disputing the quote, but I just want to know in which of Aeschylus' works the quote comes from.
Please oblige me.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
Got it.
Quote is from Aeschylus' work "Prometheus Bound" and appears to be an apt description of Kwame Nkrumah, the archetypal traitor who through treachery, imprisoned and persecuted his friends and benefactors like J,B. ... read full comment
Got it.
Quote is from Aeschylus' work "Prometheus Bound" and appears to be an apt description of Kwame Nkrumah, the archetypal traitor who through treachery, imprisoned and persecuted his friends and benefactors like J,B. Danquah, Gbedemah, Ako Adjei, Obetsebi Lamptey and many others.
We spit on Nkrumah because we have learned to hate traitors and their treachery,
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Bro SAS,
Just check the time I sent responded to your query and compare it with yours. A minute or two difference! I beat you to it!
That said, no one succeeded in spiting on Nkrumah's grave. Check my two-part pieces "T ... read full comment
Bro SAS,
Just check the time I sent responded to your query and compare it with yours. A minute or two difference! I beat you to it!
That said, no one succeeded in spiting on Nkrumah's grave. Check my two-part pieces "THE WORLD HAILS OSAGYEFO DR. KWAME NKRUMAH." Your spit is just too "small" to withstand the world's!
Thanks.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
We are not in competition here Bro, and I have never questioned the span of your knowledge. You are a kind of savant polyglot, and I am in no position to contest you.....
Having said that, one wonders to what use you have ... read full comment
We are not in competition here Bro, and I have never questioned the span of your knowledge. You are a kind of savant polyglot, and I am in no position to contest you.....
Having said that, one wonders to what use you have applied your vast knowledge so far. You may check out what I have said under your previous article.
Lawyer Pink Sheets. 9 years ago
from what I read danquah dserves all the sliva that can be poured on him. Spit is too small.
from what I read danquah dserves all the sliva that can be poured on him. Spit is too small.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago
We can't help but wonder out loud why you had to get stuck on fictional "Prometheus Bound", asking for the source, citation, etc.
And yet, with your "Kludze" story, providing same was after the fact, multiple times. But n ... read full comment
We can't help but wonder out loud why you had to get stuck on fictional "Prometheus Bound", asking for the source, citation, etc.
And yet, with your "Kludze" story, providing same was after the fact, multiple times. But not before you were called out for neglecting those "petty" pertinent contextual details about the background of "Kludze" scribe.
1. That Kludze was an activist associated with a Togolese faction that was strongly anti-CPP. That Kludze was detained by the CPP regime for subversive activities against Ghana as a member of that faction.
2. That, Kuffour's NPP, after Kludze had been out of Ghana for nearly 30 years, appointed Kludze as Justice to the Supreme Court of Ghana.
That, we must say, is how your entire 4-part Kludze series fails - for lack of objectivity and conflict of interest.
ITEM: We read you saying you "spit on Nkrumah", today.
If you will recall, this is you speaking about Nkrumah:
"...Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s work in forging the nation Ghana out of the various language groups must be
highly commended. Under Nkrumah’s Ghana, a national policy was in place to eschew divisions based
on differences in languages. The overall tendency was to subsume groups under the overarching umbrella
of nationhood, regardless of their languages. The boarding school system, the composition and
distribution of the members of the security agencies and ministerial appointments were all geared
towards the unification of the greater Ghana..."(2011)
OUR COMMENT: We imagine you want to spit on that too, today!
Obviously, we are all entitled to our opinions. As for us, we will not even dream about spitting on a human being, no matter how gross, petty, or tyrannical.
However we may spit on their products/work.
So it goes that WE must spit on Kludze's opinions and record of those events you copied and pasted on Ghanaweb in that 4-part series.
Fact is, there is no credibility to the entire series for the reason of conflict of interest, among others.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
I stand by what I said about Nkrumah's commitment toward a unified Ghana in which ethnocentrism does not exist. And this shows that I am willing and able to praise him for what he did right. It does not however, absolve the m ... read full comment
I stand by what I said about Nkrumah's commitment toward a unified Ghana in which ethnocentrism does not exist. And this shows that I am willing and able to praise him for what he did right. It does not however, absolve the man from his dictatorship.....
But so far, I am unable to find anything he did right beyond uniting the tribes. And here is where you can educate me; but so far, beyond the usual insults, all I hear is that others admired him, therefore I should.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago
Stand by what you spit on, as much as you want!
And "...beyond the usual insults?.."
Where is that from, compared to your record?
What does that have to do with us?
Stand by what you spit on, as much as you want!
And "...beyond the usual insults?.."
Where is that from, compared to your record?
What does that have to do with us?
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
Kludze's analyses are based on facts as he himself witnessed them. Raise solid questions about the facts and conclusions he draws if you have any. It is not enough to argue that he was incarcerated for activism. Of course, un ... read full comment
Kludze's analyses are based on facts as he himself witnessed them. Raise solid questions about the facts and conclusions he draws if you have any. It is not enough to argue that he was incarcerated for activism. Of course, under Nkrumah, the nation comprised incarcerated activists and free CPP members. If you say there is no credibility in the series, point out the exact incredulities.
Don't hide behind empty generalizations to escape from the debate. The days of silence are over.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago
Your Kludze, like you, neglects to record the subversive acts of the UP-NLM-PP against Nkrumah and his legacy.
Kludze, the educated African in America, a lawyer, who if he was paying attention would have at least witnessed ... read full comment
Your Kludze, like you, neglects to record the subversive acts of the UP-NLM-PP against Nkrumah and his legacy.
Kludze, the educated African in America, a lawyer, who if he was paying attention would have at least witnessed a lot of the struggle for civil rights by African-Americans, including the fight for equal access to employment, education, and the vote, said Nkrumah did not believe in a free market economy and so proceeded to create a socialist state in Ghana.
Did Kludze not know that "free market" economy is a matter of degree, that even the US never did/does not have have a "free" market? That there is political power behind the rhetoric that favors some and disadvantages others in that "free" market?
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Bro SAS,
I strongly believe it is "Prommetheus Bound," one of his important tragedies I read God-knows-how-many-years ago. This statement comes from one of his tragedy's choruses! I don't remember which!
I still have ... read full comment
Bro SAS,
I strongly believe it is "Prommetheus Bound," one of his important tragedies I read God-knows-how-many-years ago. This statement comes from one of his tragedy's choruses! I don't remember which!
I still have a copy of this work locked up in my collections of books in the garage. I can make time, look for it and get you the page!
I have a book from 1993 that records these wise sayings and epigrams that I come across in my readings. I have hundreds of them!
Unfortunately I only write down the epigram/wise sayin and the author's name (without book's title).
I have many of such attributable to most of our African writers and other writers around the world.
Let's also recall that, like the question of Shakespeare's doubtful of the works attributed to him, a similar problems exists as to Aeschylus' authorship of "Prometheus Bound."
This is just by the way. And please. let me know if I got the book and the origin of the epigram right!
Finally, I have a number of the Greek tragedies with me!
Thanks.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
Bro. Kwarteng,
History is far more important to us in Ghana than whatever the Ghanaian scholars have done with their science or math or engineering studies. The typical science scholar in Ghana is irrelevant to anything, ... read full comment
Bro. Kwarteng,
History is far more important to us in Ghana than whatever the Ghanaian scholars have done with their science or math or engineering studies. The typical science scholar in Ghana is irrelevant to anything, and I have made it clear several times on this site. And I have also told you several times that your worth is in your writing skills, and the extent of your scholarship here has nothing scientific or mathematical or engineering about it. Without your writing skills and your scholarship in the liberal arts, nobody would know you here, and you would just be one of these stupid monikers daily flaunting their useless science knowledge. Your article, whatever merit it has, is weighed on account of your knowledge in history and proficiency in English. Your studies in science remain redundant and probably a cause for regret, if not outright frustration. I know this from my own experience. And that is why it is possible for Prof. Kwabena Parry to judge you on the historical merits; he is a History scholar of international repute no matter what you think of him. And being able to critique him does not reduce his scholarship in his chosen area. Anybody can critique anybody's work....
I am sure that in all his previous critiques that were favorable to you, you found him to be a great scholar and a gentleman. But like Nkrumah, you cannot stand any unfavorable criticism.
In any case, Prof. Akurang-Parry is among the first writers on Ghanaweb, and I have read many of his essays, including the one you cite above. I have always found him to be a fine scholar and a gentleman. And I never hid my shock that he allowed Akadu Mensema to shack with him and steal his identity. I have also never hidden my amazement that he is an Nkrumaist. Same with you.
As for you, you are an example of one great genius lost in the Nkrumaist maze, and it is possible that the cause is doomed to rescue you out of your intellectual catacomb. But it is your right to remain so entombed: the African hen chooses the place to lay her eggs. One day, if you wake up from your Nkrumaist spell, you can begin to appreciate the horror of your wasted years, and J.B. Danquah will have nothing to do with your situation.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
Bro SAS,
That is my point: Anyone can critique. That is exactly what Prof. Akurang-Parry did with my articles, nothing substantial.
The fact of the matter is that the issues I raised here are well documented primary, ... read full comment
Bro SAS,
That is my point: Anyone can critique. That is exactly what Prof. Akurang-Parry did with my articles, nothing substantial.
The fact of the matter is that the issues I raised here are well documented primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.
For instance, there a number of theories that try to explain Danquah's involvement ritual murder, but I chose to settle on one here because I have referenced other theories elsewhere and thus there was no need for me to keep going over tired material.
But like I said before, my science, engineering, and mathematical training is what actually makes me get the gist of some of the most complex things Prof. Kofi Kissi Dompere (and hundreds) and other scietinists, engineering, and mathematicians talk about.
For instance, I can take some of his mathematical concepts and understand them well enough to relate them to the deep philosophical concepts he explores. I could not have done that without my my backround. And this is not restricted only to Prof. Dompere's work!
You may not know this but I have had many readers write to me asking whether I have a science, engieering, and mathematical background. They have read that into my writings. Some suggested I minimize some of the mathematical and scientific term and concepts I use in my write-ups! Mostly these are those in the humanities/liberal arts/social science. On the contrary, I have never faced any major problems in the humanities!
And yes, Prof. Akurang-Parry is a fine writer but that does not mean he is the "doyen" of Ghanaian and African history. Beside that, he is one of those scholars I have always looked up to but that is how far it goes.
Put simply, it is so easy picking up any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's published scholarly works (Adu Boahen, etc) and reading it but no so woth Prof. Dompere, say.
Like I said in one of my earlier responses on this forum today, I have read a number of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly publications and, though they do not compare with those on Ghanaweb in terms of scholastic or analytic merit, I can still author any of his published scholarly articles without sweat.
And it is my engineering, scientific, and mathemtical backgrounds that make liberal arts/humanities/social science relatively easy fields to explore. This is not to undermine anyone's intelligence or academic prowess.
And finally, not everyone can successfully do the work of critiquing (this position reverses my contention in the first paragraph). For instance the critic must, in relaive terms, be in possession of knowledge that matches the knowledge level of the subject whose he or she is critiquing. Sometimes the critic must possess superior knowledge!
Wole Soyinka has ocassionally explicitly or implicity remarked that he cannot understand the complexity of Albert Eistein's work. And the reason is simple: Soyinka do not have the expertise Einstein had. Yet Einstein had a knack for reading and explaining some of the most complex literary works of his peers!
More, there was one time Soyinka sarcastically, but truthfully, said while Nobel Laurates in the sciences (medicine, physics, chemistry) were using their brain power to crack difficult problems confronting humanity, he is using his brain power to make an album (Soyinka is a musician, but on the same level as his relative Fela Kuti).
Soyinka realizes that it takes more than English orthography or mere literacy in English to do Einstein's physics ( or Dompere's mathematics). It also explains why Paul Krugman (a social scientist; Nobel Laureate (Economics)) can surprisingly explain the literature of Isaac Assimov and other complicated writes, but ironically those men and women of letters whose works he explains have a problems understaning his mathematics or mathematical economics (econometrics).
Krugman has a way of using mathematical concepts to explore a genre of literature (science fiction, etc) that the average person whose specialty is literature or history will find a hard time doing! The opposite happens but hardly often.
Let me say this again: I am not disrespecting Prof. Akurang-Parry or anybody for that matter. We all have our expertise, strengths and weaknesses. The point is that what many of our historians do are things some of us can easily pick up from books and put own twists of interpretation on them.
In fact, some of the greatest, influential, and magnificent historians I know of (in the world) and whose works I have studied were/are not historians or even trained as historians.
It helps to be trained as one but that is not always a requirement to be an influential or good historian.
And history is essentially about acquiring basic research methodologies (and interpretation). Besides that, one needs to know what a primary document is different from a secondary or tertiary document. And a little bit more!
These are things one can easily pick up from books. But computer programming, astrophysics, engineering, cosmology, and (several branches) of the natural science are not easy to pick up from books. I make these concessions from the standpoint of relativity!
That said, most of the issues I raise in my last article on Danquah have been well argued by scholars from Ghana (Africa), Europe, North America (US, Canada) and a few prominent scholars from Asia. Prof. Akurang-Paryy does not know he has already endorsed many of them! LET ME SAY THAT I HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR OUR HISTORIANS (Lest I am not misunderstood).
Please overlook my error (I did not proofread my comments).
Have a great week, Bro SAS!
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago
You are not known to have any special analytical skills or even adequate traditional wisdom, let alone a scientific mind. If you had all the foregoing qualities, then you could say that your scientific knowledge has brought y ... read full comment
You are not known to have any special analytical skills or even adequate traditional wisdom, let alone a scientific mind. If you had all the foregoing qualities, then you could say that your scientific knowledge has brought you thus far. We always commend you for your huge talents purely on account of your excellent knowledge of broad areas in both linguistics and the liberal arts. And nobody can begrudge you for your talents. And as I said, these areas are those that have made you a respected scholar here: the mere fact that you can communicate and reproduce them with uncanny rapidity.
As for your analytical skills as reflected in your work on Dompreh or any scholar, they are all engineered to achieve the narrow end of praising Nkrumah and condemning his enemies, particularly Danquah. In this, you are pretty much like Adjoa Wangara here who knows nothing except condemning you and praising your adversaries.
And it is in the context of your narrow views that Prof. Akurang-Parry, a scholar and a gentleman, questioned the historicity of your account on J.B. Danquah. And as I said, he is very qualified to do so based on his discipline, which is History.
But your response to him was rather out of order, insofar as you seemed to insinuate that you can critique his work. You also appear to hold the view that the more difficult a subject, the greater its use or prestige. This kind of conclusion is not supported by any facts of history or sociology or science or mathematics.
You may ridicule what Prof Akurang-Parry said and seek to belittle his discipline as too soft for you, but the fact remains that he spoke the truth. And if his version of truth had favored yours, you would have called him Titan of Knowledge.
And regarding what is turning out to be your tired tirade against Dr. Danquah, remember that Dr. Danquah was incarcerated without trial and died in a condemned cell, treated far worse than a dog by one he invited over to help in the independence struggle. A more scientific and intelligent analysis will be based on objective facts condemning dictatorship, not propaganda material extolling it.
So the joke is upon you that you discount the evils of the dictator and condemn his victims. And if that is how your scientific knowledge leads you to form your conclusions, then that knowledge has harmed, not helped your stature as a scholar and a gentleman.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Bro SAS,
All I will say is that I was introduced to Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere's works and I decided to review them for my readers!
And yet, I was surprised to learn how far his scholarship on Nkrumah and (economic theory, ... read full comment
Bro SAS,
All I will say is that I was introduced to Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere's works and I decided to review them for my readers!
And yet, I was surprised to learn how far his scholarship on Nkrumah and (economic theory, mathematics) has taken him to, including membership in some of the most respected scientific and mathematical institutions in the world!
You don't get to joing these organizations when you work does not impact society.
That is all I can say for now. The others are irrelevant to my series. I would you have asked me about my references and how I got re-interprete some of the things I put out on Ghanaweb without necessarily taking what my sources say!
Prof. Akurang-Parry and most of our historians don't do more than this! Check out Prof. Akurang-Parry's peer-reviewed publications and prove me wrong! I believe have 12 or so of Prof. Akurang-Parry's published essays with me right here as of this writing!
I think I also have a copy of a book he wrote for one of the classes he teaches in Pennsylvania (I hope I am right). So, Bro SAS, I have enought to evaluate Prof. Akurang-Parry's inlecctual weight. Lest I am not misunderstood, he's a brilliant historian and one out of many international Ghanaian historians whose works I am familiar with. I have said this to him on Ghanaweb!
And remember that speed and recall are part of the educational system of the Asian Tigers.
Thanks for contributions!
The Truth 9 years ago
I think the writer, Francis Kwarteng with his own rejoinder, RE: Here Is My Rebuttal, entails a very bad English expression if I am not mistaking.
I think the writer, Francis Kwarteng with his own rejoinder, RE: Here Is My Rebuttal, entails a very bad English expression if I am not mistaking.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Dear Truth,
Thanks for your comment.
I would rather say English grammar is not one of my problems or headache.
I make them all the time and when I have time I go to Spyghana and Modernghana (where I have access to m ... read full comment
Dear Truth,
Thanks for your comment.
I would rather say English grammar is not one of my problems or headache.
I make them all the time and when I have time I go to Spyghana and Modernghana (where I have access to my articles) and effect the changes.
Thus, always remember you are going to find tons of grammatical and typographical errors in my work!
There are sophisticated readers of my work who see my arrors and still appreciate the substance of my work! That is what I am interested.
You will find more in my comments because I hardly proofread them. Therefore, you can choose to discuss my grammatical errors with others on this forum but when it is about my work (you want to discuss my arguments with me), deal with the substanve of my article because I will not discuss grammar!
Yes, you will see errors in these very comments as well!
Thanks.
Mr. Figure-Out 9 years ago
Watch what you wright about your superiors for there is a wise saying or adage in Twi which goes; " adwarey3 f?e ansa na 3nsuo reb3t?" to wit " the bathroom was wet before the downpour of rain". It is so sad that you see anyb ... read full comment
Watch what you wright about your superiors for there is a wise saying or adage in Twi which goes; " adwarey3 f?e ansa na 3nsuo reb3t?" to wit " the bathroom was wet before the downpour of rain". It is so sad that you see anybody who do not support your view on Nkrumah as an intellectual midget. You have disappointed me big time for the impatience and the gross disrespect you have shown to the renowned historian, prof Kwabena Akorang, for having a dissenting view on your one sided , insulting and intellectually dishonest essays about your demigod, Nkrumah. By the way, who is SAS to draw your attention to the uncouth rebuttal you posited to Prof Akurangs comment in your penultimate essay? A classical case of the pot calling kettle it is black. My careful observation is that, both you and SAS are very intolerant to dissenting views, and that alone poses serious indictment to the academic pedigree of scholars your stature. Peter Akwasi Sarpong, the 'Bishop Emeritus' of the Catholic diocese of Kumasi, once opined that; " without criticism freedom will yield to totalitarianism, Justice will give way to exploitation, charity will recede into ruthlessness, peace will absorb into rivalry and hostility whilst truth melt at the sight of falsehood". Both you guys must be guided by these worlds of wisdom and all shall be well with you.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Dear Mr. Figure-Out,
This is my response to Prof. E. Abeka. Read on:
I hope you had said a word or two by what you mean by "nonsense." Are you also implying that you cannot publish any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly ... read full comment
Dear Mr. Figure-Out,
This is my response to Prof. E. Abeka. Read on:
I hope you had said a word or two by what you mean by "nonsense." Are you also implying that you cannot publish any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly works?
And I hope you will send me any of your publications with citations so I evaluate them for my readership!
That said, let me say a word or two: The fact that Prof. Akurang-Parry critiques my work does not mean we are enemies or that he or I should be gullible when it comes to evaluatiing each other's works!
And since Prof. Akuarang-Parry praised a couple or so of my works but failed to crtitique me on simple factual errors and misattributions, are you willing to say he cherry-picked his praises! Could you ask him why he cherry-picked in his praise of my work!
Here is another example: I have reviewed 12 of his published scholarly articles which I have with me here.
I have also closely examined his citations and learned from that that there are other works which offer serious critiques of his citation which he does not cite in these published articles.
What does this mean? Does he mean Prof. Akurang-Parry cherry-picked his sources? I don't know. But what I do know is that he may not be familiar with the vast world of literature that is relevant to the subject matters his works (the 12 I have with me) address, whether what Prof. Akurang-Parry writes on is about political economy, culture, history, or what have you.
This also because he is human and because there are scholars who cannot keep up with the vast body of works that are being churned out on Africa on a daily basis.
For instance, when it comes to Nkrumah and his works, the political history of Ghana, culture, the African-centered theory, liberation movements, to name but a few, Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah is one of most knowledgeable on these questions.
Yet he also tells he comes across new and unfamiliar information on Nkrumah now and then. And that he has to update his works on Nkrumah. What if he has seen these works prior to publishing his book?
That is why he tells me if you want to write thinking you have to get all the materails you will need on particular subject matter first before you write, then you can never write at all! Because new information is made available each passing day!
Then to another matter: Scholars do agree and disagree all the time. Cornel West once told Molefi Kete Asante that he blessed and fortunate to sit at the same round table with a "living legend." Asante also returned a similar gesture. And it all has to with their academic works and their place in the American Academy. Now go back to 2014 and read what they have to say about each other's work in the public domain!
Look the public debates between Noam Chomsky and Alan Dershowitz (and others). Look at how they praise each other's works and begin to tear into each other's work once they begin debating!
Look at the public disaggreements between Wole Soyinka and Ali Mazrui, and between Molefi Kete Asante and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and several other examples including public intellectuals.
More important, Prof. Akuarang-Parry did not say anything "bad" about my work or offer any constructive critique as regards his claims that I cherry-picked my evidence. He even partially "praised" me in his critique. But that was not what I was interested in.
The question is, why don't provide your criqtiue of my work which rather than listen to Prof. Akuarang-Parry? As for me I have read Prof. Akuarang-Parry's scholarly works and I know how much he weighs intellectually! How about you?
You see, I don't have to be gullible because he has praised me elsewhere. Ahd he does not have to be gullible because I can critique his scholarly works and point out their methodological and evidential shortcomings.
And the fact that one peer-reviewed publishes your articles does not mean what you say on a subject matter is the final word. Some articles are rejected by one peer-reviewed journal and accepted by others! It does not even mean that published article is necessarily scholarly. That is why many a publication has been criticized and left to rot!
Thanks.
DusTY-FooT-pHiloSophER 9 years ago
Incredible you! In fact, you're like a strange dude who often wears red t'shirt which is 'legoed' "Great Accra Hearts Of Oak" and yet plays for Kotoko with passion. You are like a kind of hard to figure out in this podium hen ... read full comment
Incredible you! In fact, you're like a strange dude who often wears red t'shirt which is 'legoed' "Great Accra Hearts Of Oak" and yet plays for Kotoko with passion. You are like a kind of hard to figure out in this podium hence the testimony to your moniker.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Bro SAS,
And yes, Prof. Akuragn-Parry is still a gentleman. I have neither insulted him, said anything bad to him, or disrespected him, except that he never substantiated his earlier claims.
That was my central concern ... read full comment
Bro SAS,
And yes, Prof. Akuragn-Parry is still a gentleman. I have neither insulted him, said anything bad to him, or disrespected him, except that he never substantiated his earlier claims.
That was my central concern. When you critique somebody's work you also provide counterfactual arguments! You don't make hollow claims and run with them.
Still, none of his earlier critiques were 100% favorable because I have uncovered some factual errors in those works (and a number of others he has not had the opportunity to comment) he praised without pointing them out.
That is what I always do: I go back to my earlier works once a while to see whether I went wrong anywhere. So please, don't get me wrong. I need the counterfacts when one critiques. It was why I kept going back and forth!
In hindsight, I had expected him to have seen these errors as an established historian and pointed them out to me! Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah is extremely good at this. He will see your factual errors right away (in a flash )and point them out to you. He is my greatest critic!
Now science has helped Ghana and Africa in many ways. I hope you make to pore longitudinal statistics on mortality/birth rates and you will notice that Ghanaian doctors, nurses, and others in the health sector have done a great job over the years.
Without the expertise of doctors, etc., the reverse would most likely have been the case. When you consider research on Ebola, for instance, African scientists (and doctors, etc) collaborated with scientists from the international community to bring the situation under control.
African engineers have also done their fair share as well as our agricultural scientists. This information is all there. I can give you a long list of Ghanaian and African scientists in Africa whose work have added human scientific knowledge. You can google this for yourself.
That said, if history has done a lot for Ghana what we see on Ghana tells a different story. One American-based Ghanaian scholar once told me he sent Dr. Cheik Anta Diop's to the University of Legon and Ghanaian professors were fighting over them. Some of these PhD holders have not heard of Diop's name or his work.
There have been several works done that shows that if you want well-informed info on any African country, you can get them in the West.
One study shows that Syracuse Universe has more information on Kenya than an average Kenyan can get in Ghana. Even graduate students have to leave Africa to pursue advanced degrees in history, archeology, athropology, Egyptology, etc! Which Ghanaian universities teach Egyptology?
Most of the research on Africa are probably done in the West! The best scholarly peer-reviewed journals on Africa are in the West! When our historians write they seek Western endorsement to demonstrate acceptability of their work! And most AfricansI have taken classes with in America are surprised to learn more about Africa from their American teachers than their Ghanaian teachers!
IF THERE IS ONE SUBJECT THAT IS NOT TAUGHT WELL IN AFRICA, IS AFRICAN HISTORY. ANY GHANAIAN HISTORIAN WILL TELL YOU THIS. EXCEPT PROBABLY THOSE WHO READ HISTORY AND WENT ON TO READ MORE ON THEIR OWN. I SAY THIS BECAUSE I MET A FRIEND IN NEW WHO MAJORED IN HISTORY (GHANAIAN/AFRICA) AT LEGON AND HE PROBABLY CANNOT STAND A STUDENT WHO MAJORES IN AFRICAN HISTORY IN AN AMERICAN STUDY, ESPECIALLY IN AN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES.
So, Bro SAS, history is one subject that our scholars have woefully failed. Drs. Dompere, Botwe-Asamoah, Molefi Kete Asante, Ayi Kwei Armah, Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Wole Soyinka, and a host of others witll tell these. Read their works!
Finally, like I said before there is nothing Prof. Akurang-Parry has written in any scholarly journal, that, an individual like me without any training in history, cannot write. This has nothing to do with my "bad" history. I was waiting to take him with my data and references! I had hoped he had not made a blaket statement and run away with it.
That is not how you critique. He should have provided his counterevidence right there since he is familiar with the terrain! He is a fine historian but he does not know more than some of us already know. That is my point! Remember, unlike him I don't have a degree or training in history, sociology, archeology, or whatever. I have studied all these on my own.
Thus, let us not read too much into my asking Prof. Akuarang-Parry to provide me with additional information. You know what? There were a lot of information I witheld from my two-part series on Danquah because I did not want to do another long series. This will come sometime later!
And while you say Prof. Akurang-Parry is a historian of international repute so he should see "bad history" when he sees one, I have pointed out to you that I made easy-to-see factual errors which Dr. Bowte-Asamoah will see in a flash but Prof. Akuarang-Parry did not see them. Yet Dr. Botwe-Asamoah has never praised me like Prof. Akurang-Parry.
In fact, Dr. Botwe-Asamoah treats me like a student and sometimes let me go over my articles several times just to be sure they are factually accurate. And yes, sometimes he calls after an article has been published to ask why an idea he and I debated was excluded.
The brainstorming exercises Dr. Botwe-Asamoah takes me through when I want to write a particular paper is something some lazy students I know of can't cope with. You see what I am saying! Again, there were certain misaatributions I committed in my rejoinder to Philip Kobina Baidoo, Jr. which Prof. Akurang-Parry read but failed to point them out to me.
Dr. Botwe-Asamoah will see them in a flash and call you you right away! You can understand why in many cases I go to Dr. Botwe-Asamoah, nor Prof. Akurang-Parry, for mentorship and serious debate. Dr. Botwe-Asamoah will never critique my work without asking me to do additional research, cite books for me to read, and call him for debate before I put my thoughts together!
EVEN WHEN PROF. AKURAGNG-PARRY HAS PRAISED MY WORK, I STILL GO TO DR. BOTWE-ASAMOAH FOR A FINAL SAY BECAUSE HE HAS ALWAYS SEEN WHAT PROF. AKUARANG-PARRY DOES NOT SEE. THIS IS WHY I SAY DR. BOTWE-ASAMOAH IS MY GREATEST CRITIQUE. THIS DOES NOT TAKE AWAY FROM WHAT PROF. AKURANG-PARRY HAS TO SAY. WAHT BOTHERED ME WAS THAT HE FAILED TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION I ASKED FOR!
ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT WITHOUT SCIENCE OUR SITUATION IN AFRICA WOULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. TODAY YOU HAVE INVETORS LIKE BRIGHT SIMMONS WHOSE TECHNOLOGIES (m-Pedigree) are saving lives in Ghana, Africa, and Asian. And Simmons is a Ghanaian inventors. There are others like him across Ghana.
All said and done, I had expected you to give me yur take on the historicity of my work rather than wait for Prof. Akuarang-Parry to come back with his own take. Remember Prof. Akurang-Parry is just one of Ghanaian historians!
There are other historians of international repute whose works I relied on for my piece. I will treat Prof. Akuarang-Parry's views with respect but not as the final words.
I have told you about some factual errors and misattriubitions in those works of mine which he had praised (you can back and reared these articles again). What if I had not gone back to them again? Dr. Botwe-Asamoah let's me read more than what he tells!
Finally, check out CNN African Voices and BBC African Faces (?) and see the contrubutions African scientists and technologists are making to Africa's development. Compare that with out historians and tell me what you think!
ALL ERRORS ARE MINE!
I didn't proofread it!
Thanks.
The True Northerner 9 years ago
I have not studied much of Ghana's history, but I know for fact that Nkrumah will forever be remembered than any other personality in Ghana.He was going to make Ghana very attractive so that none of us today will ran away fro ... read full comment
I have not studied much of Ghana's history, but I know for fact that Nkrumah will forever be remembered than any other personality in Ghana.He was going to make Ghana very attractive so that none of us today will ran away from Ghana to America in such of a better life. Therefore, I wouldn't listen to anybody making argument in favor of the fake personality called J.B Danquah in Ghana history.Even as a kid growing up in the north, Nkrumah name has been mentioned several times as the visionary leader for Ghana ever. Ghanaians are suffering today because of the power drunk people like J.B Danquah and co. Today, countries under social rule are still growing economical and the good example is China and Singapore. So I don't buy the argument of people saying Nkrumah was a dictator. Such characters are bias or probable hail from J.B Danquah town.
Prof. E. Abeka 9 years ago
I read your comment about Kwabena Akurang-Parry. When he endorsed your article, you praised him to the high heavens, But when Kwabena concluded that you cherry-picked some facts to attack Danquah, Kwabena in your estimation i ... read full comment
I read your comment about Kwabena Akurang-Parry. When he endorsed your article, you praised him to the high heavens, But when Kwabena concluded that you cherry-picked some facts to attack Danquah, Kwabena in your estimation is now a light weight in the academy?So here you are cherry picking too!
You understand what Kwabena meant by cherry-picking! You picked what you liked from the historical records to support your conclusions, or is it that you quoted and used everything you have at your disposal! You come to Ghanaweb to write nonsense and when you are questioned you brag. What publications do you have really.
Prof. E. Abeka 9 years ago
I read your comment about Kwabena Akurang-Parry. When he endorsed your article, you praised him to the high heavens, But when Kwabena concluded that you cherry-picked some facts to attack Danquah, Kwabena in your estimation i ... read full comment
I read your comment about Kwabena Akurang-Parry. When he endorsed your article, you praised him to the high heavens, But when Kwabena concluded that you cherry-picked some facts to attack Danquah, Kwabena in your estimation is now a light weight in the academy?So here you are cherry picking too!
You understand what Kwabena meant by cherry-picking! You picked what you liked from the historical records to support your conclusions, or is it that you quoted and used everything you have at your disposal! You come to Ghanaweb to write nonsense and when you are questioned you brag. What publications do you have really.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Dear E. Ebeka,
What is cherry-picking?
Go back to my article and point out the cherry-picking evidence and when you are done provide me with your own take and analysis and references.
You should go ahead and cite f ... read full comment
Dear E. Ebeka,
What is cherry-picking?
Go back to my article and point out the cherry-picking evidence and when you are done provide me with your own take and analysis and references.
You should go ahead and cite five evidence I cherry-picked and tell me why they were cherry-picked (give me your counter-evidence).
That is how one argues! And ask Prof. Akurang-Parry whether it is just enough to say the same thing to his colleagues whose works he critiques! Again you have not told me what I bragged about without giving evidence?
Do you have any problem when I said I could write any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's published essays without swaet! That is a fact! Of course I am not the only one. There are a number of Ghanaweb columnists and commentators who can do the same. Andy-K, Kwesi Sakyi Atta, and several others!
The fact is that I have given my take and interpretation of facts and people like you are not providing anything saying otherwise.
All you do is to repeat "cherry-picking" which says nothing, just like Prof. Akurang-Parry's! It seems you have nithing to say, just aping!
And where did I make him a light weight? Where is the evidence for that? But Prof. Akurang-Parry is a historian and a writer, what more?
In fact, you are doing exactly what Prof. Akurang-Parry did yesterday, that is to make unsubstantial claim and go away!
This does not take away the fact that he is a brilliant historian. Besides, I have 12 of his published peer-reviwed articles here which are ordinary essays! I have seen and read more of his published articles besides this 12, and they are just okay!
If you want to have a feel of what I am talking about, go and read his Ghanaweb articles! They should give an ankling of his scgolarly articles if you have not read any! You can grade himm on that!
These have nothing to do with my grammar or publications. It is not the number of publications that makes one a good scholar.
More important, it how much one's scholars impact the world and how much one's scholar's work is cited that matters. I have all the citation data on most of the important Ghanaian scholars I deal with!
All errors are mine!
Thanks.
Lawyer Pink Sheets. 9 years ago
Pls give me yr email address. Great hidden knowledge.
Valuable knowledge.
For once I have appreciated history.
Pls give me yr email address. Great hidden knowledge.
Valuable knowledge.
For once I have appreciated history.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Dear Brother,
My email address is franciskkwarteng@yahoo.com.
Thanks
Dear Brother,
My email address is franciskkwarteng@yahoo.com.
Thanks
Sister Souljah 9 years ago
Francis you are a very big fountain of knowledge and I will definitely be contacting you via email. God bless
Francis you are a very big fountain of knowledge and I will definitely be contacting you via email. God bless
Prof. E. Abeka 9 years ago
Using articles on Ghanaweb as a benchmark of one's scholarship is not good at all. I presume you are an academic, may be a public intellectual, and that is good, but you should not access anyone's scholarship using what they ... read full comment
Using articles on Ghanaweb as a benchmark of one's scholarship is not good at all. I presume you are an academic, may be a public intellectual, and that is good, but you should not access anyone's scholarship using what they write on Ghanaweb. Any fool can get up and critique anyone's work. I know Kwabena very well and can defend him any time. He has a fine mind. I am yet to read any peer-reviewed article of yours. Hopefully, I will see one soon couched from brilliant and superior standpoints. It is one thing to say you can do as much - publish - as one has done, and it is another thing doing so. Kwabena has done a lot to rescue Ghanaian historiography from the margins and is the most published scholar of his Ghanaian generation. To juxtapose him with Andy-K etc.is foolish to say the least. Has Andy-K published in any peer-reviewed journal? Is he a trained historian? What nonsense and what anti-intellectualism. In my neck of the academic woods, PUBLICATIONS MAKE ONE A GOOD SCHOLAR, both in quantity and quality, and Kwabena has done such. We are yet to see your work in that light. Kwabena is in Ghana and may not have the luxury of time and resources the way we have here in the USA. Will call him and let him know your take. Don't brag. Let your work speak for itself. You are in cyberspace and there are great minds floating around, lurking, and contributing to ideas.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Dear Prof. E. Abeka,
I hope you had said a word or two by what you mean by "nonsense." Are you also implying that you cannot publish any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly works?
And I hope you will send me any of your ... read full comment
Dear Prof. E. Abeka,
I hope you had said a word or two by what you mean by "nonsense." Are you also implying that you cannot publish any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly works?
And I hope you will send me any of your publications with citations so I evaluate them for my readership!
That said, let me say a word or two: The fact that Prof. Akurang-Parry critiques my work does not mean we are enemies or that he or I should be gullible when it comes to evaluatiing each other's works!
And since Prof. Akuarang-Parry praised a couple or so of my works but failed to crtitique me on simple factual errors and misattributions, are you willing to say he cherry-picked his praises! Could you ask him why he cherry-picked in his praise of my work!
Here is another example: I have reviewed 12 of his published scholarly articles which I have with me here.
I have also closely examined his citations and learned from that that there are other works which offer serious critiques of his citation which he does not cite in these published articles.
What does this mean? Does he mean Prof. Akurang-Parry cherry-picked his sources? I don't know. But what I do know is that he may not be familiar with the vast world of literature that is relevant to the subject matters his works (the 12 I have with me) address, whether what Prof. Akurang-Parry writes on is about political economy, culture, history, or what have you.
This also because he is human and because there are scholars who cannot keep up with the vast body of works that are being churned out on Africa on a daily basis.
For instance, when it comes to Nkrumah and his works, the political history of Ghana, culture, the African-centered theory, liberation movements, to name but a few, Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah is one of most knowledgeable on these questions.
Yet he also tells he comes across new and unfamiliar information on Nkrumah now and then. And that he has to update his works on Nkrumah. What if he has seen these works prior to publishing his book?
That is why he tells me if you want to write thinking you have to get all the materails you will need on particular subject matter first before you write, then you can never write at all! Because new information is made available each passing day!
Then to another matter: Scholars do agree and disagree all the time. Cornel West once told Molefi Kete Asante that he blessed and fortunate to sit at the same round table with a "living legend." Asante also returned a similar gesture. And it all has to with their academic works and their place in the American Academy. Now go back to 2014 and read what they have to say about each other's work in the public domain!
Look the public debates between Noam Chomsky and Alan Dershowitz (and others). Look at how they praise each other's works and begin to tear into each other's work once they begin debating!
Look at the public disaggreements between Wole Soyinka and Ali Mazrui, and between Molefi Kete Asante and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and several other examples including public intellectuals.
More important, Prof. Akuarang-Parry did not say anything "bad" about my work or offer any constructive critique as regards his claims that I cherry-picked my evidence. He even partially "praised" me in his critique. But that was not what I was interested in.
The question is, why don't provide your criqtiue of my work which rather than listen to Prof. Akuarang-Parry? As for me I have read Prof. Akuarang-Parry's scholarly works and I know how much he weighs intellectually! How about you?
You see, I don't have to be gullible because he has praised me elsewhere. Ahd he does not have to be gullible because I can critique his scholarly works and point out their methodological and evidential shortcomings.
And the fact that one peer-reviewed publishes your articles does not mean what you say on a subject matter is the final word. Some articles are rejected by one peer-reviewed journal and accepted by others! It does not even mean that published article is necessarily scholarly. That is why many a publication has been criticized and left to rot!
Thanks.
Prof. E. Abeka 9 years ago
The mark of great minds is that they accept criticism without being rattled! You see, as long as you picked what you deem appropriate from the primary sources to fortify a polemical conclusion, anyone can raise the question o ... read full comment
The mark of great minds is that they accept criticism without being rattled! You see, as long as you picked what you deem appropriate from the primary sources to fortify a polemical conclusion, anyone can raise the question of cherry-picking. It is not an insult. Except to say that it is bad history predicated on counterfactualism as Kwabena rightly posited. Good day.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Dear Prof. E. Abeka,
Thanks for your comments.
You still have not said a thing. Get me all the facts you have and stop beating about the bush.
I presented what I know the evidence and more importantly, did not go i ... read full comment
Dear Prof. E. Abeka,
Thanks for your comments.
You still have not said a thing. Get me all the facts you have and stop beating about the bush.
I presented what I know the evidence and more importantly, did not go into alternative theories, eg Danquah's asssociation with the ritual murder of the Odikro, the reasons for the Odikro's rirual merder, and why Danquah (and Ollenu) decided to defend, because other writers have explored them on Ghana as well as primary-source writers.
And I have repeatedly made it clear that I withheld tons of informatio be cause I did not want to do a long series. These will come later. So much about what I intend to do later.
Now, let me take on a jolly ride as far as aanother example is concerned: Please get Prof. Akurang-Parry's piece "Ending the Slavery Blame-Game By Henry Louis Gates, Jr." Gates is also popularly known as Skip or Skip Gates.
I will just take one quick example: Oral history. You go through Prof. Akurang-Parry's aforementioned work and he cited the evidence of oral history to back up his contentions. Yet, no where does he cite a single authoritative work that deals with competeing narratives on pre-colonial history (the Gold Coast and other parts of Africa) as regards slavery, etc.
There are tons of authoritative works I can cite to dimish the significance of the evidence of oral history he used for his piece!
Obviously there are serious discrepancies between some of these oral narratives and archeaolgy (carban dating) as well as internal contradictions between these (competing) narratives particularly as they relate to his essay.
Then are evidence from physical anthropology, archeology, and osteology that deal with the question of discovered Caucasian/white skeletons in unexpected places in Africa, places where Whites were never believed to have been!
Yet, there are not oral narratives from people who lived around these places, where the Caucasian bones/skeletons were discovered, to support how the skeletons got to be there.
But carbon dating and other measuring techniques put some of these skeletons around the era of slavery!
The question is, what do these skeletons say about their involvment in the so-called Trans-Atlantic Slavery? Nothing! And there are no oral narratives to make sense out of the archeological data!
Is there a possibility that these skeletons might have belonged to Europeans who were not slavers, but came to Africa for whatever reasons, died and the natives hypothetically carried them from locality deep into Africa and buried them?
What if the natives carried the bones from the coast as sounevirs and buried them in the hinterlands were they discovered!
The oral narrative or historiography is simply not there to support the evidence of physical anthropology and archeology! How much authentic information can the skeletons tell us about their cultural anthropolgy?
And there are tons of new informationthat have cropped up in past 20 years or so on these very questions!
I could go and on and on and on...
Certainly inclusion of these works whose titles I have not mentioned would have enriched Prof. Akurang-Parry's essay but seriously weakened his fundamental assumptions and arguments! But I won't fault Prof. Akurang-Parry's essay on the basis of my critique. Because one will have to write a book to address these complicated questions, not Prof. Akurang-Parry's simplistic assessment of same!
I can go on and advanced similar arguments against a number of his published scholarly articles.
There a lot I can also about the works of John Thornton and Linda Heywood (and more), both of whom I have read, to say on authority that the conclusions they draw based on their Eurocentric frameworks are not entirely or necessarily wrong.
I could draw parallels between some of the "healthy" conclusions they draw and what the African-centered methodology provides.Yet Prof. Akurang-parry's article did not explore these possibilities.
Again I could go on and on and on and on and on...
Let me end here because I would not finish just this single critique of Prof. Akurang-Parry's essay should I decide to assemble all the authoritative citations (or works)against it! What I can say is that he probably wrote for a non-sophisticated reading audience! This is why I will not take Prof. Akurang-Parry on on the apparent and fundamental methodological weaknesses of his arguments as set forth in his critique of Skip Gates!
I wish I had the time to discuss some of published schoalrly works.Remember I am not a historian. But I can debate any established historian on the generalities of his or her specialties!
Moreover, I read and write for pleasure. Aside that, I am familiar with the methodological terrain of all that is required of these scholars in the classroom and the academy and peer-reviewed journals, including Prof. Akuarang-Parry!
Unless I do not have the time to read further and explore historical, mathematical, and scientific questions in greater detail!
All that I can say is that I have a number of good material on Danquah from primary sources to secondary to tertiary! And there is more I will say later!
Please bear with me as regards typos and grammatical errors. I am not to bothered by irrelavancies! In fact I care less about grammar!
Have a great week!
Thanks.
Prof. E. Abeka 9 years ago
Kwabena's response to Gates was a newspaper article. Do you provide citations for such. Did Gates' article have citations! Stop being on the defensive and learn to take simple criticisms, else you can only publish on Ghanaweb ... read full comment
Kwabena's response to Gates was a newspaper article. Do you provide citations for such. Did Gates' article have citations! Stop being on the defensive and learn to take simple criticisms, else you can only publish on Ghanaweb where people with partisan hands rub your back. Good luck. I am out. Thanks for the discussions. By the way you did mention any of your peer-reviewed work.
True African 9 years ago
DR SAS and his narrow-minded and biased followers have already lost the debate.It is only a FOOL who does not appreciate Nkrumah's achievements.
DR SAS and his narrow-minded and biased followers have already lost the debate.It is only a FOOL who does not appreciate Nkrumah's achievements.
Sly Stone 9 years ago
Loving this!
Historians at work.
'what is history but a fable agreed upon'
Loving this!
Historians at work.
'what is history but a fable agreed upon'
The Truth 9 years ago
Hei! you fucken guy Francis! What have you got to say or write about the Xenophobia attacks in South Africa?
Can't you halt your nonsense about the dead and gone Kwame Nkrumah and tell us something about what the African P ... read full comment
Hei! you fucken guy Francis! What have you got to say or write about the Xenophobia attacks in South Africa?
Can't you halt your nonsense about the dead and gone Kwame Nkrumah and tell us something about what the African Presidents are waiting for about combating South Africans?
DusTY-FooT-pHiloSophER 9 years ago
Why must he?
Why must he?
Ringo 9 years ago
If Nkrumah is universally acknowledged as the greatest African who lived within the last ONE THOUSAND YEARS(MILLENIUM,it is only pseudo-intellectuals like AHOOFE and DR SAS who will engage in senseless and infantile criticism ... read full comment
If Nkrumah is universally acknowledged as the greatest African who lived within the last ONE THOUSAND YEARS(MILLENIUM,it is only pseudo-intellectuals like AHOOFE and DR SAS who will engage in senseless and infantile criticisms about him.
Cialis 9 years ago
Dear Prof. E Abaka,
And that is why I said Ghanaweb article.
The fact is you mentioned directly that "THERE are a number of subtle suggestions which under-gird Gates' essay of blame-game that are plucked from the works ... read full comment
Dear Prof. E Abaka,
And that is why I said Ghanaweb article.
The fact is you mentioned directly that "THERE are a number of subtle suggestions which under-gird Gates' essay of blame-game that are plucked from the works of Linda Heywood and John Thornton whose conclusions are shaped by by the extant Eurocentric records"...
"FINALLY, let me reminisce over what my late father, who was a repository of oral history, told me when I returned to my beloved Ghana to gather oral history for my PhD"...
What are these just two statements about, if not about INTERNAL CITATION?
How did you know the "subtle assumptions" of Gates newspaper article were "plucked from the works of Linda Heywood and John Thornton"?
How did you come to that conclusion, if not Gates explicitly mentioned those two scholars?
You don't seem to have a clue what Gates' article and your own rejoinder's to Gates' piece is about?
You see, you are merely reinforcing your ignorance, for Gates did not specifically have to mention Linda Heywood's and John Thornton's works for us to know what Gates was talking!
You and I do know the specific works attributable to Heywood and Thornton Gates referred to, and here you are beating about the bush like you did with my article! What does this say about your understanding of these matters?
Moreover, you don't have to publish in peer-reviewed journals to be respected as such. Like I said to you, you can Prof. Akurang-Parry's Ghanaweb articles to make your conclusions about his published scholarly articles.
There is not much difference between what Prof. Akurang-Parry publishes on Ghana and in peer-reviewed journals. I can easily tell how your writings will like from your responses, which are not well-informed! There are many peer-reviewed journal articles like that. I have read many!
Peer-reviewed journals come in may sizes and shapes! Andy-K is more well-informed and writes better than some PhD holders whose published scholarly peer-reviewed articles I have read and used in my graduate and undergraduate work.
The fact that your article is accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal does not necessarily mean what you say is final or "scientific." Peer-reviewed articles are attacked all the time and authors have to update their knowledge or write updates to their original articles.
I have said many Ghanaweb columnists can write peer-reviewed journal articles, including Andy-K, Kwesi Atta Sakyi, Asante Fordjour, etc. You don't even need a PhD or any sophisticated education to write journal articles.
And journal articles need not always have to be original or seminal. Besides,I have a couple or so professor friends who have never written a piece for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
In fact, I spoke with one of my professors in New York last year who complained to me that his applications for tenure has not been successful because he has never published any work. And this professor has been teaching for more than ten years before I took his class some years ago and became friends.
And there are those who have published one or two articles but are more knowledgeable and critical in their thinking that others who have published tons of articles. University professors have no choice to publish to get tenure among other things, or to invent or write book(s).
Writing articles do not require much when one has the time and the resources to execute them. Thus give me one peer-reviewed article by Prof. Akurang-Parry and I will evaluate it for just in the same way as I did with his Ghanaweb article.
His peer-reviewed articles are not methodologically and structurally any different from his Ghanaweb article I referenced! You do not need to go beyond his Ghanaweb articles to evaluate if you had not read any of his peer-reviewed articles.
Just get yourself acquainted with the historiographies of Ghana and Africa (that is source materials; and ocassional familiarity with global history), basic research methodologies, and a hold on "oral history" and you are all set to evaluate Prof. Akuarang-Parry.
Probably more important than other facts I have raised is the fact that some of the articles that appear on Ghanaweb are summaries of books, book chapters, peer-reviewed articles, etc., and you see how ordinary well-informed Ghanaweb commentators tear into some of these works!
Yes, I deal with some Ghanaweb commentators who are university-college professors who write for peer-reviewed and other Ghanaian-based portals. So you can SOMETIMES use Ghanaweb as a measure of scholarship. For instance, I have a Ghanaweb writer friend (who is also a university professor) whom a couple of Oxford PhD students contacted to help guide them through their doctoral dissertation.
Apparently, these students had read my friend's serial articles on Ghanaweb and realized he was knowledgeable to take them through their doctoral dissertation! I have had some commentators write to thank me for the citations I have provided in my articles, a number of which they had used in their bachelor's and master's theses!
Therefore, more and more people are learning "new" things on Ghanaweb which they would not otherwise have learned in school. I myself have learned a lot of things via my review of Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere's works than in my entire education. I knew about Prof. Akurang-Parry's and his ideological orientation on Ghanaweb before I read any of his scholarly articles.
The impression I had of him on Ghanaweb is still the impression I have of him after reading a number of his works. It is why I keep harping on the idea that I did not need more than his Ghanaweb articles to evaluate his scholarly articles. Read Soyinka's or Achebe's journalistic articles and you are not seeing anything unique from their books, scholarly essays, etc.
In other words, let the names and other persocal attributes of Soyinka, say, be removed from his journalist piece and an essay he publishes in any of his books and somebody like me will correctly identify the author as Soyinka. How he argues and structures his drama and poetry and so on are not substantially different from his journalistic pieces! I have read and reviewed a number of these!
You do not need more than these! Remember, I and other students in my undergraduate classes have had the chance to evaluate and critique peer-reviewed articles as part of some of our courses! Nothing spectacular in these exercises. It was a matter of time before some of these would write their peer-reviewed articles in collaboration with some of our professors!
Thus, your statment that Andy-K has not published in a scholarly journal does not make sense and sounds childish at best!
Assume, for the sake of argument that Andy-K has not published in a peer-reviewed journal, yet I can equally tell you that he can develop any of his Ghanaweb articles and have it published in a peer-reviewed journal, after all, like I have said elsewhere, Andy-K is well-informed and writes way better that some of the peer-reviewed articles I have read!
Andy does not have to be a trained historian or self-taught historian to publish in a peer-reviewed journal!
Clearly you are not conversant with the terrain of publishing. I have read trained chemists, physicists, mathematicians, economists, statisticians, psycchology, doctors, nurses, etc., who have published historical works on Africa that have nothing in common with the fields they were trained in.
In fact there are too many of such writers whose works have been published in scholarly journals! Do you want me to give a list! A few are my friends and that should tell you I have firsthand knowledge.
Most peer-reviewed articles I have read (and I have read hundreds) are merely reviews of others works, like we always do on Ghanaweb. The difference is only in certain requirements you need to satisfy in order to have your article in a peer-reviewed journal (number of pages, formating, etc).
I have reviewed a number of articles for some of my former professors and friends whose articles are published in peer-reviewed journals. Nothing spectacular there!
And what do you mean by "simple criticisms" when they are without basis or substance? And you also said "primary sources"! Obviously you have no clue which of my sources derived from primary sources as oppsed to secondary and tertiary sources?
Who are you and what do you know about peer-reviewed journals! It tells me when I cite any articles you may not even be able to tell which is a primary and which is a secondary or tertiary source!
And yes, you can use a Ghanaweb article to establish the caliber of scholarship as, say, Prof. Akurang-Parry will publish in a scholarly article. I have even used some of my former professors' class notes and their pedagogical styles to assess the caliber of their scholarly publications before I read one from them! I had always been right!
I have already used Prof. Akurang-Parry's Ghanaweb article to draw connections between it and his 12 scholarly articles I have with me here. The substance of his arguments and methodological approach are similar if not the same.
Now tell me how Prof. Akurang-Parry got to know of Heywood's and Thornton's works when Gates specifically referenced their names n connection with their academic work?
If you cannot perform this simple analysis when all the sources are given to you, on what basis do you assess Prof. Akurang-Parry's "simple criticisms"? Did you read Gates' article which I did the same day when it was published in the New York Times?
Then why don't you go ahead and tell me what you think I left out of the so-called primary sources, since you cannot even tell those sources from secondary and tertiary sources as per my article, rather than taking Prof. Akuarang-Parry at his word??
Then also recall I can stand whomever takes me on regardless of his specialty! Like I said before, Prof. Akurang-Parry is a fine scholar but he is just one of many historians I look up. In one of comments I mention him, Dompere, Molefi Kete Asante, and others.
But Asante and Dompere rank higher in my reckoning according to their influence on the American Academy, international institutions, and the world! This has nothing to do with my last article but what the raw facts reveal.
This information is important SAS's comments necessinate these revelations. Readers will recall that I on two different occassions asked Prof. Akuarang-Parry to provide his evidence so I could defend myself. Thus, I did not say anything further as Prof. Akuarang-Parry did not furnish me additional information to defend myself, until SAS's comments somewhat prompted detailed response from me!
You can do the research yourself! I still recognize Prof. Akuarang-Parry's place in the American Academy nonetheless! That does not however mean their works are above me or most of my colleagues on Ghanaweb! Never! I have one friend who writes for Ghanaweb and sits on two different edirorial boards (of peer-reviewed journals).
Could you contact Dr. Molefi Kete Asante to find out how he, other scholars, and tens of ordinary people around New York met in a New York church to respond to Gates' article? I was there at this gathering (with my Chemistry Professor)! You may want to ask Dr. Asante.
So I knew about the Gates' controversy inside out (and more). And yes, newspaper articles can include citations. There are literary hundreds of ordinary newspaper articles like that. And newspaper aticles can be exceptionally scholarly.
There are cases of scholarly newspaper articles whose topical indulgences are better argued out than certain peer-reviewed articles.T
hat said, Prof. AkuarangParry's works are straightfoward and too easy to read, unlike Dompere and others. You can read a bunch of his scholarly articles in minutes without complications. They are extremely straightfoward! They lack the technical and methodological sophistication of Dompere's empriical approach!
Remember, by the time a student completes a community college or bachelor's he or she must have had knowledge of the fundamentals of authoring a peer-reviewed. Professors and students collaborate on peer-reviewed articles every single day!
As folk we must not lose sight of Francis Kwarteng's continuous indisputable senseless attention seeking.
ADJOA, you're completely useless commentator. Let's see what you can write or contribute instead of being a nuisance whenever history is being told. Now I dare Ahootan and his nephew SAS together with SARPONG the SKUNK to ref ...
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J.B. DANQUAH, AKOTO, BUSIA VICTOR OWUSU AND THE ETHNOCENTRIC-INWARD-LOOKING-TRIBAL UGCC-UP-PP-NPP 'LAZY- ELEPHANT' SURROGATES ARE INTRINSICALLY EVIL.
COME TO THINK OF THESE ASNTI-AKYEM PIGS ZEALOUS DESIRE FOR POWER DROVE T ...
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A smelly trokosi with his bad body odour calling somebody skunk, isn't that a paradox?
You are not even ashamed you were born out of an incestuous rape between a father and daughter.
Given the history as presented, our choice for a University of Ghana renamed will be "NANA AKUMFI AMEYAW of Takyiman".
We are thinking his "fortitude" constitutes the first major skirmish and victory against NLM-UP-secess ...
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Please do not fall for Dr SAS divertionary tactics.All he wants is to be the subject. Remain focussed
I am not disputing the quote, but I just want to know in which of Aeschylus' works the quote comes from.
Please oblige me.
Got it.
Quote is from Aeschylus' work "Prometheus Bound" and appears to be an apt description of Kwame Nkrumah, the archetypal traitor who through treachery, imprisoned and persecuted his friends and benefactors like J,B. ...
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Bro SAS,
Just check the time I sent responded to your query and compare it with yours. A minute or two difference! I beat you to it!
That said, no one succeeded in spiting on Nkrumah's grave. Check my two-part pieces "T ...
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We are not in competition here Bro, and I have never questioned the span of your knowledge. You are a kind of savant polyglot, and I am in no position to contest you.....
Having said that, one wonders to what use you have ...
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from what I read danquah dserves all the sliva that can be poured on him. Spit is too small.
We can't help but wonder out loud why you had to get stuck on fictional "Prometheus Bound", asking for the source, citation, etc.
And yet, with your "Kludze" story, providing same was after the fact, multiple times. But n ...
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I stand by what I said about Nkrumah's commitment toward a unified Ghana in which ethnocentrism does not exist. And this shows that I am willing and able to praise him for what he did right. It does not however, absolve the m ...
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Stand by what you spit on, as much as you want!
And "...beyond the usual insults?.."
Where is that from, compared to your record?
What does that have to do with us?
Kludze's analyses are based on facts as he himself witnessed them. Raise solid questions about the facts and conclusions he draws if you have any. It is not enough to argue that he was incarcerated for activism. Of course, un ...
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Your Kludze, like you, neglects to record the subversive acts of the UP-NLM-PP against Nkrumah and his legacy.
Kludze, the educated African in America, a lawyer, who if he was paying attention would have at least witnessed ...
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Bro SAS,
I strongly believe it is "Prommetheus Bound," one of his important tragedies I read God-knows-how-many-years ago. This statement comes from one of his tragedy's choruses! I don't remember which!
I still have ...
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Bro. Kwarteng,
History is far more important to us in Ghana than whatever the Ghanaian scholars have done with their science or math or engineering studies. The typical science scholar in Ghana is irrelevant to anything, ...
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Bro SAS,
That is my point: Anyone can critique. That is exactly what Prof. Akurang-Parry did with my articles, nothing substantial.
The fact of the matter is that the issues I raised here are well documented primary, ...
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You are not known to have any special analytical skills or even adequate traditional wisdom, let alone a scientific mind. If you had all the foregoing qualities, then you could say that your scientific knowledge has brought y ...
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Bro SAS,
All I will say is that I was introduced to Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere's works and I decided to review them for my readers!
And yet, I was surprised to learn how far his scholarship on Nkrumah and (economic theory, ...
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I think the writer, Francis Kwarteng with his own rejoinder, RE: Here Is My Rebuttal, entails a very bad English expression if I am not mistaking.
Dear Truth,
Thanks for your comment.
I would rather say English grammar is not one of my problems or headache.
I make them all the time and when I have time I go to Spyghana and Modernghana (where I have access to m ...
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Watch what you wright about your superiors for there is a wise saying or adage in Twi which goes; " adwarey3 f?e ansa na 3nsuo reb3t?" to wit " the bathroom was wet before the downpour of rain". It is so sad that you see anyb ...
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Dear Mr. Figure-Out,
This is my response to Prof. E. Abeka. Read on:
I hope you had said a word or two by what you mean by "nonsense." Are you also implying that you cannot publish any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly ...
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Incredible you! In fact, you're like a strange dude who often wears red t'shirt which is 'legoed' "Great Accra Hearts Of Oak" and yet plays for Kotoko with passion. You are like a kind of hard to figure out in this podium hen ...
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Bro SAS,
And yes, Prof. Akuragn-Parry is still a gentleman. I have neither insulted him, said anything bad to him, or disrespected him, except that he never substantiated his earlier claims.
That was my central concern ...
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I have not studied much of Ghana's history, but I know for fact that Nkrumah will forever be remembered than any other personality in Ghana.He was going to make Ghana very attractive so that none of us today will ran away fro ...
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I read your comment about Kwabena Akurang-Parry. When he endorsed your article, you praised him to the high heavens, But when Kwabena concluded that you cherry-picked some facts to attack Danquah, Kwabena in your estimation i ...
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I read your comment about Kwabena Akurang-Parry. When he endorsed your article, you praised him to the high heavens, But when Kwabena concluded that you cherry-picked some facts to attack Danquah, Kwabena in your estimation i ...
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Dear E. Ebeka,
What is cherry-picking?
Go back to my article and point out the cherry-picking evidence and when you are done provide me with your own take and analysis and references.
You should go ahead and cite f ...
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Pls give me yr email address. Great hidden knowledge.
Valuable knowledge.
For once I have appreciated history.
Dear Brother,
My email address is franciskkwarteng@yahoo.com.
Thanks
Francis you are a very big fountain of knowledge and I will definitely be contacting you via email. God bless
Using articles on Ghanaweb as a benchmark of one's scholarship is not good at all. I presume you are an academic, may be a public intellectual, and that is good, but you should not access anyone's scholarship using what they ...
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Dear Prof. E. Abeka,
I hope you had said a word or two by what you mean by "nonsense." Are you also implying that you cannot publish any of Prof. Akurang-Parry's scholarly works?
And I hope you will send me any of your ...
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The mark of great minds is that they accept criticism without being rattled! You see, as long as you picked what you deem appropriate from the primary sources to fortify a polemical conclusion, anyone can raise the question o ...
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Dear Prof. E. Abeka,
Thanks for your comments.
You still have not said a thing. Get me all the facts you have and stop beating about the bush.
I presented what I know the evidence and more importantly, did not go i ...
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Kwabena's response to Gates was a newspaper article. Do you provide citations for such. Did Gates' article have citations! Stop being on the defensive and learn to take simple criticisms, else you can only publish on Ghanaweb ...
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DR SAS and his narrow-minded and biased followers have already lost the debate.It is only a FOOL who does not appreciate Nkrumah's achievements.
Loving this!
Historians at work.
'what is history but a fable agreed upon'
Hei! you fucken guy Francis! What have you got to say or write about the Xenophobia attacks in South Africa?
Can't you halt your nonsense about the dead and gone Kwame Nkrumah and tell us something about what the African P ...
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Why must he?
If Nkrumah is universally acknowledged as the greatest African who lived within the last ONE THOUSAND YEARS(MILLENIUM,it is only pseudo-intellectuals like AHOOFE and DR SAS who will engage in senseless and infantile criticism ...
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Dear Prof. E Abaka,
And that is why I said Ghanaweb article.
The fact is you mentioned directly that "THERE are a number of subtle suggestions which under-gird Gates' essay of blame-game that are plucked from the works ...
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