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The 2nd Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual and Cultural Festival, hosted by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, under the au spices of the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies, comes off from the 25th June to 1st July, 2017.
This year’s theme “Global Africa 2063: Education for Reconstruction and Transformation” reflects the foundations of Kwame Nkrumah’s intellectual and cultural ideologies of a united Africa.
This gathering seeks to examine and critically investigate the role of African centred education and knowledge production for shaping the development agenda. This approach will challenge the destructive and dominant education and knowledge system which supports neo-colonialism. The conference will use the African Union ‘Global Africa 2063’ agenda as the foundation for recuperating and popularizing Pan-African ideas and ideals.
In 2013, the African Union launched Agenda 2063 where there was a rededication to Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa driven by its own resources and representing a dynamic force in the international arena.” In laying out the aspirations of the Africa we want, the AU Commission called upon African institutions of higher learning to embrace its ambitious goal of deepening research and study in the task of making the dream of Kwame Nkrumah a reality.
The Institute of African Studies, established by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was the founding Institute that focused on Africa and African people. As the trailblazer, the Institute over its tenure has served as the nucleus for discussion and study of Africa, Pan-Africanism and Global Africa. It has been at the forefront in nurturing a new intellectual cadre that will drive the agenda of transforming Africa.
In 2010, the Institute of African Studies launched the Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual & Cultural Festival as a major event on the University of Ghana calendar. The festival was organized under the auspices of the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies, in honour of Dr Nkrumah’s dedication to vigorous and liberating Africa-centred intellectual and cultural activity.
Africans in all parts of the world and Ghana in particular, have greatly benefited as a result of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s comprehensive vision of a transformative agenda founded on strong intellectual foundations.
The Institute of African Studies is seeking to join the efforts of the AU in realizing Agenda 2063, and thus the theme, Global Africa 2063: Education for Reconstruction and Transformation. The transformation agenda involves Africans on the continent as well as those dispersed throughout the world. It will be the goal of the festival to offer an ideal platform for a review and critical re-assessment of urgent tasks necessary to deepen the technical and intellectual skills needed for training the next cadre of thinkers and practitioners.
The conference and festival will serve as a vehicle for reflection and a springboard for new research efforts to promote Pan-Africanism and structural transformation of the African world.
Apart from the international conference, the festival consists of a wide variety of cultural and artistic manifestations including exhibitions, stage performances, film shows, traditional storytelling, a musical Concert, Accra city tour, a conference cocktail, and a banquet at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana. There will be a night market throughout the festival days where an array of rich African foods would be on sale. All activities of the festival will be at different locations on the University of Ghana campus. The conference venue is the School of Law. Dr. Irene Appeaning Addo is Chair of the Planning Committee
To register, go to the conference website www.iasnkrumah.com or call 0555400508, or 0267860826.
Conference and Festival Objectives:
Reflect on the goals of the specialized committees of the African Union with respect to the kind of education that must be set in motion to realize Agenda 2063
Renew efforts to reclaim Kwame Nkrumah’s original agenda modified as required in the light of contemporary realities.
Provide a critical impetus for the promotion of a major international thrust to popularize and update Pan-African thought and action.
Serve as an impetus to bridge the gap between academic, cultural and community based Pan-Africanists.
