Robert Addo-Fening of Akyem Osino and Legon. First, it was the intelligent, feminist director of CEGENSA who gave me a piece of her mind and challenged me to read more when I asked her a harmless question. She referred me to some articles and warned I have dozens of questions to answer from her the next time our paths crossed. I think she’s a blessing to the university and all the students who are privileged to sit under her. My only problem was her inability to collaborate with the media to explain her research findings to the Ghanaian public. For the past two weeks, I also had Professor Robert Addo-Fening teaching Ghana and Africa seminar (within two weeks, he had to manage something he does for a whole academic year). He always had interesting insights and had a keen sense of what went wrong then for Africans (pre and post-colonial period) and what is still happening. He is nothing like what I have ever had. The professor is a 79 year-old man who has been teaching for over fifty years in one form or another. Hes lived through the Gold Coasts drive for independence and has been witness to the entire history of the nation of Ghana. He was a student at Legon starting in 1959, when it was an elite, Oxbridge-like institution (they had formal sit-down meals and servant boys serve tea every day at 4pm), and with some stints in Australia, Nigeria, USA, and many other countries. He has basically been teaching history at the university ever since and have supervised several PhD’s. The man has seen the trials and tribulations of the university and the nation and his brain should be considered a national treasure. It is so refreshing to hear candid opinions on history and politics from someone who was well-educated, understood issues as someone who had seen it all and wasnt afraid of saying something that would step on anothers toes. He actually challenges us the students to think, a quality that is becoming increasingly rare for Ghanaian students. Reference: Emmanuel Kpogo, notes from TIG Program lettersfromafrica.blogspot/2006/05/tuesdays-with-fenning.html
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:16:03 +0000
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