Editing Ghana Studies: A Conversation with Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Stephan F. Miescher
- Editing Ghana StudiesA Conversation with Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Stephan F. Miescher
A decade ago the two of you took over the editorship of Ghana Studies (GS) and served in that capacity until 2013. During that time you over-saw the publication of six volumes, including two double issues, an impressive record by any measure. What were the greatest challenges and successes of your time as editors of GS?
We faced numerous challenges when we took over the editorship of GS in July 2009. The journal had not appeared since 2006, and there was no substantial pipeline of articles waiting to be published. Fortunately, our predecessors completed issue 10 (originally scheduled for 2007), which marked Ghana's Golden Jubilee and ultimately appeared in February 2010. Our first issue, number 11 (originally scheduled for 2008), followed in November 2010. Bringing the journal up-to-date was a struggle, but we did succeed.
Stephan and I spent a lot of time working together online; we also held a few e-conversations as well as in-person meetings when he was in Ghana. We set very rigid timetables for ourselves, so that when we did lose momentum or got swallowed up by our day jobs, we didn't veer too far off our self-imposed schedules. We assigned ourselves concrete tasks to be completed in between our meetings—who would read what, who would follow up on what with whom, and so forth. I think one of the things that worked best for us was a mutual respect of each other's schedules, as well as ideas.
Oh, I still remember your color-coded priority list. I was very impressed. In the course of four and a half years, we produced six issues, two of them double issues, with thirty-four articles, three review essays, and reports on a documentary film, an art exhibit, a dance performance, and a short-story competition including the winning stories. Since our editor-ship coincided with the Great Recession, we were unable to receive funds [End Page 86] for editorial support, particularly a much needed copy editor, from either the University of California, Santa Barbara, or the University of Ghana. We had to deliver each issue to the publisher, the African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, ready for the final formatting prior to going to press. Subsequently, we urged our successors, Akosua Darkwah and Sean Hanretta, to secure editorial support, at least a copy editor, from their home institutions. Darkwah and Hanretta began working as incoming editors before our term ended and published their first issue in a timely fashion. Finally, during our tenure, GS appeared only in print form. This seemed increasingly out of step with the twenty-first-century world of online publishing. We are very pleased that starting with issue 17 (2014), Project Muse has produced an online version of GS, and we hope that soon the back issues will be available via JSTOR.
If I might add, as this is a challenge for all journals, we also had our fair share of slow or even totally nonresponsive reviewers. Now that you ask us to look back, I remember a couple of senior scholars who promised, and I mean promised, us a review, and then went totally cold on us. I find this particularly disheartening because, one, everyone knows GS work is a real labor of love. But more importantly, I want to believe that most of us, especially our more senior colleagues, are invested in nurturing the next generation and not simply having their own names up in gold. For what does it profit a man (and in this case by "man" I do mean a couple of biological and social males) if he is considered to be a superstar but does not invest in his intellectual DNA?
Looking back at volumes 11 through 16, one of their striking characteristics is that the works of well-established and emerging Ghana Studies scholars appear side by side. How did you cultivate such a rich diversity of authors? Is there something unique about GS that attracts scholars at all stages of their careers?
