A Note from the New Editors

The publication of volume 20 marks the arrival of a new set of editors for Ghana Studies. We are tremendously honored and excited to take the helm of a journal that has been nurtured and shaped by our brilliant and dedicated predecessors, Akosua Darkwah (University of Ghana) and Sean Hanretta (Northwestern University). We are deeply indebted to Akosua and Sean for ensuring a smooth and successful editorial transition, signs of which are readily evident in the rigor and dynamism that characterize this special issue of Ghana Studies.

What began as a set of presentations exploring the myriad ways that John Collins has influenced the study of popular music and performance in Ghana at the 2016 Ghana Studies Association's (GSA) Triennial Conference in Cape Coast, has now transformed into an issue showcasing new multidisciplinary scholarship hailed by Collins's pioneering work. We are especially delighted that volume 20 so seamlessly demonstrates the fruitful intellectual partnership between the GSA, its triennial conference, and the journal. It was also a distinct privilege to collaborate with our special issue coeditors, Nathan Plageman (Wake Forest University) and Jesse Weaver Shipley (Dartmouth College). The Department of History at Wake Forest University generously provided funds for a copy editor, Deborah Wiseman, who skillfully polished individual essays and brought stylistic consistency to the issue as a whole. We are most appreciative of the numerous blind reviewers who worked diligently to ensure a timely and productive peer review process.

In addition to maintaining the rigorous publication standards and cross-disciplinary content that readers of Ghana Studies have come to expect, we are launching two new initiatives as part of our three-year editorship. The first, "From the GS Vaults," is intended to introduce readers, especially those who are new to the journal, to seminal essays that have appeared in back issues. We are extremely fortunate to be able to republish John Collins's sweeping essay, "Popular Performance and Culture in Ghana: The Past 50 Years," which first appeared a decade ago in volume 10. Readers of this issue will immediately appreciate the manifold ways that Collins's insatiable curiosity and his intellectual generosity have inspired and nourished the work of a new generation of scholars.

Our second initiative is to revive and expand the journal's book review section. To this end we are establishing a new position for a book review editor who will serve a three-year renewable term and who will be responsible for liaising with presses, authors, and reviewers to ensure that the review section adequately reflects the robust and diverse character of Ghana Studies scholarship. As a complement to this special issue honoring John Collins, volume 20 features the reviews of two books about popular music in Ghana, and a third review that covers a CD of sonic material, which foregrounds the socio-historic and cultural links between Ghana and Jamaica.

This journal has a long tradition of publishing articles written by a diverse group of authors from across the disciplines, across the globe, and across the scholarly career spectrum. We are fully committed to continuing to cultivate these hallmark features of Ghana Studies during our editorship. To that end we invite our readers to submit their work to the journal, and we look forward to working with you in the future.