Editors’ Note

GHANA STUDIES / Volume 8 ISSN 1536-5514 / E-ISSN 2333-7168© 2007 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System 1 EDITORS’ NOTE Condolences Just before going to press we learned of the passing of GSC member Kwadwo Konadu Agyeman, professor of geography at Akron University in Ohio. We would like to express our deepest condolences to his wife and children and members of his family. The contents of this issue of Ghana Studies are rich and varied. We span a range from the archaeological to the contemporary, in terms of time depth, and from concerns with education, through gender and religion, to the colonial hangover from the now repealed Criminal Libel laws, in terms of subject matter. Unlike the previous issue which stemmed from the Ghana Studies panels of the ASA, this issue draws on material submitted over time, by a range of authors. Again, here, we apologise for the time taken for GS 8 to appear. Some of the authors have been waiting for a considerable time, but, again, too, we have found that busy research and teaching schedules, not to mention the exponentially time-devouring tasks of administration, have prevented us from tasks of editing and correspondence that we would like to have put at the forefront of our schedules, but have not managed. However, we feel that standards have been maintained: all articles are peer reviewed and then finally edited by us, and standards are increasingly important in an era when quality as much as quantity is key in tenure and promotion trials, in addition, on the other hand, to the prodaction of a reliable archive of material on Ghana. But there is change ahead. We want to be responsible for only one more issue (GS 9) after which we will hand over to a new team. But in this memorable year, we would like the next issue to be centred around the theme of “Ghana at 50.” We have already canvassed a few pieces from wellknown scholars of Ghana, but we welcome offers of papers from as broad a range of disciplines and viewpoints as possible. We emphasise that GS is 2 Ghana Studies • volume 8 • 2005 a scholarly journal. Thus, enlightened journalism, some of which we have been receiving, will probably not make the cut. We are also happy to invite contributions from cultural, linguistic and artistic scholars, in addition to the more predictable politically, economically, historically and sociologically oriented pieces. We realise, dear readers and contributors, that you owe us nothing, but “Ghana at 50” should provide you with opportunity enough to galvanise ideas and viewpoints. Please let us have your ideas and articles! We do prefer the footnotes and separate bibliography format, but will accept others at a pinch. Ideally, too, we would like articles for submission to reach one or both of us by the end of November 2007, so that we can have them reviewed and edited in time to bring out GS 9 in at least the first half of 2008. Thanks for bearing with us. Lynne Brydon Takyiwaah Manuh Director Director Centre of West African Studies Institute of African Studies University of Birmingham (UK) University of Ghana, Legon l.brydon@bham.ac.uk takyiwaa@gmail.com ...