More articles from Special Forum

Ebony Coletu () is an assistant professor of African American Studies, English, and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is also a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana (2019–2020) at the Institute for African Studies, University of Ghana-Legon. This essay draws from her Fulbright research and book project: Pan-African Logistics: Chief Sam and the Origins of African American Migration to Ghana.

Kwasi Ampene () is associate professor of Music at the University of Michigan. As an ethnomusicologist, Ampene specializes in the rich musical traditions of the Akan people of West Africa. His research interests include the intersections between lived experience, music, and social values; the performance of historical and social memory, and politics. He is the current chair of the African Music Section in the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). He has also provided expert advice for public engagement projects on Asante and Akan culture and music to institutions such as the British Library, Tufts University, and Princeton University. Professor Ampene is the author and coauthor of journal articles and books, including Engaging Modernity: Asante in the Twenty-First Century (Michigan Publishing, 2016); Discourses in African Musicology: J. H. Kwabena Nketia Festschrift (Michigan Publishing, 2015); and Female Song Tradition and the Akan of Ghana: The Creative Process in Nnwonkorɔ (Ashgate, 2005). Ampene is the director and producer of a documentary film, Gone to the Village: Royal Funerary Rites for Asantehemaa Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II. Ampene’s book manuscript, Asante Court Music and Verbal Arts in Ghana: The Porcupine and the Gold Stool, is currently under contract with Routledge.