ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Kwahu Cultural values: their impact on the people’s art

This research is aimed at creating awareness on Kwahu cultural values: its impact on the people’s art for the betterment of the Kwahu traditional area and the nation at large. Information and other details were drawn from chiefs and authorities of the Kwahu land, Institutions, professionals in the field of art, citizens with knowledge about the history of Kwahu and some current occupants of the land. The research is categorized into five chapters, comprising of an introduction, related literature review, methodology, discussion and analysis of data and findings and recommendations. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the research examines Kwahu cultural values as a tool or determinant to community and in a broader scope national art development. The paper also outlines some of the impact Kwahu cultural values have or play on the art of the people and again suggests possible measures to improve and make Kwahu cultural values a preferred option to enhancing the quality of art of the people and life as a whole. In a nut shell, a combination of several research methods, approaches and techniques were employed in the success story of the research amidst the expertise of the sample population who by virtue of their status are literate and understand what makes and constitute the culture of the people in relation to achieving the goals this research seeks to address.

Source: KNUST
Kumasi Psychiatric Hospital - Kumasi

Very little has been done in the area of Mental Health since the building of the first Mental Hospital in 1906. This neglect of the Mental Health Service is surprising because our mental health problems have been growing ever since, and are likely to increase with the improved standard of living and the welfare society envisaged by the government. It must be appreciated that every change brings a host of new stresses and tensions to which we must like a quick and reasonable adjustment, if we are to maintain a normal mental equilibrium. 1. The ineffective utilization of available psychiatric opinion in planning. 2. The erroneous belief that psychiatric problems in the African are minimal and do not call for special attention. 3. The attitude that mental patients are dangerous and must be kept out of sight, thus satisfying the mentality that what cannot be seen is absent. This apartheid attitude towards the mentally ill and their problems forms the basis for the lack of planning, extension and proportionate growth of the Mental Health service vis-a-vis other services. It must (a) emphasize the global distribution of mental illness and its trends towards a gradual increase. (b) Underline the lack of respect of colour, race, creed and social status among the unfortunate sufferers. In the developing nations the general approach should be on the lines of community services. The basic assumption underlying community mental health is that behaviour is a function of two sets of variable, the person and the situationBehaviour is also related to attitudes of the individual as well as attitudes of the environment. A crucial aspect of the environment involves the interaction of the individual with members of his community. It is this interaction which implies an exchange of emotional support and services that gives rise to stress, tension failure of adjustment etc. This is the price of progress, a price which must be paid. Indeed most unaware of doing so. However, there are many in whom the stress of modern living- produces adverse effects such as anxiety and physical tension. No one can stop the world for these people, nor can they contract out of it. In a developing nation like Ghana, it is imperative that mental health problems be given their proper place and importance in the health services if we are to minimise the effects of inimical forces on the individual.

Source: KNUST
Kwahu Manhene’s Palace

The Ghanaian government recognises the moral, socio-cultural and political authority of chiefs (the traditional rulers). Since the creation of the State of Ghana, there have been various acts of parliament and decrees aimed at defining and guaranteeing the chiefs functions. A 1972 decree ratified the creation of a national House of Chiefs, which heads the regional association of the traditional rulers. In consequence, the chiefs in all the regions hold responsibilities at various levels in the traditional local councils. They serve as government consultants, notably on matters concerning revisions of customary law, and acquisition of land for development. In his community, a chief enjoys the rank of importance corresponding to his personal worth. Ideally, he remains the social and political leader and is responsible for organizing the development of his town, area or region in conformity of course, with the national planning scheme. In some cases he occupies an eminent position in the major state agencies, thereby forming an efficient link between the government and the populations in the promotion of peace and stability. Over the years, traditional institutions have taken different directions and dimensions as a result of constantly changing needs of the society, politically, socially and economically. The design of a chief’s palace thus needs to create an effective impact on the people with a new type of architecture which should reflect the aspirations of the people and their culture as well as promote tourism of the country. This can only be appreciated by identifying culture and traditions of a people. The decision to choose such a topic for this thesis presentation arouse out of the realization of the importance of the Kwahu traditional state, especially, ABENE the paramount seat of the Kwahuman. The Kwahu’s takes credit for being the best and successful traders and general merchants in the commercial field of the country, contributing immensely to National Economy. Due to the government’s decision to make chiefs instrumental in the current economic recovery programme; the Kwahu Manhene, should be considered as a vital instrument in the above, because he commands all the chiefs in the Kwahu traditional area. Meeting his needs and putting him in a position to effectively serve the needs of the Kwahu people becomes a first step in the right direction of general development. The Kwahu Manhene presently occupies a palace which is a apology of what should actually be the Kwahu Manhene’s palace. A befitting palace is a prime importance - one that would depict the importance of the Kwahu stool and also functionally suit and serve the activities of the palace is much desired.

Source: KNUST
L. Senghor Et David Diop: Fils De La Même Epoque Mais Attitude Differentes Envers La Negritude

Avant d’entamer nos discussions sur le sujet de notre mémoire il serait nécessaire de poser quelques questions Tout d’abord, pourquoi la poésié? Ces poids lourds de la Negritude ne pouvaient-ils pas annoncer leur message a travers le roman ou le theatre9 Est-ce que ces poetes veulent nous convaincre coüte que coüte que hors de la poésie, il n’y a pas de salüt? Voici certaines des questions qui nous poussent á tenter quelques explications pour le choix de la poésie. A notre avis, ces apôtres ont adopte la poesie pour echapper á la vigilance des tracasseries policières de l’epoque coloniale. Nul doute que les autorités coloniales étaient incapables de suivre et de comprendre cette poésie hermetique, cette poésie academique, cette poésie ésotérique. Ecoutons cette dèclaration de Césaire. “Je retrouverais le secret des grandes communications et des grandes combustions. Je dirais orage. Je dirais fleuve. Je dirais tornade. Je dirais feuille. Je roulerais comme du sang frénétique sur le courant lent de 1 ‘ᴔil des mots en chevaux fous en enfants frais en caillots en couvre-feu en vestige de temple en pierres précieuses assez loin pour decourager les mineurs. Qui ne comprendrait pas ne comprendrait pas davantage le mugissement du tigre”1 Ainsi, en choisissant le vocable de “vautours” comme titre d’un poème, David Diop était bien convaincu que le policier parisien n’était pas assez fin poétiquement pour discerner l’intentjon anti-coloniale cachée dans ce poème. Focalisons majntenant notre attention sur les réflexions de quelques grands intellectuels á propos de la poésie. Un commentateur célèbre de la Revolution

Source: KNUST
La fable en tant que technique satirique: le cas de la musique de Nana Kwame Ampadu

Dans ce travail nous proposons d’étudier Ia musique de Nana Kwame Ampadu dans le but de contribuer aux efforts visant a conserver la littérature orale en général dans un monde oü elle doit faire face a La menace des littératures écrites et l’invasion cuiturelle par des moeurs occidentales. Nous avons découvert que le chanteer de highli/è entreprend une critique ascerbe de plusieurs aspects de Ia société ghanéerine déguisée sous foime des animaux. Ses critiques portent sir les domaines scciales, politiques, morales et philosophiques. Tout cela montre Ampadu comme un satiriste habile et contemporain. Certes, ii ne connait ni La Fontaine ni Esope mais ses fables suivent la même forme et souvent un style semblable a ceux de ces grands précurseurs de ce genre. Ce travail a bsoin d’être protégé pour les générations a venir et voilà justement ce que nous croyons avoir fait. Notis avons choisi de traiter ce sujet de recherche en quatre chapitres précédé par une introduction générale. Le premier chapitre porte sur les formes diverses de Ia satire, partant de sa forme modérée et terminant en sa forme critique. Dans le deuxième chapitre nous procédons a un aperçu général de la musique de highlife, appuyant surtout sur le contenu des chansons et fables d’Ampadu. Au chapitre trois, nous passons a une étude analytique des fables recueillies en annexe. Dans un premier temps nous étudions Ia morale dans les fables ainsi que des expressions langagiers. Dans un deuxième temps nous examinons 1’ art et l’humour du fahuliste qui ont donné aux fables une qualite exceptionnelle. Dans le quatrirne chapitre, qui est Ic sujet de Ia satire d’Ampadu, nous identifions et discutons les themes principaux renfermés dams les fables. En guise de conclusion nous avons fait une synthèse des résultats obtenus.

Source: KNUST
L'Impact Des Politiques Lingustiques Ghaneennes Sur L'Enseignment/Apprentissage Du Francais Langue Etrangere Au Ghana

This study entitled, "The impact of language policies of Ghana on teaching and learning of French as a foreign language", was conducted in twenty-five schools (15 JHS and 10 SHS) in the Kumasi metropolis by the use of questionnaire and interviews as instrument for data collection...

Source: KNUST
La notion de l’absurde chez albert camus et chez camilo josé cela

Je voudrais remercier d’abord Dieu, car sans lui, ce travail n’aurait pas vu le jour. Mes remerciements vont egalement a mon man, qui a passé des nuits bncheS a côté de moi pendant des moments difficiles consacrés a ce travail. Sans lui, ce mémoire n’aurait pas été réalisé dans les meilleurs délais. D’autres personnalités ont joué des rates divers pour rendre ce travail possible; ce sont: le Docteur Opoku-Agyemang, du Département des Langues de l’Université de Kumasi (K.N.U.S.T), qui nous a beaucoup guidé en mettant a notre disposition des livres et des conseils ; ensuite, Monsieur Joseph Nsiah, également de Département des Langues, qui nous a donné beaucoup de livres utiles a notre recherche; Monsieur Adrah, Assistant du Département de Langues de l’Université du Ghana, est également digne d’être remercié. En plus, nous remercions le Docteur Lamptey, chef de Ia section espagnole du Département des Langues Modernes de l’Université du Ghana, qui a mis sa bibliotheque, riche en documents espagnols a notre disposition. Nous disons également merci a Felicity Antwi, qui a bien voulu dactylographier ce mémoire. Sans elle nous aurions eu du mat a mener a bien cette investigation. En dernier lieu, nous remercions notre Directeur de recherches, le Professeur Albert Owusu-Sarpong, Doyen de Ia Faculté des Sciences Sociales; sa patience, sa tolerance, sa tendresse, au cours de nos entretiens avec lui, ont été merveilleuses. II a sacniflé énormément son temps pour diniger ce travail. Que Dieu bénisse tous ceux qui ont contribué au succès de ce travail.

Source: KNUST
La Nouvelle Bourgeoisie Africaine Vue Par Deux Dramaturges Ivoiriens Bernard Dadie (M. Thogo-Gnini) Et Bernard Zadi Zaourou (L’œil)

The ultimate aim of this research is to find out if Africans and the African continent are better off today after more than fifty years of independence under African leadership. To achieve this aim we decided to compare and contrast the colonial rule before independence and the new Black leadership after independence. Our research proved that Africans clearly suffered untold hardship, racial discrimination and oppression from the hands of their colonial masters. It thus came as a great relieve when the Africa continent finally gained her independence. The masses expected a better kind of governance and leadership from their own people, but unfortunately the euphoria and optimism that came with the independence were short-lived. The new African leaders, who were mandated by the masses to bring a change in their lives, became power drunk once they discovered the power and influence they had as individuals. They lived like the aristocrats in Europe by amassing wealth for themselves and exploiting the masses. Our research discovered that most of these African aristocrats had studied in Europe under strict racial discrimination and oppression. But it is very easy to forget your past when you have money, power and fame. The main aim of our research was to find out how these new African aristocrats pursue money, power and fame at the expense of the masses. We have therefore chosen to analyze two literary works from two playwrights of Ivorian decent, Bernard Dadié (Monsieur Thogo-gnini) and Bernard Zadi Zaourou (L’œil) to expatiate on our chosen subject. We will also consider the views of other literary writers who have written and shared their views on the subject matter.

Source: KNUST
La problematique de la traduction des proverbes akan en français : le cas des proverbes choisis de Brako De Kwabena Adi

In this study, the authour takes a critical look at one of the most problematic elements of translation, the proverb. The authour specifically studies the Akan proverb and its translatability into French, a language that is both linguistically and culturally very distant from Twi. Basing the study on the context of a novel, the author makes a study of the various ways that the Akan proverb may or may not be translated into French.

Source: KNUST
La prise de conscience feminine dans la Litterature d’afrique de L’ouest: sa reflexion chez les femmes d’ejisu

This thesis, dubbed “LA PRISE DE CONSCIENCE FEMENINE DANS LA LITTERATURE D’ AFRIQUE D’OUEST: SA REFLEXION CHEZ LES FEMMES D’EJISU” has brought to the fore a lot of concealed developments militating against women in most Asante marital homes. It also revealed certain perceptions about the Asantes which have no empirical basis and even turned out to be false. The thesis is introduced by the importance of literature as a tool of combating social problems and perceptions regarding relationships, especially marriage. It ends by trying to establish certain hypotheses about Asante marriage. The basis of Asante wives’ suffering is superintended by tradition and accentuated by norms. The focus of probability sampling techniques remains Ejisu where forty women and ten men were randomly sampled as the sample size to represent Asante Region which was the population universe. The findings of this work include women being subjected to widowhood rites, being divorced unnecessarily, made to cater for children alone, not allowed to have a say in marital administration, etc. It was also found out that Asante men do not take care of their nephews to the detriment of their children and are not fond of beating their wives, etc. The recommendations consequently include the sensitization of parents to send their girl-child to school, government financial interventions for some women wallowing in abject poverty, supporting groups like DOVVSU to vigorously enforce laws on violence against women, etc.

Source: KNUST
La structure textuelle de gouverneurs de la rosee de jacques roumain

We began this study by looking at how linguistics came into existence. We found out that it was as a result of its founder Ferdinand de Saussure. According to him, language is homogeneous in nature. After, modern linguists concentrated on communication which deals with a text. One of the branches of linguistics that deals a lot with a text is textual linguistics. Even though textual linguistics deals with different areas such as the study of linguistics anaphora elements, ellipsis and others, we limited our study to the types of text by trying to see if each type of text contains a specific linguistic element. We limited our study to the narrative, dialogue, argumentative, descriptive and explanatory types of text. Before we studied the various rules that underline each type of text, we looked at the types of narrative text. After that, we applied the principles of the various types of text proposed by Jean Michael Adam to the book entitled: Gouverneurs de la rosée of Jacques Roumain. We saw that the book under study is heterogeneous in nature because it is made up of all the five types of texts proposed by Jean Michael Adam. Then, we tackled the benefits that teachers and students in the teaching field would obtain. Also, it will be beneficial to those in other disciplines such as literature and translation. We proposed that textual grammar as a course should be integrated in the study of French as a Foreign Language.

Source: KNUST
La Structure Textuelle Du Pagne Noir (Bernard Dadie)

The study entitled “La structure textuelle du Pagne noir” examines the textual structure of Le Pagne noir (a collection of African short stories by Bernard Dadié). The study combines the qualitative method of research (which aims at describing a specific phenomenon with the view to confirming or refuting the initial hypotheses) and textual analysis as expounded by J.-M. Adam (1997). The study reveals that: • Every text has its own configurational structure and could be dominated by one dominant type of text; • Homogenous texts rarely exist and that in real life situations, one invariably encounters heterogeneous texts, with one type of text being usually dominant; • Our corpus has a pluri-sequential nature in that, it is largely composed of different types of sequences, with the narrative sequence being the dominant type; • The narrative sequence may not always begin with the Initial situation (Pn1), but could begin with any other moment in the episode; • It is an act of reading/interpretation on the part of the reader/speaker that confers on the text/discourse a certain compositional structure.

Source: KNUST
Laboratory breeding of biomphalaria pfeifferi and the isolation and charactisation of potential microbial pathogens for bioassay screening as molluscicides

A biocontrol agent against the snail vectors of Schistosomiasis was searched for from freshwater bodies in some bilharzia endemic areas in the Ashanti region. Bioassays present inherent problems because of the inadequate supply of genetically comparable or identical snails from the field. Healthy field collected Biomphalaria pfeifferi snails were therefore bred under laboratory conditions to obtain snails from the same egg clutch that were of uniform genetic constitution, size, age and of sufficient quantities for bioassay experiments. Biomphalaria pfejfferi was incubated in the laboratory in aerated sterile pond water until it spawned. The young snails were fed on centrifuged algal suspension and sun-dried lettuce until they began oviposition. This stock was multiplied in 9 litre plastic bowls and later transferred into large glass tanks where the multiplication process was allowed to continue to obtain several-folds of snails. Monitoring of water quality involved measurement of pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand of the water. Water temperature was also measured. A temperature of 26°C ± 2°C and neutral pH range encouraged oviposition and growth. Dissolved oxygen (DO) of 7.2 mg l-1 and biochemical oxygen demand of 10 mg l-1 were also found to be favourable to the snails. The inclusion of Lemna, an aquatic plant helped to create a favourable water quality for snail breeding. Snail density of 3 or 4 per 250 ml of water gave better oviposition rates. A snail size range of 8 mm to 9 mm gave a better rate of oviposition. Bacterial isolates were obtained from moribund Biomphalaria pfejfferi snails in the field and from soil sediments. Twelve isolates were obtained: eleven were found to belong to Bacillus cereus and one, Bacillus polymyxa. Trials of bioassays were made using the laboratory bred snails. Each bioassay of a single isolate involved, at least, sixty snails of the same genotype between 6 mm and 10 mm size. Whilst the large scale laboratory breeding of Biomphalaria pfejfferi was highly successful, the pathogenicity of the isolates against the snails yielded negative results. Bioassays were performed using bacterial isolates screened for from the field.

Source: KNUST
A laboratory investigation into the effect of confinement on the dynamic cone penetration index of a lateritic soil for field compaction verification

The compaction quality control process may be simplified by introducing the Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) as a compaction verification tool. To use the DCP for this purpose requires a field calibration exercise. The calibration parameters κ, and λ and the magnitudes of the dynamic cone penetration index (DPI) are known to be influenced by many factors including soil type, density and moisture content. Due to the sensitivity of these parameters to the soil factors, a new calibration test has to be performed whenever there is a change in the material source. However, in-situ calibration test is tedious and time consuming and tend to decrease the attractiveness of compaction verification using DCP. To overcome this challenge, in-mould DCP is proposed. However, the influence of confinement provided by compaction moulds needs to be examined and quantified in order that the laboratory determined parameters may be used in the field. This research investigated the influence of horizontal confinement provided by the in-mould DCP on the DPI of a lateritic soil. The lateritic soil were compacted at the optimum water content using the modified AASHTO in seven moulds of nominal diameters of 100mm, 150mm, 200mm, 300mm, 400mm, 500mm and 600mm. For each mould, three levels of compaction ranging from 80% to 100% were performed. This was followed by conducting the in-mould DCP test with a DCP equipment of hammer mass 8kg in accordance with ASTM D 6951-03. From the study, it was found out that, for a given mould diameter, the DPI (mm/blow) reduced with increasing dry density. The effect of confinement was observed to increase as the mould diameters increases but from 500mm, the effect of confinement was insignificant. For the 500mm diameter mould the effect of confinement increases the DPI value in the CBR mould by 2.2. A relationship was developed between level of laboratory compaction and DPI that may be used for field compaction verification.

Source: KNUST