The importance of cultural enterprises to the creation of jobs, generating incomes, alleviating poverty and distributing development has long been recognized. Based on empirical research, this article adopts the convergent parallel mixed design to assess extent of influence of cultural values on the type of cultural industry established in Ghana, taking a case of the kente textile industry in Adanwomase. Adanwomase is argued to be a prominent traditional community in the printing of kente cloths in Ghana. Primary data were obtained (...) from 210 weavers and relevant bodies, such as the Business Advisory Council and traditional leaders through direct interviews, observation and focus group discussions. Findings show that the craft industry in Adanwomase is informal and small-scale in nature. Six key cultural values were identified to statistically have significant influence on the establishment of the textile craft industry. Strongest among them were the festival celebrations and customary law/traditional customs. There was strong correlation between the identified cultural values and the establishment of the textile industry in Adanwomase. Urgent policy and creation of the enabling environment to promote entrepreneurship and create employment through support for research and development (R&D) of cultural industries are needed. (shrink)

The eminent Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu confronts the paradox that while Western cultures recoil from claims of universality, previously colonized peoples, seeking to redefine their identities, insist on cultural particularities.

What can philosophy contribute to African culture? What can it draw from it? Could there be a truly African philosophy that goes beyond traditional folk thought? Kwasi Wiredu tries in these essays to define and demonstrate a role for contemporary African philosophers which is distinctive but by no means parochial. He shows how they can assimilate the advances of analytical philosophy and apply them to the general social and intellectual changes associated with 'modernisation' and the transition to new national (...) identities. But we see too how they can exploit traditional resources and test the assumptions of Western philosophy against the intimations of their own language and culture. The volume as a whole presents some of the best non-technical work of a distinguished African philosopher, of importance equally to professional philosophers and to those with a more general interest in contemporary African thought and culture. (shrink)

Abstract Democracy as a political system entailing multi-party competition for power is only one form of democracy. Given that democracy is government by consent, the question is whether a less adversarial system than the party system, which is bound up with majoritarian decision-making, cannot be devised. This paper contends that a system based on consensus as a decision procedure would be a democracy of just such a description. It is important to note that the kind of consensus envisaged here is (...) not agreement regarding questions of truth and morality; it is concerned only with the question of what is to be done. And it is an important fact that reasonable human beings can come to an agreement about what is to be done by virtue of compromise without agreeing on issues of truth or morality. A consensual system will naturally be a non-party arrangement. However, as I explain, such a polity need not be one without parties. (shrink)

Certaines notions philosophiques dans leur splendeur paraissent s’imposer à tous en Afrique. C’est ainsi que la réalité, l’existence, l’objet, la substance, la qualité, la punition… semblent avoir une extension presque universelle. Il est question pour l’auteur de contextualiser ces notions et de décoloniser mentalement les Africains qui les utilisent sans en tirer des conséquences historiques.

Two different kinds of rules are needed in the regulation of human conduct in the sphere of global interaction. There is a need for global ethics and also a need for a global ethic. The first exists but needs reinforcement. The second also exists but not sufficiently widely and therefore needs a fashioning out in some contexts. Because ethics and an ethic are grammatically cognate and are both concerned with behavior, it is easy to conflate the two. Accordingly, clarity will (...) be sought below about the distinction between them. The hope is that such clarity might help in directing efforts in search of harmony and other good things on our planet. (shrink)

This chapter is a response to the decades of Western skepticism and cynicism regarding the sustainability of democracy in Africa toward the end of the last century as most African countries experienced what political scientists term the third wave of democratization. Focusing on the human rights tradition in Africa, which is given as the main reason for the skepticism, this chapter argues to the contrary that not only is there a vibrant tradition of human rights in Africa with particular reference (...) to the Akan model, but that its existence offers one of the best explanations for the relative success of democracy in Africa from the last century to the recent. The chapter shows further that an objective analysis into the Akan culture will reveal that the Akan conception of human rights which compliments negative rights with positive rights in principle and practice is more relevant and heuristic within African contexts than dominant conceptions of human rights from the Global North. This is seen in its demonstrated potential for facilitating and sustaining African democracies to maturity, despite the pressures from the pandemic and global economic crises. (shrink)

Indoor air pollution resulting from the combustion of solid fuels has been identified as a major health threat in the developing world. This study examines how the choice of cooking fuel, place of cooking and behavioural risk factors affect respiratory health infections in Accra, Ghana. About 65·3% of respondents use charcoal and 4·2% use unprocessed wood. A total of 241 (25·4%) respondents who cook had had respiratory health symptoms in the two weeks preceding the study. Household socioeconomic status and educational (...) attainment of respondents were found to have a significant impact on respiratory health through their particular influence on the choice of cooking fuel. Households that use wood and charcoal have a high incidence of respiratory health symptoms. The poor are more affected by respiratory health problems due to their heavy dependence on solid fuels as compared with their wealthy counterparts. Households that cook in multiple purpose rooms are more affected by respiratory health problems than those that cook outdoors. There is a positive correlation between the presence of children in the kitchen during cooking and the incidence of respiratory health symptoms among children (r=0·31, p<0·0001). Poverty and lack of education and awareness are the major factors affecting the choice of cooking fuel, place of cooking and respiratory health in Accra. (shrink)

Abstract ‘PLATO’S THEORY OF CHANGE: A POPPERIAN RECONSTRUCTION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR TRADITIONAL AND EMERGING DEMOCRACIES,’ The International Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol 8 Winter/Spring 1994, No.2. -/- This paper argues that in the midst of the unprecedented actual and potential socio-political and economic changes and transformations in our world toward the end of the 20th Century, the need for some philosophical grounding and guidance has become an imperative if only to avoid a global disaster or change for its own (...) sake. The changes cited include the collapse of the Soviet hegemony and the emergence of pro-democracy movements throughout in Eastern Europe, Latin America, South East Asia, and Africa including the post-Apartheid South Africa. Other changes mentioned include the integration of EEC members into a political unit, the threats from international terrorism, the increasing socio-economic gap and anti-Black racism in the US, and the changes promised by the new US President, Bill Clinton. The paper initiates discussion about the prospect for such a philosophical grounding and guidance by focusing on Plato’s Theory of Change and the possibility of utilizing it as a fulcrum for the ongoing global changes. Following Karl Popper’s lead, (in The Open Society and Its Enemies Vol .I, The Spell of Plato) Plato’s Theory is critiqued on account of its inherent historicism, totalitarianism, and social injustice. Unlike Popper who stops at the criticism however, this paper proceeds with a reconstruction of Plato’s Theory of Change in the light of the criticism as well as the criticism of Popper’s own inaccurate representation of Plato’s Theory. The new theory of change, aptly called, The Plato-Popper Theory of Change is applied to analyzing and theoretically solving or minimizing some of the problems within traditional democracies like the US and Emerging democracies in the Third World. Finally, the paper also presents a challenge to professional philosophers, especially those skilled in ethics and socio-political philosophy, to shift their focus from solving the abstract problems in some possible worlds to solving the real problems of this world in which we live and die. [312 words] . (shrink)

The limbus is a narrow band of tissue that encircles the cornea, the transparent ‘window’ into the eye. The outermost layer of the cornea is the epithelium, which is necessary for clear vision. The limbus acts as a ‘reservoir’ for limbal stem cells which maintain and regenerate the corneal epithelium. It also functions as a barrier to the conjunctiva and its blood vessels. Limbal stem cell deficiency is a general term for diseases which are characterised by the impairment of the (...) limbus, limbal stem cells and their ability to replenish the corneal epithelium through proliferation and differentiation. Consequently, sufferers experience chronic pain and progressive blindness. This paper will highlight the salient milestones of limbal stem cell biology and potential future treatments for limbal stem cell deficiency. (shrink)

There is one thing about some of the first crop of post independence rulers of Africa that I admire greatly. It is their keen sense of the practical importance of philosophy. Preeminent among them were leaders like Nkrumah, Senghor, Nyerere, Awolowo, Kaunda, and Sekou Toure. Amidst the awesome exigencies of postcolonial reconstruction they still devoted considerable attention to the philosophical bases of their programs. It can be debated whether the limits of the appreciation of the relevance of theory to practice (...) were not touched in Nkrumah's Consciencism in which proof of the consistency of his “revolutionary” propositions was offered by means of mathematical logic, but there can be no doubt of the sincerity of the underlying passion. South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 27 2008: pp. 332-339. (shrink)

This paper contributes to the discussion on methodological decolonisation in business ethics research by illustrating how local epistemologies can shape methodology. Historically, business ethics research has been dominated by Western methodologies, which have been argued to be restrictive and limit contextually relevant theorising in non-Western contexts. Over the past decade, scholarship has called for more diversity in research methods and epistemologies. This paper regards arguments founded along neatly divided universalist versus contextualised methodologies as a false dilemma. Instead, we explore how (...) _ubuntu_, a sub-Saharan African epistemology, can contribute as a complementary epistemology and methodology to interpretivism when conducting business ethics research in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper discusses four aspects—research agenda, access, power relations, and context-sensitive methods—that highlight practical ways in which _ubuntu_ epistemology, with its communitarian and relational underpinnings, can enhance business ethics research. We illustrate that methodological decolonisation can be achieved by fusing relevant elements of local epistemologies and methodologies and conventional methodologies to generate context-relevant research approaches. (shrink)

This volume of newly commissioned essays provides comprehensive coverage of African philosophy, ranging across disciplines and throughout the ages. _ Offers a distinctive historical treatment of African philosophy. Covers all the main branches of philosophy as addressed in the African tradition. Includes accounts of pre-colonial African philosophy and contemporary political thought. _.

Wiredu discusses the use of the consensus principle for political theory and practice in Africa. The consensus principle used to be widespread in African politics, and Wiredu elaborates on the example of the traditional political system of the Ashantis in Ghana as a possible guideline for a recommendable path for African politics. For empirical data, he draws from historical material published by British anthropologists and Ghanaian intellectuals. According to Wiredu, a non-party system based on consensus as a central principle of (...) political organisation in Africa could avoid the evident problems of both the one-party system and the multi-party system imposed by the West. (shrink)

A dialectical interaction exists between cultural unity and diversity. These two factors can operate for good or ill. In order to strengthen the positive factor and limit the negative, it is important to have a good conceptual grasp of the basis of the unity, as well as of the diversity of cultures. Such an understanding should facilitate dialogue in intercultural relations, dialogue that is the most rational of all ways of coexistence. This article aims to explore the underlying conceptual themes.

The existence of philosophy as an academic discipline in African universities has been jeopardized by a growing skepticism regarding the value of contemporary African philosophy. First, it is argued that the discipline is either a Western ideology or an instrument of that ideology for the entrenchment of Western imperialism in Africa. Further, it is argued that as a discipline philosophy is too removed from reality to be of any relevance towards development. In short, the discipline should be rejected from African (...) universities for being either counterproductive or nonproductive to the process of development. ;It is the conclusion of this dissertation that both skeptical arguments lack plausibility, and that contemporary African philosophy is neither an ideology, an instrument of any ideology, nor a luxury even for the poorest countries of Africa. The first argument is refuted by arguing that the characteristics of philosophy, such as its critical epistemological attitude, rigorous methodology, and open-ended conclusions, as well as its logical status as a second-order activity that reflects critically on all disciplines including itself, are too incompatible with the corresponding characteristics of the pejorative Marxist sense of ideology presupposed by the critics. ;The second argument is refuted by arguing that contemporary African philosophy, like its Western counterpart, cultivates critical thinking skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, and certain liberal attitudes, all of which promote morality, the democratic way of life, and scientific thinking. In support of this argument a formal representation of the dilemma of development, a new theory of development, and a new ideology for developing countries are projected and defended against their relevant alternatives as the best means for dissolving the dilemma and for achieving accelerated successful development in Africa. ;My counter-arguments are supported by showing how contemporary African philosophers are facilitating the process of development through their analyses and prescriptions for transcending cultural barriers to a general orientation to science. (shrink)

Management and business literature affirm the role played by stakeholders in corporate social responsibility practices as crucial, but what constitutes a true business–society partnership remains relatively unexplored. This paper aims to improve scholarly and management understanding beyond the usual managers’ perceptions on salience attributes, to include how stakeholders can acquire missing attributes to inform a meaningful partnership. In doing this, a model is proposed which conceptualises CSR practices and outcomes within the frameworks of stakeholder salience via empowerment, sustainable corporate social (...) performances and partnership quality. A holistic discussion leads to generation of propositions on stakeholder salience management, corporate social performance, corporate–community partnership systems and CSR practices, which have both academic and management implications. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: The Postcolonial Situation Paulin Hountondji The Study of African Traditional Philosophy Mbiti and Time in Africa Contemporary African Philosophy as Comparative Philosophy The Question of Relativism Conceptual Decolonization The Concept of a Person Morality Africa's Philosopher Kings The Question of Violence The Question of Democracy Dimensions of African Philosophy.

This chapter contains sections titled: Works cited.

As we push closer to the twenty-first century, it is relevant to speculate whether the different peoples of the world can have any prospect of a more peaceful coexistence in the coming millennium than hitherto. It seems reasonable to suppose that intercultural dialogue in philosophy can be of service in the pursuit of this ideal and ought therefore to be promoted or, at least, cherished by all philosophers of goodwill. In this way they would be playing their part in the (...) re-education of humankind. But if “ought” implies “can” then whether philosophy can be intercultural is a prior and more fundamental question. (shrink)