African Proverbs Series : Volume 2: AKAN PROVERBS: hearing and Keeping

Authors

Kofi Asare Opuku
University of Ghana
John S Mbiti
University of Cambridge
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25159/207

Keywords:

indigenous knowledge, translation, African customs, Proverbs

Synopsis

University of South Africa, Pretoria163 pp 

ISBN 1-86888-021-4

Kofi Asare Opoku, formerly Associate Professor of Religion and Ethics at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, is currently Visiting Professor at the Department of Religion, Lafayette, College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA. He is the author of Speak to the Winds: Proverbs from Africa (1975), a vit West African Traditional Religion (\978) and co-author of Healing for, God's World: Remedies from Three Continents (1991).

This volume, Akan Proverbs, Hearing and Keeping, includes 589 Akan proverbs, some collected by the author and others selected from the sources listed in the bibliography. They are presented with translations, explanations, illustrations and subject classification in keeping with the style of the African Proverbs Series, which in its initial phase also includes volumes from Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

The African Proverbs Series is one of several components of the African Proverbs Project, an international research effort steered by Stan Nussbaum (co-ordinator, American), John Mbiti (Kenyan), Joshua Kudadjie (Ghanaian), John Pobee (Ghanaian), Laurent Nare (Burkinabe), Willem Saayman (South African) and Dan Hoffman (American). The aims of the Project are to promote the collection, study and use of African proverbs.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 
Maps 
Introduction to the African Proverbs Series 
Introduction to Volume 2 The Proverbs
1 God 
2 Ancestors 
3 Human Beings 
4 The Person (Body Parts) 
5 Marriage 
6 The Family (Abusua) 
7 Mother and Father 
8 Women and Wives 
9 Wife (Qyere) 
10 Children 
11 Men 
12 Elders 
13 The Human Condition 
14 Death 
15 Akan Idiomatic Expressions of Death 
16 Values, Virtues and Vices 
17 Wisdom and Folly 
18 Truth and Falsehood 
19 Feelings 
20 Trees and Plants 
21 Animals 
22. Birds 
23 Money 
24 Gold Weights 
25 Adinkra symbols 
26 Linguist Staffs 
Index of Topics and Key Words 
Alphabetical Index in Akan 
Bibliography 

Author Biographies

Kofi Asare Opuku, University of Ghana

Kofi Asare Opoku was formerly Associate Professor of Religion and Ethics and the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon; he was an authority on traditional African religion, and retired Professor of Religious Studies at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

John S Mbiti, University of Cambridge

John S Mbiti was a groundbreaking Kenyan-born philosopher, theologian, and Anglican priest widely regarded as the father of modern African theology. He authored over 400 works that explored African religious traditions, blending Christian theology with indigenous cultural insights

Greyscale photo of thorn tree at top, fading to grey at bottom, with white and deep red lettering of book title on front cover

Published

December 31, 1997

Series

Heritage Collection

Categories

Copyright (c) 1997 Unisa Press