UCC hosts 2021 PANAFEST Colloquium

The PANAFEST Foundation in collaboration with the University of Cape Coast, and the African Heritage Studies Association (AHSA) has held a three-day PANAFEST Colloquium. The Colloquium was based on the themes, “Securing the African Family: Our Soul, Our Health, Our Wealth'', and “The Future of AHSA and The Youth in The African Liberation Movement”

In an address by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong at the opening ceremony explained that the choice to hold the biennial colloquium was well thought out because Cape Coast had become the gateway for Africans overseas who wished to return home.

“The University of Cape Coast sits on very historic and culturally rich grounds, whose history is intrinsically connected with the histories of all African nations, the histories of the African Diaspora, and the longstanding agenda of the return home of our compatriots,” he said.

He indicated that the University of Cape Coast was collaborating with the African Heritage Studies Association to turn the Centre for African and International Studies into an Institute of Excellence for the Study of Africa and also rename the Centre for the originator of African studies after Dr John Henrik Clarke.

He said, “Moving forward, whilst UCC becomes the centre of choice on the continent for the study of Africa, we will also institute programmes and policies that will solidify Africa’s connections with her branches overseas, such as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and other institutions that have cultural ties to the Motherland.”

The Chairman of the Colloquium, Prof. Kwadwo Opoku Agyemang also gave a background history on the PANAFEST celebration. He pointed out that the Pan African Historical Theater Festival had been described as “the grandest artistic vision for uplifting and reuniting African peoples through the arts''.

He further explained that the Colloquium was a deliberative forum that was intended to carve out nurturing spaces for all members of the African family to speak with each other.  even as they dialogue with the world at large.

“This doesn’t mean that we will always agree on the way forward. But it does mean that here, finally, in the African home that we can all share, through the thick and thin of our history, we are home at last and engaging fruitfully with each other, celebrating the gains and wrinkles of our worth for all our sakes, and fretting our future together,” he added.

Giving the keynote address themed Soul to Soul: Pan-African Joy and the Power of the Arts, was Dr Tstsi Jaji, an Associate Professor of English at Duke University.

She noted that Soul to Soul was still relevant, as an essential reference point for the joys and pleasures of cultural encounters and artistic collaborations between Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.

Present at the ceremony were the Registrar, Mr Jeff Teye Nyame, Members of the PANAFEST Foundation, the President, Vice-President, and members of the African Heritage Studies Association, Members of the Local Organising Committee of PANAFEST 2021, Colloquium Planning Committee, Staff, and students of the University.