Kofi Awoonor

Kofi Awoonor (2008)

Kofi Awoonor (born March 13, 1935 as George Awoonor-Williams in Wheta ; † September 21, 2013 in Nairobi ) was a Ghanaian literary scholar , writer , poet , critic and diplomat .

Life

Awoonor was a member of the Ewe people . After attending the Achimota School and the University of Ghana (Legon), Accra , Awoonor first moved to the University of London and later to the State University of New York . Here he did his doctorate in English and comparative literature.

After graduating, he initially stayed in the USA and held the chair for comparative literature at the State University of New York. Upon his return to Ghana, Awoonor was arrested on charges of assisting a fugitive. Awoonor was imprisoned at the Ussher Fort in Accra. His works from 1978 to 1987 process the experiences contained therein. Upon his release, he became Head of the English Department and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Coast . In 1979 he was awarded the National Book Council Award for Literature (Ghana) .

In 1985 Awoonor was appointed Ambassador of Ghana to Brazil and in 1989 Ambassador of Ghana to Cuba . Later he was the representative of Ghana at the United Nations and contributed alongside Nelson Mandela as a leader to the end of apartheid .

During the tenure of President Jerry Rawlings , Awoonor served as Presidential aide in the Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana from 1992 to 2001 . Awoonor was also an Elected Member of the Council of State .

death

Awoonor took place in September 2013 at the four-day Storymoja Hay Festival , an event for writing, thinking and telling, in the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan Nairobi part. On September 21, 2013, he was killed during a lecture at the same event in the attack on the Westgate shopping center carried out by Somali al-Shabaab .

literature

Awoonor used the traditional folklore of the Ewe in his poems and other works. In his works the versatility of the author becomes clear. A wide range of topics can be found in his work, such as the influence of colonialism, African identity and the corruption of politicians in Africa. His work was always permeated with personal experiences and contains autobiographical elements. The work Night of my Blood , for example, deals with his own local and spiritual alienation and the new western influences on his life.

In Ride Me, Memory , Awoonor wrote about his experiences in the United States, where he explored the bond between Afro-Americans and Africans. The House by the Sea and This Earth, My Brother portray his development during his return to Ghana, his imprisonment and the expansion of his future visions. The novella Comes the Voyager at Last is about the return of a slave from the "New World" to his Homeland. The role of a critic and teacher is evident in his work The Beast of the Earth . Here he worked on African literature, culture and history; the work contains many essays by African writers and artists.

Works

• Rediscovery (1964, published under the name George Awoonor-Williams)
• Night of My Blood (1971)
• This Earth, My Brother (Novella, 1971)
• Ancestral Power and Lament (drama, 1972)
• Ride Me, Memory (Seal, 1973)
• Guardians of the Sacred Word (translation of Ewe literature)
• The Breast of the Earth (1975)
• The House by the Sea (1978)
• The Ghana Revolution: A Background Account from a Personal Perspective (1984)
• Until the Morning After: Collected Poems (1987)
• Comes the Voyager at Last (Novella, 1992)
• Ghana: A Political History from Pre-European to Modern Times (1990)

Web links

• Three poems, examples from the work ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( The Sea Eats the Land at Home ; The Weaver Bird ; Song of Sorrow )
• Poem: Songs of Sorrow by Kofi Awoonor (with interpretation, English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Senior Ghanaian citizen, Awoonor killed in Kenya gun attack. In: ghanabusinessnews.com , September 22, 2013 (English).
2. ↑ Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy & Virginia Coulon (eds), A New Reader's Guide to African Literature , Heinemann Educational Books, 1983, p. 355.
3. ↑ Bio details, University of KwaZulu-Natal ( Memento of November 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Interview, Sun newspaper (Nigeria), June 18, 2006 ( Memento of the original from December 31, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Nairobi shopping mall attacks: Kofi Awoonor, Ghanaian poet, killed in Westgate Attack . www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
6. ↑ Somalia's al-Shabab claims Nairobi Westgate Kenya attack . BBC. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
7. ↑ Kofi Awoonor . In: University of KwaZulu-Natal . Archived from the original on November 4, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
8. ↑ Prof. Awoonor dies in Al-Shabab attack in Kenyan Mall . citifmonline.com. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
9. ^ Senior Ghanaian citizen, Awoonor killed in Kenya gun attack . In: ghanabusinessnews.com . GBN. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
10. ↑ Paula Kahumbu of Princeton University and director of the Story Moja Hay Festival relates her time with Awoonor the Friday evening before his death
11. ↑ Kenya's military storms shopping mall. In: Spiegel Online , September 22, 2013.
12. ↑ Francis Kwarteng, "A Tribute to Prof. Kofi Awoonor" , VibeGhana, September 23, 2013.
13. ^ Report on the death of Kofi Awoonor