March 14, 2017 - With support from the French Embassy in Ghana and the Alliance Française in Accra, Ashesi hosted its first ever Francophone day. The annual week-long, celebration, organised by the Alliance Francaise and the Francophone embassies in Ghana, focuses on promoting cultural diversity in Ghana, through the celebration of the French language.
In its second year at Ashesi, not only has the addition of French program expanded the Humanities and Social Science curriculum, but also, it has created the opening for deepened engagement with other institutions in promoting the French language in Ghana. To mark the day, students from the University of Education, Winneba, and University of Ghana French's department joined the Ashesi’s community in a unique exchange of ideas and activities.
“It’s important for our community to be open to the sub-region, and to the rest of the world,” remarked Nathalie N’Guessan, French lecturer at Ashesi. “Ghana is surrounded by the Francophone countries, and it’s only necessary that we appreciate the diversity and place importance on the interaction we can have with them. So, in marking Francophone Day at Ashesi, we can take some of these significant steps.”
The focus of the day-long celebration, featuring a series of activities including food tasting, a painting workshop, lectures and a concert, was to educate the Ashesi community and guests about the history and wealth of the French culture within the sub-region. The lecture, by Dr. Alfred Cudjoe, head of French Department at University of Winneba, and painting workshop led by Togolese painter, Liebe Adodzo, were themed around Negritude, a literary movement born out of Paris’s intellectual communities by black writers in the early twentieth century.
To round off the day’s events, Ghanaian Francophone singer, Bibie Brew who gained international acclaim through her Francophone hits, entertained the community in a solo-concert. “I have followed Ashesi very privately for a while and it is great to see what you are doing with young minds,” she said. “The opportunity to be a part of the movement, especially in spreading the knowledge of Francophone culture is a pleasure.”