Sciences - University of Ghana

i. to provide a forum for international meetings, conferences, seminars,
workshops and special events in African music and dance;
ii. to serve as an Archival Documentation and study centre for African Music and Dance;
iii. to promote and coordinate research, creative and development projects in
music and dance;
iv. to prepare and publish monographs, source materials, bibliographies and an
International Journal of African Music and Dance, and to serve as a clearing house for
information on events, artists, scholars and institutions concerned with the study and
promotion of African music and dance.
The Centre operates as a unit within the School of Performing Arts which offers diploma and
degree courses of the University of Ghana in music, dance and drama. In addition to
participation in the Centre's programmes, visiting scholars and students affiliated to the Centre
will be able to avail themselves of the classes and private lessons in African music and dance
given by the traditional musicians and dance instructors of the School as well as the facilities of
the reference library of the Institute of African Studies which is adjacent to the School of
Performing Arts and which has a valuable collection of Africana. The Centre is governed by an
International Advisory Board consisting of three ex-officio members and twelve ordinary
members, six of whom represent the major sub-regions of Africa, while the remaining six
represent institutions and scholars in Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the
Caribbean. The Centre has three categories of membership:
i. Associate Membership, offered to directors of cooperating institutions, scholars in
ethnomusicology, music education, dance ethnology or related fields who have good track
record of research and publications, and creative artists who have distinguished themselves
in some area of African performing arts.
ii. Ordinary Membership, open to individuals through journal subscription, and
iii. Corporate Membership, offered to music and dance organizations and institutions with
manifest interest in African music and dance.
The programmes of the Centre take into account the need for developing materials and resources
that will make it a conference and study centre, a base for the dissemination of knowledge and
materials about African music and dance as well as a place for organizing short term training
programmes, including management training seminars in culture and development with
particular reference to African music and dance. To enable scholars and creative artists from
other African countries to contribute to this programme or use the facilities of the Centre for
research and writing or presentations, provision has also been made for a few visiting Fellowships.
Other scholars and artists coming on their own can register with the University of Ghana
as affiliates or associates of the Centre.
OTHER RESEARCH UNITS AND FACILITIES
VOLTA BASIN RESEARCH PROJECT: The Volta basin refers to the approximately
400,000 sq. km drained by River Volta and its tributaries in the West African countries, Cote
d‘Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Ghana where the basin makes up about 70 percent of
the mainland. The Volta Basin Research Project (VBRP) was established by the University of
Ghana in 1963 to carry out, through a multi-disciplinary methodology, research into the positive
and negative changes within the Volta basin, following the damming of river Volta at Akosombo
and, subsequently, downstream at Akuse, and the consequent creation of artificial lakes behind
the dams. As with many major river basin development projects, it was deemed imperative to
conduct pre-impoundment studies on what would be lost irretrievably after the damming,
scientifically monitor and appraise continuously the expected multi-faceted social and economic
impacts, and formulate measures against the many adverse effects that such a major
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