Esi Sutherland-Addy is a Ghanaian academic, writer, educationalist, and human rights activist. She is a professor at the Institute of African Studies, where she has been senior research fellow, head of the Language, Literature, and Drama Section, and associate director of the African Humanities Institute Program at the University of Ghana. She is credited with more than 60 publications in the areas of education policy, higher education, female education, literature, theatre and culture,[1] and serves on numerous committees, boards and commissions locally and internationally.[2] She is the first daughter of writer and cultural activist Efua Sutherland.[3][4]
Esi Sutherland-Addy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Esi Reiter Sutherland Ghana |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Education | Achimota School |
| Occupation(s) | Academic, writer, educationalist, and human rights activist |
| Organization(s) | Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana |
| Parent(s) | Efua Sutherland and Bill Sutherland |
Biography
editBorn in Ghana as Esi Reiter Sutherland, she is the eldest of the three children[5] of playwright and cultural activist Efua Sutherland and African-American Bill Sutherland (1918–2010),[6] a colonial civil rights activist who went to Ghana in 1953 on the recommendation of George Padmore to Kwame Nkrumah.[7] She was educated at St. Monica's Secondary School, Mampong and Achimota School (where she met her husband).[7]
She has held various positions at educational establishments in Europe and the US, which includes being a Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Education at Manchester University, UK, and as visiting lecturer at the following universities: University of Indiana, Bloomington, USA, the Centre for African Studies, New York University Accra Campus, University of Birmingham, UK, and L'Institut des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.[8][9]
She served with the Ghana government as Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Culture and Tourism from (1986–93) and from 1994 to 1995 as Minister of Education and Culture.[10] She has undertaken studies particularly in the field of education for many international organizations including UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa.[11] She has been on both local and global boards with companies such as Ghana Commercial Bank, Open Society for West Africa, and The Commonwealth of Learning.
She has also held key roles in non-governmental organizations and she has been on the executive board of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)[12] and the Mmofra Foundation.[13]
At the moment, Esi works with institute of African studies at the University of Ghana and is spearheading a project called Oral Traditions and Expressive Diversity involving the collection and digitization of Ghanaian Oral Traditions. She also supervise postgraduate students.[14]
She serves as the Chairperson of the following entities:
Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights.
The Forum of African Women Educationalists (Ghana) and
Afram Publications Ghana Ltd.[9]
Awards
editEsi Sutherland-Addy has been the recipient of several awards, which include:
An Honorary Fellowship of the College of Preceptors, UK (1998),
A Group Award by the Rockefeller Foundation (2001 and 2002) for the Women Writing Africa Project,
An Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Education, Winneba (2004), and
the Excellence in Distance Education Award from the Commonwealth of Learning (2008).[7][11]
Ghana Tourism Authority 20th Anniversary Emancipation Day Award (2018)[9]
Selected bibliography
edit- Editor
- (Editor) Perspectives on Mythology (Proceedings of a Conference organized by the Goethe-Institut and the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, between 21 and 24 October 1997), Goethe-Institut/Woeli Publ. Services, 1999. ISBN 9789964978549
- (Co-editor with Aminata Diaw) Women Writing Africa: West Africa and the Sahel, The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2005. ISBN 978-1558615007.
- (Co-editor with Anne V. Adams) The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan-African Cultural Activism, Banbury: Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9547023-1-1.
- (With Ama Ata Aidoo) Ghana, where the Bead Speaks, Foundation for Contemporary Art-Ghana, 2008. ISBN 9789988153601.
- (Co-editor with Takyiwaa Manuh) Africa in Contemporary Perspective: A Textbook for Undergraduate Students. Ghana: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013. ISBN 9789988647377.
- Papers
- "Gender Equity in Junior and Senior Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa", World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 6500, November 2008.
- "Women, Intangible Heritage and Development: Perspectives from the African Region", ICH UNESCO.
Further reading
edit- Sutherland-Addy, E. (2018). "Ama Ata Aidoo in Conversation with Esi Sutherland-Addy" (2017). Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, 44(2), 124+.
- Sharma, Veena, and Esi Sutherland-Addy. "A Conversation with Esi Sutherland-Addy", India International Centre Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 1, 2011, pp. 124–133.
References
edit- ^ Akosah-Sarpong, Kofi (12 April 2012). "Integrating and Differentiating the Enlightenment Voices". Newstime Africa. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ "Esi Sutherland-Addy". nyu.edu. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ "The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan–African Cultural Activism". Ayebia Clarke Publishing. 10 June 2016. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ "Why Efua Sutherland Park was named after my mother - Daughter speaks". GhanaWeb. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
- ^ Kwekudee, "Efua T Sutherland: Africa's Female Pioneer Dramatist, Cultural Visionary and Activist and "Black Africa's Most Famous Woman Writer" Archived 4 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Trip Down Memory Lane, 2 October 2014.
- ^ Esi Sutherland-Addy, Ralph Sutherland, Amowi Sutherland Phillips and Matt Meyer, "Bill Sutherland, Pan-African pacifist" Archived 30 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Pambazuka News, 14 January 2010.
- ^ a b c "Efua Sutherland-Addy — Associate Professor". Institute of African Studies. 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ Ruha, Genevieve (17 September 2013). "Dr. Esi Sutherland-Addy". Ghana Nation. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ a b c "Dr Esi Sutherland". WeRuS. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ^ Genevieve Ruha, "Dr. Esi Sutherland-Addy", Ghana Nation, 17 September 2013. Archived 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b Members of the Board of Trustees Archived 23 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- ^ "General Assembly" Archived 24 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, FAWE.
- ^ "Board of Directors" Archived 28 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Mmofra Foundation.
- ^ "Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy | Institute of African Studies | University of Ghana". ias.ug.edu.gh. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
External links
edit- “Efua Sutherland-Addy, Associate Professor, Institute of African Studies
- "ESI SUTHERLAND ADDY PERSONALITY - PROFILE FRIDAY ON JOYNEWS (14-3-14)". My JoyOnline, 14 March 2014. YouTube.
- ". Esi Sutherland-Addy – The Executive Lounge on JoyNews (2-8-19)". JoyNews, 2 August 2019.