A series of monthly community engagement events dubbed ‘Labone Dialogues’, that look at development from different perspectives, will kick off on Friday, February 14 at the New York University (NYU) Accra campus at Labone.

The topic for the first edition is ‘Archives and Local Production of Knowledge: The Kofi Ghanaba Archives.’ Prof. Awam Amkpa, a professor of Drama and Cultural Theory at NYU, will lead discussions at the programme.

Ghanaba was initially known as Guy Warren of Ghana. He was born in Accra in 1923 and was a world-famous drummer and Afro-Jazz advocate.

He was a well-educated, broadminded character who died in 2009 and left behind a massive collection of items including  books, records, letters and  newspapers.

According to Prof. Chike Frankie Edozien, Director of NYU Accra, the focus of the maiden ‘Labone  Dialogues’ will be on the collection of the Kofi Ghanaba archives.

He said Prof. Amkpa and the team who diligently collated the Ghanaba material over decades, would  be around from 5p.m. to 7p.m., to talk about local production of knowledge and how to preserve them .

“We will  donate a copy of the archives to the University of Ghana so scholars may also access  them there as well as at NYU,” Prof.  Edozien stated.