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The much-anticipated Anglophone Africa Regional Workshop of the Global Health Solidarity project came off successfully at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC). Organised on the theme: “Exploring and De-silencing African Conceptualizations and Praxis of Solidarity Applications in Global Health”, the workshop brought together voices from Anglophone Africa to converse and share their insights on the various ways in which “Solidarity” is understood, expressed, and enacted within the Anglophone Africa space, and how these can inform the practice of solidarity in Global Health. The objective of the workshop aligned with the overarching conceptual aim of the Moving Beyond Solidarity Rhetoric project that seeks to enrich current understandings of solidarity via a pluriversal approach.
A Group photograph of the Workshop participants
Day one of the workshop opened with a brief introduction of the project, the research team, and the goal of the workshop, by Prof. Caesar Atuire, the Principal Investigator of the project, and subsequent expressions of goodwill on behalf of the University of Ghana by Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori (Provost, College of Humanities), Prof. Wazi Apoh (Dean, School of Arts) and Prof. Mohammed Hasskei Majeed (Head of the Department of Philosophy and Classics), all at the University of Ghana – Legon.
From left to right: Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, Prof. Wazi, and Prof. Mohammed Hasskei Majeed
The highlights of the day’s activities were the tour de table session that was moderated by Prof. Elysee Nouvet, and the presentations of the conceptual work on Solidarity. At the tour de table, participants introduced themselves and shared their personal connections with, and experiences of, solidarity. The conceptual work focussed on presentations on and discussions of scoping literature reviews on conceptualizations, justifications, and practices of solidarity in African Philosophy, African Political Philosophy and Ethnography. Athanasius Afful, Dr. Samuel Asiedu Owusu, and Prof. Caesar Atuire (on behalf of Imogen Brown) shared synopses of their findings from African Philosophical literature, the concept and practice of “Ujamaa” as a typology, and Igbo ways of acting, knowing and being, respectively.
Participants at the workshop then broke out into groups to contemplate and further discuss the various overlaps and tensions in the conceptualizations of solidarity that were generated from and by the presentations and post-presentation discussions.
A Group discussion session at the Workshop
On day two, the participants continued the previous discussions but also focused on some examples related to solidarity in practice. After a recap session of day one activities by Prof. Jantina de Vries, it was the turn of Prof. Gabriela Arguedas to moderate a session on the presentations and discussions of vignettes on solidarity from lived experiences. Mr. Azindow Iddrisu, Prof. Luisa Enria, Dr. Augustina Naami, and Mr. Kwesi Amoak respectively shared their findings on the overlapping and contrasting circles of solidarity from a farming community in Dagbon, Ghana, Solidarity in crises times (a case study of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone), Solidarity with and among persons living with disabilities in Ghana, and the conflicts of solidarity in the case of Obi from a reading of Chinua Achebe’s 1960 novel “No Longer at Ease”.
Another remarkable activity on day two was a discussion of some questions that sought to understand how solidarity could be applied in Global Health practice. The groups subsequently presented their findings at a plenary session that Prof. Unni Karunakara moderated. The workshop ended with closing remarks from Prof. Caesar Atuire.