Over 40 years ago, at Indiana University, my given name was Quincy, not Kwesi. No one asked how a Sunday-born “Yanka” changed Kwesi to Quincy. But that was in Ghana at Indiana University in 1980. Last Monday, Indiana University reminded me of the mark I left behind. Successive IU presidents have come to experience it as an integral part of Indiana University tradition.
I was 30 when I set foot in Indiana to pursue my PhD. My first day was a nightmare from JFK to LaGuardia in New York. As a newcomer to the US, I was scammed by a taxi driver and his colleague, who told me through gritted teeth that I was responsible for the $350 ride. Scammed, I arrived in Bloomington in tears and spent my first two weeks at the university relying on the charity of the Ghanaian community led by Kofi Anyidoho. They supported me until my sponsors waived my scholarship. Five and a half years later, I left Indiana with a smile on my face. The city of Bloomington wiped my tears. Shortly after returning to Ghana, the good news came with a bang. IU selected the Crying Boy’s PhD thesis as the best thesis of the year in 1985. The first thesis by an African!! This story remains a landmark in the history of the university.
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That unexpected breakthrough was based on my research titled “Proverbs in Akan Rhetoric.” This modest achievement gave me a gateway into the world and then led me to other prestigious universities in the United States and Europe, such as Stanford, Northwestern, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Birmingham, England, which had almost lured me there in 1989. My modest research and its sequels were on ethnography of indigenous rhetoric and communication. The urge to move out was great, but I stuck to my homeland, the University of Ghana, which was my dearest.
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Unbeknownst to me, Indiana had been following my progress every step of the way. When the American Academy of Arts and Sciences elected me an International Honorary Fellow in 2020, the then-president of IU was quick to send me his congratulations, shortly after receiving a letter of congratulations from the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, which had elected me a Fellow in 1997. Last Monday, Indiana walked onto my doorstep here in Ghana to loudly trumpet the honor for academic excellence that new president Pamela Whitten had bestowed on Kwesi Yankah. This honor accelerated the move to select Ghana as Indiana University’s gateway to Africa.
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The grand ceremony, jointly hosted by Indiana University and the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, was attended by scholars, traditional and religious leaders, IU Ghanaian alumni, civil society, IGPs, IU international students, and Indiana University Interim Vice President for International Affairs Hilary Kahn. Below are the words of IU President Michael McRobbie in congratulations on my election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020:
“Your election to the AAAS recognizes the stature of your teaching, research and scholarship on ethnography of communication, as well as the many achievements you have made in higher education administration throughout your distinguished career. We are of course equally proud of all you are doing to advance education in Ghana through your role as Minister of State for Higher Education, and the many ways in which you use your notable voice to advance democratic norms in the country. Your exemplary efforts continue to be an inspiration to us all, and we are pleased to have you as one of our most outstanding graduates.”
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Michael McRobbie
Long live Ghana, long live Indiana University.
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