Abena Pokua Adompim Busia (born 1953) is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

writer, poet, feminist, lecturer and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. She is a daughter of former

Prime Minister of Ghana The prime minister of Ghana was the head of government of Ghana from 1957 to 1960 and again from 1969 to 1972. History of the office The country's first leader and prime minister was Kwame Nkrumah of the Convention People's Party (CPP). He ...

Kofi Abrefa Busia Kofi Abrefa Busia (born 11 July 1913 – 28 August 1978) was a Ghanaian political leader and academic who was Prime Minister of Ghana from 1969 to 1972. As a nationalist leader and prime minister, he helped to restore civilian government to the ...

, and is the sister of actress

Akosua Busia Akosua Gyamama Busia (born 30 December 1966) is a Ghanaian actress, film director, author and songwriter who lives in the United Kingdom. She played Nettie Harris in the 1985 film ''The Color Purple'' alongside Whoopi Goldberg. Family and early l ...

. Busia is an associate professor of

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

in English, and of women's and gender studies at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. She is Ghana's ambassador to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, appointed in 2017, with accreditation to the other 12 republics of South America."Abena Busia"
at Women's Learning Partnership.

Early life and education

Busia was born in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, Ghana, into the Yenfri royal family in

Wenchi Wenchi is a town and is the capital of Wenchi Municipal of the Bono Region in middle-belt of Ghana. Wenchi is located at 7.73333 atitude in decimal degrees -2.1 ongitude in decimal degreesat an average elevation/altitude of 304 meters. Wen ...

in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana, to

, one-time Ghanaian Head of State, and Naa Morkor Busia. She spent her childhood in Ghana as well as in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

before relocating to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where her family finally settled.Margaret Busby, ''Daughters of Africa'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1992, p. 868. Busia earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in English language and literature at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

, in 1976, and a D.Phil. in

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

St. Antony's College St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economi ...

in 1984. She has been an external tutor at

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

, the labour relations college affiliated to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and a visiting lecturer in the Program of African and Afro-American Studies at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. She has also won a number of post-doctoral fellowships including an Andrew Mellon Fellowship in the English department of

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

, and an Institute for American Cultures Fellowship at the Center for Afro-American Studies,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Career

Busia was co-director of the Women Writing Africa Project (which between 2002 and 2008 published the four-volume Women Writing Africa Series), as well as Professor of English at

and the Chair of the Department of Women's and Gender Studies. She has also taught at other renowned institutions, among them

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

. She has served as president of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora and of the African Literature Association, and currently chairs the board of AWDF-USA, sister organization of the

African Women's Development Fund The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) is the first pan-African foundation to support the work of women's rights organisations in Africa. AWDF was founded in 2001 by Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Joana Foster and Hilda M. Tardia. AWDF belongs to th ...

(AWDF), the first pan-African foundation to support the work of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

organisations in Africa.

Writing

Busia has published widely on black women's literature, colonial discourse, and post-colonial studies. Scholarly books she has co-edited include ''Theorizing Black Feminisms: The Visionary Pragmatism of Black Women'' (1993) and ''Beyond Survival: African Literature and the Search for New Life'' (1999). In addition, she is the author of two volumes of poetry: ''Testimonies of Exile'' (1990) and ''Traces of Life'' (2008). Her work is included in such anthologies as ''

Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

'' (ed.

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

, 1992).

Ghanaian diplomat

In July 2017, President Nana Akuffo-Addo named Abena Busia as Ghana's ambassador to

. She was among 22 other distinguished Ghanaians who were named to head various diplomatic Ghanaian missions in the world.

Selected bibliography

Poetry

* ''Testimonies of Exile'' — poetry, illustrated by Akosua Busia (Africa World Press, 1990; ) * ''Traces of a Life: A Collection of Elegies and Praise Poems'' (Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2008; )

As editor

* ''Theorizing Black Feminisms: The Visionary Pragmatism of Black Women'', co-editor with Stanlie M. James (Routledge, 1993; ) * ''Beyond Survival: African Literature and the Search for New Life'', co-editor with

Kofi Anyidoho Kofi Anyidoho (born 25 July 1947) is a Ghanaian poet and academic who comes from a family tradition of Ewe poets and oral artists.

and Anne Adams (Africa World Press, 1999; ) * ''Women Writing Africa: West Africa and Sahel'' (2005)

Awards and recognition

In March 2011, marking the 100th anniversary of

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

, the AWDF recognised Abena Busia as one of 50 inspirational African feminists, with a public celebration in her honour taking place in June at the National Theatre in Accra. She is co-founder and Chair of the Busia Foundation International, a non-government organisation set up in honour of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

's former Prime Minister,

, the 40th anniversary of whose death was marked by a public memorial lecture on 28 August 2018 at the

Accra International Conference Centre The Accra International Conference Centre is an events venue in Accra, Ghana. Other venues include the Ghana Trade Fair Center and the National Theatre, but the Conference Centre is the most popular due to its size and capacity as compared to th ...

."Wife Of Dr Busia, Nana Addo, Abena Busia On August 28th Memorial Lecture"
''Modern Ghana'', 24 August 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busia, Abena 1953 births 20th-century Ghanaian poets 20th-century Ghanaian women writers 21st-century Ghanaian poets 21st-century Ghanaian women writers Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Ambassadors of Ghana to Brazil Ghanaian expatriates in the United States Ghanaian women academics Ghanaian women ambassadors Ghanaian women poets Ghanaian women writers Living people People from Accra Rutgers University faculty Academic staff of the University of Ghana Yale University faculty