Reginald Fraser Amonoo is a Ghanaian academic. He is a retired professor of modern languages at 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 ...

and the University of Zimbabwe. He is a former president of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Early life and education

Amonoo was born on 16 March 1932. He had his secondary education at

Achimota School Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school wa ...

from 1943 to 1950. He entered the

University College of the Gold Coast 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 ...

in 1951 and obtained his bachelor's degree in 1956. He continued at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

in 1956 for his masters' and doctorate degree which was awarded to him in October, 1958. He studied at the University of Paris, Sorbonne from 1962 to 1965.

Career

Academic

A year after his studies abroad, he joined the faculty of the

as acting head and later head of the modern languages department. He served in that capacity until 1980. During that period he acted as the dean of arts on various occasions. He became substantive dean of arts in 1984 until 1988. He was a professor of French Literature at the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Zimbabwe and also served as an external examiner for universities in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

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 ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences

Amonoo was elected as a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972. He served as the academy's treasurer from 1977 to 1988. In 1989 he served as the honorary secretary of the academic body and he became president of the academy from 2011 to 2014.

Other engagements

He was a consultant for the Association of African Universities at ECOWAS, UNESCO-BREDA,

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

on various areas, some of which include; higher education manpower requirements and training, academic standards, and equivalences of certificates and courses. He was once president of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM) and also an honorary treasurer for the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (CIPSH - UNESCO).

Publications

His research writings have encompassed 17th century French drama, mostly on Corneille who happened to be the subject of his D.U.P. thesis; ''The fortunes of Cornelian drama in France, during the Consulate, Empire and Restoration periods''. His focus has also been on African literature and language problems. Some of his publications are as follows; *''Corneille's Rome myths and realities'' *''Reflections on cultural contacts:the case of Francophone African literature'', Arizona State University Press, 1983. *''Problems of Ghanaian lingue franche'' in Language in Africa, C.U J5., 1963. Some of his French writings have been cited in other publications such as; *''The resurrection of Corneille at the beginning of the XlXth century'' in a Modem Miscellany offered to Prof. Vinaver, M.U.P., 1969. *"Corneille and the Romantics", in the Acts of the Tercentennial Symposium, Rouen, 1984, P.U.F., 1985.

Awards

Amonoo was awarded the Vermilion Medal by the French embassy in Ghana for his contribution to French literature.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amonoo, Reginald Fraser 1932 births Living people Alumni of Achimota School Alumni of the University of Manchester University of Ghana alumni Academic staff of the University of Ghana 20th-century Ghanaian educators University of Paris alumni Ghanaian expatriates in the United Kingdom Ghanaian expatriates in France Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences