In her book, The Akan of Ghana (1958), Eva L. Meyerowitz examines some of the religious beliefs and practices of the Akan in an attempt to show that they are of Libyo-Phoenician origin and that Akan civilization is essentially pre-Arab North African in character. As an example of an Akan New Year festival she describes the annual Aboakyer (lit. ‘the catching of an animal’) ritual of the Effutu people of southern Ghana and interprets it in a manner which supports her theory of Akan origins (Meyerowitz, 1958, pp. 38–42). This research note subjects Meyerowitz's treatment of the Aboakyer to critical analysis. It is concerned with her theory of Akan origins only in so far as it results in misinterpretation of the Aboakyer. The note does not provide a full account of the Aboakyer, but a brief outline showing the sequence of ritual events. The field-work upon which it is based was conducted among the Effutu in 1964 and 1965 and included the study of the Aboakyer rituals of these years.

Dans un précédent article publié ici même, je me suis efforcé de décrire les cas de possession, l'initiation de l'exorciste et l'exorcisme chez les VaNdau. Dans une autre publication une courte étude démographique de la tribu, de son totémisme et de son histoire permettra de situer comme il convient les VaNdau parmi les autres tribus bantoues. Je me propose ici d'exposer quelques coutumes particulières de ce peuple si intéréssant, qui contribueront peut-être à préciser encore sa physionomie, au point de vue ethnologique.

In her review of Seven Tribes of British Centra Africa in Africa, xxii. 1 Mrs. Douglas praises the individual essays but criticizes their appearance in a single volume. We do not consider it appropriate for writers to reply to criticism which is levied on the basis of general knowledge and of the internal evidence of a book—indeed, we would ourselves accept the criticism which Mrs. Douglas, with others, has made that the editors should not have shirked the task of providing a general introduction to add to the significance of joint publication of the seven essays. But we consider it legitimate to protest when Mrs. Douglas's criticism is based on inadequate and inaccurate statements about the internal affairs of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, especially as she puts this incorrect information in the form of questions.

The excerpts below are from two of the sixteen chapters in B. S. Gadzekpo's radio memoir. In ‘Battles at the microphone’, Gadzekpo describes the diverse ways in which he and other Vernacular Announcers made their mark on wartime programming during World War Two, including how they carefully selected what could be aired as news and rallied local support for the war effort. The chapter ‘The music talent hunt’ details his tireless efforts at identifying and recording indigenous music to play on air in order to keep local audiences glued to the radio, especially after the war. The full text of the manuscript is available with the supplementary material published with Audrey Gadzekpo's article introducing this work at <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972021000012>.