The Hiplife in Ghana: West African Indigenization of Hip-Hop explores Accra, Ghana as a site of of a whole new form of world music called hiplife. Dr. Halifu Osumare will present a brief slide presentation on Ghana and the history of hip-hop in that West African country, and then share excerpts from the book. The Hiplife in Ghana investigates hiplife music not merely as an adaptation of hip-hop, but as a revision of Ghana’s own century-old popular music known globally as highlife. Documentary filmmaker Eli Jacob-Fantauzzi will join Dr. Osumare and will show a clip of his film on hiplife called HomeGrown: Hiplife in Ghanab (http://hiplifemovie.com/) with his Clenched Productions.

Halifu Osumare is Associate Professor and Director of African American & African Studies at UC Davis. She has been involved with dance and black popular culture internationally for over thirty years as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, administrator and scholar. Having taught and researched in Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, her work has spanned traditional African performance and ritual to contemporary African American dance and performance.