Women's Activism NYC

Abena Pokua Adompim Busia

1953 - Today

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Abena Pokua Adompim Busia born in April 28, 1953 in Accra into the YENFRI Royal Family in Wenchi in the BRONG- AHAFO region of Ghana. She is a writer, poet, feminist, lecturer and diplomat. She spent her childhood with her family in Ghana, then they moved to Mexico and finally settled in Oxford. My first time learning about this great woman was this year. She is an associate professor of literature in English and of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University. She is currently Ghana ‘s ambassador to Brazil. Abena Busia studied at many institutions; she has a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from St-Anne’s College, Oxford earned in 1976. Later, she pursued her education and got a D. Phil.in Social Anthropology at St. Antony’s College in 1984. All these intellectual assets led Abena Busia to embrace a brilliant career where she became a professor of English at Rutgers University. She also was the Co- director of the Women Writing Africa Project from 2002-2008 where she published the four-volume Women Writing Africa Series. Furthermore, during her career, Abena Busia occupied leadership positions. She became the President of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora and of the African literature Association and she currently Chairs the Board of AWDF-USA, Sister Organization of the African Women’s Development Fund, which is the first Pan-African Foundation to support the work of women’s rights organizations in Africa. As Abena Busia’s reputation grew internationally, she has published on black women’s literature, colonial discourse and post-colonial studies. In addition, her reputation and her great work gave her the strength and inspiration to write two great volumes of poetry: Testimonies of Exile in 1990 and Traces of Life in 2008 which have known great success. All these accomplishments she has done from the beginning of her career until now are amazing which led Abena Busia to be recognized by the AWDF in March 2011 as one of the 50 inspirational African feminists with a public celebration in her honor taking place in June at the National Theatre in Accra.( https://awdf.org/celebrating-professor-abena-busia-works-and-achievements/). What is inspiring to me is the privilege, the success, and the glory that she has and was able to use to impact positively people’s lives. In her books, she was able to explore the power of women, encourage the female literary voice and declare women’s independence from patriarchal power structures that constrain them. (https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/busia-abera-pa-1953).In addition, she had broadcasted African women’s voices in the world. A powerful quote by Abena Pokua Adompim Busia proves that she made some progress along the way in her journey as a Co-Director of “Women Writing Africa” and AWDF USA Interim Board Chair. She said “Although it does not always reach the news, there are development success stories throughout Africa. When you look at the issues that challenge us, such as poverty, infant mortality and even AIDS/HIV, the numbers show improvement in many countries. At the center of all these successes is the leadership of women and our grantees are leading the way.”(https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/awdf-usas-mother-africa-campaign-puts-the-focus-on-african-womens-leadership-168786086.html ) Works Cited A) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/awdf-usas-mother-africa-campaign-puts-the-focus-on- african-womens-leadership-168786086.html. b) https://awdf.org/celebrating-professor-abena-busia-works-and-achievements/. c) https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/busia-abera-pa-1953 d) Wikipedia contributors. "Abena Busia." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free encyclopedia, 28 Nov. 2020. Web. 7 Dec. 2020. e) en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abena_Busia&oldid=991137249 I am a student at Hostos Community College, enrolled in WGS 100 with Professor Jerilyn Fisher, Fall 2020. Our class wrote biographies as our "Making a Difference" project, done in partnership with WomensActivism.NYC.

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