Nehemia Levtzion and Islam in Ghana: Reminiscences

Abstract

This article traces the development of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon from its inception in 1960 through its early years. It records the steps by which a major concern of the new Institute became first, the study of the history of Islam in Ghana and its neighbours, and second, the investigation of materials in Arabic script written by Muslims in Ghana. The focus of the article is the important contribution that Nehemia Levtzion made to this project. His research was presented in his 1965 London dissertation, “The Spread and Development of Islam in the Middle Volta Basin in the Pre Colonial Period,” subsequently published in 1968 by Oxford University Press under the title Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa.