Assistant Professor, African American & African Diaspora Studies
Assistant Professor, African Studies Program
Dr. Nana Amoah-Ramey is an Africanist, Diasporan cum Ethno-musicologist scholar of African American and African Diaspora Studies. She holds a joint appointment as an Assistant Professor in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department (AAADS) and the African Studies Program (ASP) at Indiana University, Bloomington. Amoah-Ramey's works focus on Black women globally with a particular interest in Black females' existing realism, liberation, music compositions, verbal orders, and language. Her research and teaching specialties span African American & African Diaspora Literature, with emphases on Africana Popular music and cultures, Ethnomusicology, Gender Roles -cum- Representations, Globalization, and Internationalization, African Language Pedagogy, and Research (in Akan/Twi Language of Ghana). Cumulatively, Dr. Amoah-Ramey's research is rooted in Africana and Black Studies. Her first published book is titled Female Highlife Performers in Ghana: Expression, Resistance, and Advocacy. Published in 2018 by Lexington Books, this expert account covers the history, creative challenges, and progress of female performers in Ghana's Highlife music.
Among her two most recent articles are: 1. "African American Music, Is It African Enough: "Osibisaaba" Highlife Music of Africa and "Folk Spirituals" of Africans in the Diaspora" (Book Chapter) and 2. "Literacy Acquisition and Sponsorship in the Lives of Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley" (Upcoming, Journal of Black Studies). Other current projects include an upcoming book project tentatively titled "Visualizing the Anglo-Ashanti Female Warrior, Yaa Asantewaa, looping Nina Simone and Billie Holiday for the Civil Rights Movement." In the area of Grantsmanship, Dr. Amoah-Ramey received a Faculty Research Grant-in-Aid from the African Studies Program at Indiana University (IU) to work toward an upcoming book project, which is tentatively titled "Teaching an African Language (Akan/Twi), Music and Culture: A Pedagogical Strategy." She is a fellow of the Transformative Learning Collegium at the IU Center for Teaching and Learning Services. Her awards include a 2019 Study Abroad Recognition Award from the IU Hutton Honors College for Faculty and Study Abroad training, funded by the U. S. Department of State's Capacity Building Program. She is also a Study Abroad consultant in Africa (specifically in Ghana, and West Africa). Dr. Amoah-Ramey further serves as the Coordinator of student services for the IU Hutton Honors College's Ghana" Culture and Health" Study Abroad Program as well as the Lead Faculty for the IU OVPDEMA's Overseas Study Abroad Program on "Historical and Contemporary Cultures of Ghana including slavery, colonization, independence, economic, political, education systems, and globalization."
Female Highlife Performers in Ghana: Expression, Resistance, and Advocacy, is published by Lexington Books. It is an expert account of the history, creative challenges, and progress that have led to increased contributions of female performers in Ghana’s Highlife musical tradition.
African American Music, Is It African Enough: “Osibisaaba” Highlife Music of Africa and “Folk Spirituals” of Africans in the Diaspora” in Topics in West African Discourse-Pragmatics. Eds Samuel Gyasi Obeng and Kofi Agyekum. Publisher: Koeppe Velarg. 2022. https://www.koeppe.de/titel_topics-in-west-african-discourse-pragmatics
“Biographies of two African American Women in Religious Music: Clara Ward and Rosetta Tharpe.” 2021 in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS) published in Vol. 9 No. 10. Fall, 2019 https://ijhssnet.com/journal/index/4454
Kofi Otutu Adu Labi. 2022. Memoirs From the Hilltop (Stories and Lessons From the School of Life). African and Asian Studies Journal. https://brill.com/view/journals/aas/aop/article
Agyeman-Duah, Ivor. 2021 Art and the Power of Goodness: A Collection of John Agyekum Kufuor. Tema, Ghana: Digibooks Ghana Ltd. Africa Today Journal.
Mayfair Yang. 2021. Re-enchanting Modernity: Ritual Economy and Society in Wenzhou, China. Durham, NC/London, UK: University Press. Pp.374. African and Asian Studies Journal.
“Bottlenecks in the African American Literature Classroom: Constructing the ‘Meaty Outline’ for the Research Essay.” [Article under review.]
“Teaching an African Language (Akan/Twi) Music and Culture: A Pedagogical Strategy.” Book Project. [ongoing project]
How “‘Malindy’ Sang for the Movement: Looping Billie Holiday and Nina Simone through the STRUGGLE.” [Upcoming Book project.]
Grant in Aid for IU Faculty recipient of 1500 dollars. African Studies Program. June 1 – July 31, 2023. Research Topic: “Teaching an African Language (Akan/Twi) Music and Culture: A Pedagogical Strategy.” Project Phase Two. 2023.
Grant in Aid for IU Faculty recipient of 1500 dollars. African Studies Program. May 16 - July 31. Project. “Teaching an African Language (Akan/Twi) Music and Culture: A Pedagogical Strategy.” Phase One. 2022.
Dr. Amoah-Ramey, popularly known as Dr. Nana, is a proud recipient of the “Living Legend Award” of the Tau Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority Incorporated, a fellow of the Transformative Learning Collegium at the Center for Teaching and Learning Services. A Study Abroad Award recipient of the Hutton Honors College for Faculty training for Study Abroad training funded by the U. S. Department of State’s Capacity Building Program, all received in 2019 from Indiana University.
The College of Arts