Campbell Law in Ghana: Students study intersection of law, economics, culture and ethics

CAPE COAST, GHANA — The final week of Campbell’s first summer abroad in Ghana began Monday. Classes got back in session after spending an exciting weekend exploring Takoradi and Nzulezu.

Formal learning resumed in earnest, focusing on the confluence of international human rights law, international trade regulation and comparative intellectual property law. The hard work of our three professors has presented a fascinating intersection of law, economics, culture and ethics.

On Monday, the most culinary inclined members of our group made their way to Global Mamas, a center for workshops and retail, to participate in a Ghanaian cooking course.  Along with a singing lesson, students learned how to make the Ghanaian favorites of yam with Palava sauce and Red-Red.

After class on Tuesday morning, a group of students and faculty lunched at New Life Cafe — the genesis for a class example of Ghanaian communitarianism. The smell of curry cooking, the sound of a djembe next door and the faint glimpse of the sea through coconut palms encapsulates why we’ve grown to love Cape Coast. The amazing, authentic food really set it over the top. If you’re ever in Cape Coast, this writer recommends Kofi’s Chaumi rice — student Kevin Latshaw would recommend the choco-banana pancakes for any meal. You also can’t go wrong getting the Chapatti with garlic cream sauce.

Tuesday continued to involve our group even more deeply in Ghana’s culture — albeit with a pivot to the more academic side. J. Kojo Kutin, a PhD Candidate here at University of Cape Coast, born in the Asante region, provided the students a comprehensive lecture on Ghanaian history. Mr. Kutin took the students and faculty through each major epoch of history in Ghana — from the Guans, ancient settlers of the northern Savannah, then through each of the Gold, Slave, Colonial and finally Post-Colonial eras.

Thank you for reading — or, in Twi, “me de ase!”

For more photos of the law school’s inaugural study abroad experience in Ghana, visit Campbell Law’s Facebook page.