The Copyright Thing Doesn't Work Here

Adinkra and Kente Cloth and Intellectual Property in Ghana

Author: Boatema Boateng
ISBN: 9780816670031

In Ghana, adinkra and kente textiles derive their significance from their association with both Asante and Ghanaian cultural nationalism. Adinkra, made by stenciling patterns with black dye, and kente, a type of strip weaving, each convey, through color, style, and adornment, the bearer’s identity, social status, and even emotional state. Yet both textiles have been widely mass-produced outside Ghana, particularly in East Asia, without any compensation to the originators of the designs. In The Copyright Thing Doesn’t Work Here, Boatema Boateng focuses on the appropriation and protection of adinkra and kente cloth in order to examine the broader implications of the use of intellectual property law to preserve folklore and other traditional forms of knowledge. Boateng investigates the compatibility of indigenous practices of authorship and ownership with those established under intellectual property law, considering the ways in which both are responses to the changing social and hist

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Publish Date: 2011

Subjects: Law / Intellectual Property / Copyright, History / Africa / West, Law / Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Cross-Cultural Center (Location: Africa (AFRC))