Opinions of Monday, 8 May 2017

Columnist: Francis Kwarteng

Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere’s book launch on Nkrumahism

Prof. Kofi Kissi Dompere Prof. Kofi Kissi Dompere

Prof. Kofi Kissi Dompere, ranked among the “World’s Top 100 Leading Thinkers,” is also a world-famous Afrocentrist, economist, mathematician, philosopher, statistician, management scientist, logician, financial and policy analyst widely known for the analytic rigor of his high caliber scientific papers and dense, highly technical, scientific textbooks on economic theory, mathematics, finance and democracy, philosophy, management science/operations research, decision and systems theory, history, cost benefit analysis, and a host of other complex topics.

Then again, Prof. Dompere, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on categorial conversion, and whose academic and scholarly works are widely used around the world by doctoral students and universities and scientists and public policy researchers, brings his sophisticated and erudite multidisciplinary expertise to bear on his recent publication of two extremely important and powerful books on Nkrumahism, both of which are also, as a matter of fact, dense and highly technical, scientific and philosophical texts based on a rigorous discursive investigation and (re)interpretation of Kwame Nkrumah’s “consciencism: philosophy and ideology of de-colonization and development.”

Let’s just say here for emphasis, that Prof. Dompere more than makes up for the totality of erudite mathematics Nkrumah did not have and yet needed for, perhaps, his most audacious undertaking, the widely read but grossly misunderstood academic text “consciencism.”

What is more, the widely respected Prof. Dompere made optimal use of some of the latest discoveries made in science, logic and mathematics, while he invents or originates his own mathematical models and ideas where there exists none to make a forceful case on certain aspects of Nkrumahism.

In fact these exquisitely written two books, which are to be in every library and pored over and widely discussed both on the continent and in the African diaspora, are the best on Nkrumahism thus far:

“THE THEORY OF CATEGORIAL CONVERSION: RATIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF NKRUMAHISM IN SOCIO-NATURAL SYSTEMICITY AND COMPLEXITY.”

“THE THEORY OF PHILOSOPHICAL CONSCIENCISM: PRACTICE FOUNDATIONS OF NKRUMAHISM IN SOCIAL SYSTEMICITY.”

In these timely works of profound scholarship the multifaceted genius Prof. Dompere has once again demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that, indeed, the incomparable Nkrumah was ahead of his time. Here, Prof. Dompere’s good friend Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, the world’s leading authority on the Theory of Afrocentricity, another multifaceted genius duly recognized as “One of the most influential leaders in the decade” as well as one of the “100 leading thinkers in America,” agrees when he wrote in the eulogistic piece “Nkrumah Celebration,” a paper he presented at the Schomburg Research Center for Black Culture, New York, during Nkrumah’s centennial anniversary:

“It is rare in human history that one discovers a philosopher-political leader whose voice resonates with that of his people as clearly as that of Nkrumah. He is at once a consummate political activist and a master of the internal tensions of history and politics; these qualities made him an advance signal for a continuing victory sign…

“Nkrumah was a prophet of reality…Nkrumah gave meaning and direction to our best political and philosophical ideals and raised the level of thinking about a United Africa…This is why I am an ardent celebrator of Nkrumah’s life and voice because in celebrating him we celebrate the best in us. This giant was real, genuine…the essence of African intelligence…”

In the meantime, we will like to remind our dedicated readers from around the world that we’ve published widely on our good friend Prof. Dompere and his corpus of scholarly works right here on Ghanaweb and on other major web portals, and therefore for this reason we shall not belabor them here again for lack of time and for other reasons owing to the burdensome boredom of repetition.

Having said that, we also wish to inform our readers that Prof. Dompere and Howard University, in conjunction with the Center for African Studies and the Department of Economics, will be organizing a book launch and a presentation based on the afore-referenced books (However, we should like to add that Prof. Dompere was generous enough to send us autographed copy of his books. We take this opportunity to thank him).

Most importantly, we want our dedicated readers to take note of the following additional information:

VENUE (USA): Howard University Bookstore, 2225 George Ave NW, Washington, DC 20059

TIME: 1:00pm—2:00pm

DATE: MAY 9, 2017 (TUESDAY)

PHONE NUMBER: (202) 238-2640

About the Author

Kofi Kissi Dompere is a professor of economics at Howard University.

He has authored a number of scientific and scholarly works on economics, philosophy, and decision theory and related fields. He has also authored a number of monographs including twelve monographs with Springer Science Publishers, three with Greenwood Publishers, and two with Adonis-Abbey Publishers.

His teaching areas include Economic Theory, Mathematical Economics, International Economics and Cost-Benefit Analysis as decision theory.

His current research foci are on Theory of Development Process, Qualitative mathematics of transformations, epistemics and mathematics of fuzzy phenomena and their application in economic decision, mathematics of transformations and General information theory.

He is the producer and host of a radio program “African Rhythms and Extensions” on WPFW 89.3 FM, in Washington D.C., USA, a member of Pacifica Foundation.

In praise of Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere

“The bulk of Professor Dompere’s research and publications lie within the highly technical field of ‘fuzzy system’s research…This degree on specialization is part of a complicated process that hopefully leads to further insights and what we proudly admire as scientific progress when all works well…One must try to assess not only the value of a person’s contribution to work going on in a specialized field, but also the likely value of the specialized area to the profession as a whole…

“The works I have reviewed, as well as the publication and conference participation records, clearly demonstrate that Professor Dompere is a valuable contributor to fuzzy systems theory. His paper, ‘The Theory of Fuzzy Decisions’ published in ‘Approximate Reasoning in Decision Analysis’ (M.M. Gupta and E. Sanchez editors, North-Holland, 1982) is a clearly early valuable contribution written at the highest mathematical level.

“However, this is a field that requires not only high level math skills but also considerable philosophical sophistication…What is more interesting is Professor Dompere’s work applying the theoretical insights he developed early in his career to a number of areas of economic research. He demonstrates how insights from fuzzy systems theory clarify overlooked complexities in capital theory in… However, several new developments indicate that the work of Professor Dompere and others in fuzzy systems theory may be of greater importance than most economists realized only a few years ago.

“In conclusion, Professor Dompere has been a valuable contributor to a highly specialized field of economics that has recently proven to be of far greater interest and value than most economics expected…” (Robin Hahnel, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, American University/Portland State University)

“Pan-African Analysis: This provocative and idealistic question leads to Prof. Dompere’s two works on African Union and Polyrhythmicity. I studied African politics and literature at Penn and Morgan State, and have a deep admiration for some of the historic figures and ideas that Dompere that celebrates in these two books. I will not comment on them, other than to make two observations. First, what shines through here is the vision of Kwame Nkrumah—and of other legendary figures—that insisted on Pan-Africanism as a crucial element in Africa’s effort to break away from colonialism and neo-colonialism, in its effort to develop and to become prosperous.

“Second: in this respect, the effort at thinking of African development as a whole, as having a collective logic and as demanding from its people that they think collectively of all Africans’ collective well-being, is completely consistent with the national social planning approach that Prof. Dompere has been working out in his formal economic-theory work. In effect, one solution among others is a Pan-African approach; and this will be best for Africa. In these works, of course, this prescription comes fully charged by the author’s love and devotion for the poetry, beauty, literature, and vitality of Africa.

“But then, what do we do if micro-structures don’t work like that-don’t function as component parts of optimizing social matrices? Dompere’s answer, as a man of Africa, is that we must fight for Africa—or if we are not from there, for America…One is the beautiful cloud of the dream of a Pan-African path to development, arrived at as colonial empires crumbled. The other is the n-dimensional cloud of mathematical symmetry and elegant possibility, arrived at through mental exercises in thinking the world of production and consumption. On these clouds, I feel at home and yet above the earth.

“And perhaps that is the role of a theorist and a meta-historian—to remind his readers what is possible, what can be and even what could not be, so they have something to hold onto as they make their way along the alleyways and streets down on the hard, cold ground…” (Gary A. Dymski, Professor of Economics, Executive Director, University of California (Riverside).