In Memoriam Kofi Dorvlo (1953-2022)
The ASCL is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Kofi Dorvlo in February 2022. Dr Dorvlo was a LeidenASA visiting fellow at Leiden University in 2019, the same university where he had obtained his PhD in 2008. His doctoral research, funded by the Endangered Languages Programme of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), focused on the documentation of Logba, one of the fourteen Ghana-Togo Mountain (GTM) languages spoken by approximately 7,500 speakers on the Southeastern frontier of the Ghana-Togo border (read his dissertation). He gained his undergraduate degree in English and Linguistics at the Univerity of Ghana, and did his graduate work at the same university, where he was appointed Research Fellow at the Language Centre.
His article 'Restitution and Redistribution of Ewe Heritage' was publisehd in a volume edited by Daniela Merolla and Mark Turin 2017, Searching for Sharing: Heritage and Multimedia in Africa. As a LeidenASA visiting fellow he continued his research on the stories and rituals of the Ewes of southeastern Ghana. Their tradition has it that they settled in Ketu near the present Benin-Nigeria border before coming to Notsie in Central Togo and finally, because of the cruel treatment under King Agorkorli, decided to escape to their present settlement in Ghana. In March 2019, Dr Dorvlo gave a fascinating lecture on Hogbetsotso, an annual festival of the Aŋlɔ (Anlo) Ewe of Southeastern Ghana where both the leaders (especially the paramount chief) and the Aŋlɔ people can criticise and complain about each other’s behaviour during the year without restraint and without the use of veiled speech.
Kofi Dorvlo was buried at Anyako in Ghana on 12 March 2022. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues.
African Studies Centre Leiden
February 2022
Read an In Memoriam on wijsheidsweb.nl, the website of the Quest for Wisdom Foundation for which Kofi wrote Ghanaian folk tales.
Posted on 28 February 2022, last modified on 18 March 2022