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Selena Axelrod Winsnes has been engaged, since 1982, in the
translation into English, and editing of Danish language sources to
West African history, sources published from 1697 to 1822, the
period during which Denmark-Norway was an actor in the
Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comprises five major books written
for the Scandinavian public. They describe all aspects of life on
the Gold Coast Ghana], the Middle Passage and the Danish Caribbean
islands US Virgin Islands], as seen by five different men. Each had
his own agenda and mind-set, and the books, both singly and
combined, hold a wealth of information - of interest both to
scholars and lay readers. They provide important insights into the
cultural baggage the enslaved Africans carried with them to the
America's. One of the books, L.F.Rmer's A Reliable Account of the
Coast of Guinea was runner-up for the prestigious international
texts prize awarded by the U.S. African Studies Association. Selena
Winsnes lived in Ghana for five years and studied at the University
of Ghana, Legon. Her mother tongue is English; and, working
free-lance, she resides premanently in Norway with her husband,
four children and eight grandchildren. In 2008, she was awarded an
Honorary Doctor of Letters for distinguished scholarship by the
University of Ghana, Legon.
Selena Axelrod Winsnes has been engaged, since 1982, in the
translation into English, and editing of Danish language sources to
West African history, sources published from 1697 to 1822, the
period during which Denmark-Norway was an actor in the
Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comprises five major books written
for the Scandinavian public. They describe all aspects of life on
the Gold Coast Ghana], the Middle Passage and the Danish Caribbean
islands US Virgin Islands], as seen by five different men. Each had
his own agenda and mind-set, and the books, both singly and
combined, hold a wealth of information - of interest both to
scholars and lay readers. They provide important insights into the
cultural baggage the enslaved Africans carried with them to the
America's. One of the books, L.F.Rmer's A Reliable Account of the
Coast of Guinea was runner-up for the prestigious international
texts prize awarded by the U.S. African Studies Association. Selena
Winsnes lived in Ghana for five years and studied at the University
of Ghana, Legon. Her mother tongue is English; and, working
free-lance, she resides premanently in Norway with her husband,
four children and eight grandchildren. In 2008, she was awarded an
Honorary Doctor of Letters for distinguished scholarship by the
University of Ghana, Legon
Wulff's life history is of considerable interest in itself. In her
biographical essay (Part I) Selena Axelrod Winsnes portrays him as
a 'marginal man' being a Jew in Denmark at the beginning of the
19th century was to some extent an uphill struggle for those who
sought public recognition, and Wulff did not escape discrimination
in his administrative career at Christiansborg either, although
special circumstances allowed him to hold important positions, and
yet, only for the short term. Paradoxically, on his arrival to the
Gold Coast Wulff - as a Jew - was placed in a middle position in
the racial hierarchy dominating the mind-set of his superiors in
Copenhagen n between Africans and Europeans. In many respects he
shared the fate of Euro-Africans, straddling two worlds and being
'sealed off' from the top echelons of the European establishments
on the Coast. This book comprises two parts. The first is a
biographical presentation of Wulff Joseph Wulff, a Danish Jew. It
is an essay concerning the last six years of his life, spent on the
Gold Coast of West Africa, based on letters he wrote to his family
in Denmark. Those letters were published in 1917 as Da Guinea var
Dansk When Guinea was Danish], by Carl Behrens, a member of his
family in Denmark. The second part of the book is an edited
translation of the letters from Danish into English.
Paul E. Isert, a Dane, arrived in Ghana (then the Gold Coast) in
1783, taking advantage of an opening in the slave trade between
Guinea and the West Indies. He was appointed as chief surgeon to
the Danish establishments on the Guinea Coast. In 1786 he sailed to
the West Indies with a cargo of slaves, who revolted. His
experiences in Ghana and the West Indies resolved him to end the
trans-Atlantic slave abuse. This book is written in the form of
letters to his father. An elusive character, it is clear that he
nonetheless had an unreservedly positive attitude towards Africa
and its indigenous peoples, and an equally negative attitude
towards the Europeans on the Guinea coast. An admirer of Rousseau's
philosophy, he was concerned about the corrupting influence of the
European "civilisation" on the "Blacks." His writing attempts at
objectivity, seeking to find the common humanity. He claims that
the "Black" was, at least equal to tat of the "European,"which was
not shared by his Danish predecessors. This is the first English
language edition of his original Danish letters, previously
published in German, Dutch, French, and Swedish.
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