{{Short description|Ghanaian academician, educationalist, writer and human rights activist}}

{{use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Esi Sutherland-Addy | image = Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy, Ghanaian academic, writer, educationalist, and activist.jpg | birth_name = Esi Reiter Sutherland | birth_date = | birth_place = Ghana | death_date = | death_place = | education = Achimota School | alma_mater = | occupation = Academic, writer, educationalist, and human rights activist | organization = Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana | parents = Efua Sutherland and Bill Sutherland | yearsactive = | notable works = | website = }} '''Esi Sutherland-Addy''' is a Ghanaian academic, writer, educationalist, and human rights activist. She is a professor at the Institute of African Studies, where she has been senior research fellow, head of the Language, Literature, and Drama Section, and associate director of the African Humanities Institute Program at the University of Ghana.

She is credited with more than 60 publications in the areas of education policy, higher education, female education, literature, theatre and culture,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Akosah-Sarpong |first=Kofi |date=12 April 2012 |title=Integrating and Differentiating the Enlightenment Voices |url=http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/25158 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707072647/http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/25158 |archive-date=7 July 2019 |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=Newstime Africa}}</ref> and serves on numerous committees, boards and commissions locally and internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Esi Sutherland-Addy |url=https://search.nyu.edu/s/search.html?f.All%7Cpeople-v01=People&query=Esi+Sutherland-Addy&collection=nyu-all-meta-v02 |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=nyu.edu |archive-date=6 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506213419/https://search.nyu.edu/s/search.html?f.All%7Cpeople-v01=People&query=Esi+Sutherland-Addy&collection=nyu-all-meta-v02 |url-status=live }}</ref> She is the first daughter of writer and cultural activist Efua Sutherland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 June 2016 |title=The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan–African Cultural Activism |url=http://www.ayebia.co.uk/products/11/the-legacy-of-efua-sutherland-pan-african-cultural-activism.html%3Fshowtemplate%3Dfalse |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707072649/http://www.ayebia.co.uk/products/11/the-legacy-of-efua-sutherland-pan-african-cultural-activism.html%3Fshowtemplate%3Dfalse |archive-date=7 July 2019 |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=Ayebia Clarke Publishing}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-18 |title=Why Efua Sutherland Park was named after my mother - Daughter speaks |url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/entertainment/Why-Efua-Sutherland-Park-was-named-after-my-mother-Daughter-speaks-1036933 |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=GhanaWeb |language=en}}</ref>

==Biography== Born in Ghana as '''Esi Reiter Sutherland''', she is the eldest of the three children<ref>Kwekudee, [http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/efua-t-sutherland-africas-female.html "Efua T Sutherland: Africa's Female Pioneer Dramatist, Cultural Visionary and Activist and "Black Africa's Most Famous Woman Writer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404064722/http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/efua-t-sutherland-africas-female.html |date=4 April 2016 }}, Trip Down Memory Lane, 2 October 2014.</ref> of playwright and cultural activist Efua Sutherland and African-American Bill Sutherland (1918–2010),<ref>Sutherland-Addy, Esi; Ralph Sutherland; Amowi Sutherland Phillips; Matt Meyer (14 January 2010), [https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/bill-sutherland-pan-african-pacifist "Bill Sutherland, Pan-African pacifist"], ''Pambazuka News''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530163824/http://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/bill-sutherland-pan-african-pacifist |date=30 May 2016 }}.</ref> a colonial civil rights activist who went to Ghana in 1953 on the recommendation of George Padmore to Kwame Nkrumah.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=17 July 2013 |title=Efua Sutherland-Addy — Associate Professor |url=http://ias.ug.edu.gh/index.php/staff?id=95 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811034321/http://ias.ug.edu.gh/index.php/staff?id=95 |archive-date=11 August 2015 |access-date=7 May 2024 |website=Institute of African Studies}}</ref> She was educated at St. Monica's Secondary School, Mampong and Achimota School (where she met her husband).<ref name=":1" />

She has held various positions at educational establishments in Europe and the US, which includes being a Senior Fellow at the Institute of International Education at Manchester University, UK, and as visiting lecturer at the following universities: University of Indiana, Bloomington, USA, the Centre for African Studies, New York University Accra Campus, University of Birmingham, UK, and L'Institut des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ruha |first=Genevieve |date=17 September 2013 |title=Dr. Esi Sutherland-Addy |url=http://www.ghanagrio.com/biography/17160-dr-esi-sutherland-addy.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428001416/http://www.ghanagrio.com/biography/17160-dr-esi-sutherland-addy.html |archive-date=28 April 2016 |access-date=7 May 2024 |website=Ghana Nation}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Dr Esi Sutherland |url=https://werus.org/dr-esi-sutherland/ |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=WeRuS |language=en-US |archive-date=6 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506214116/https://werus.org/dr-esi-sutherland/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

She served with the Ghana government as Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Culture and Tourism from 1986 to 1993, and as Minister of Education and Culture from 1994 to 1995.<ref name="Ruha"> Genevieve Ruha, [http://www.ghanagrio.com/biography/17160-dr-esi-sutherland-addy.html "Dr. Esi Sutherland-Addy"], ''Ghana Nation'', 17 September 2013. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428001416/http://www.ghanagrio.com/biography/17160-dr-esi-sutherland-addy.html|date=28 April 2016}}. </ref> She has undertaken studies particularly in the field of education for many international organizations, including UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa.<ref name=OHCHR>[http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/VFTC/Pages/Members.aspx Members of the Board of Trustees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160523120100/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/VFTC/Pages/Members.aspx |date=23 May 2016 }}, Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.</ref> She has been on both local and global boards with companies such as the Ghana Commercial Bank, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, and the Commonwealth of Learning.

She has also held key roles in non-governmental organizations and has been on the executive board of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE)<ref>[http://www.fawe.org/about/team/GA/index.php "General Assembly"], FAWE. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024021905/http://www.fawe.org/about/team/GA/index.php |date=24 October 2017 }}.</ref> and the Mmofra Foundation.<ref>[http://mmofraghana.org/about/board-of-directors/ "Board of Directors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328060303/https://mmofraghana.org/about/board-of-directors/ |date=28 March 2022 }}, Mmofra Foundation.</ref> She has served as the chairperson of such entities as: the board of trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation (VFTC).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://old1.ug.edu.gh/news/prof-sutherland-addy-appointed-united-nations-board|title=Prof. Sutherland Addy Appointed To United Nations Board|publisher=University of Ghana|date=10 March 2015|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/07/human-rights-council-holds-panel-discussion-technical-cooperation-advance|title=Human Rights Council Holds Panel Discussion on Technical Cooperation to Advance the Right to Education|publisher=United Nations {{!}} Human Rights|date=12 July 2021|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref> and Afram Publications Ghana Ltd.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aframpubghana.com/governing-board/ |title=Governing Board|publisher=Afram Publications Ghana Ltd.|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref>

Sutherland-Addy works with the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana and spearheads a project called Oral Traditions and Expressive Diversity, involving the collection and digitization of Ghanaian Oral Traditions. She also supervises postgraduate students.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy {{!}} Institute of African Studies {{!}} University of Ghana |url=https://ias.ug.edu.gh/content/professor-esi-sutherland-addy |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=ias.ug.edu.gh |archive-date=22 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922172801/https://ias.ug.edu.gh/content/professor-esi-sutherland-addy |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Awards== Sutherland-Addy has been the recipient of several awards, including:

* Honorary Fellowship of the College of Preceptors, UK (1998) * Group Award by the Rockefeller Foundation (2001 and 2002) for the Women Writing Africa Project * Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Education, Winneba (2004)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.uew.edu.gh/hall-fame/esi-sutherland-addy|title=Esi Sutherland Addy|publisher=University of Education, Winneba|access-date=23 July 2025}}</ref> * Excellence in Distance Education Award from the Commonwealth of Learning (2008)<ref name=":1" /><ref name="OHCHR" /> * Ghana Tourism Authority 20th Anniversary Emancipation Day Award (2018)<ref name=":0" />

==Selected bibliography== ;Editor * (Editor) ''Perspectives on Mythology'' (Proceedings of a Conference organized by the Goethe-Institut and the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, between 21 and 24 October 1997), Goethe-Institut/Woeli Publ. Services, 1999. {{ISBN|9789964978549}} * (Co-editor with Aminata Diaw) ''Women Writing Africa: West Africa and the Sahel'', The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1558615007}}. * (Co-editor with Anne V. Adams) ''The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan-African Cultural Activism'', Banbury: Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-9547023-1-1}}. * (With Ama Ata Aidoo) ''Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks'', Foundation for Contemporary Art-Ghana, 2008. {{ISBN|9789988153601}}. * (Co-editor with Takyiwaa Manuh) ''Africa in Contemporary Perspective: A Textbook for Undergraduate Students''. Ghana: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013. {{ISBN|9789988647377}}. ;Papers * "Gender Equity in Junior and Senior Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa", World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 6500, November 2008. * [https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/00162-EN.pdf "Women, Intangible Heritage and Development: Perspectives from the African Region"], ICH UNESCO.

==Further reading== * Sutherland-Addy, E. (2018). "Ama Ata Aidoo in Conversation with Esi Sutherland-Addy" (2017). ''Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora'', 44(2), 124+. * Sharma, Veena, and Esi Sutherland-Addy. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44733623 "A Conversation with Esi Sutherland-Addy"], ''India International Centre Quarterly'', vol. 38, no. 1, 2011, pp.&nbsp;124–133.

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150811034321/http://ias.ug.edu.gh/index.php/staff?id=95 “Efua Sutherland-Addy, Associate Professor], Institute of African Studies * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fcWP7BjBnI "ESI SUTHERLAND ADDY PERSONALITY - PROFILE FRIDAY ON JOYNEWS (14-3-14)"]. ''My JoyOnline'', 14 March 2014. YouTube. * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxrBTkBf9_0 "Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy – The Executive Lounge on JoyNews (2-8-19)"]. ''JoyNews'', 2 August 2019.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland-Addy, Esi}} Category:Living people Category:20th-century Ghanaian educators Category:20th-century Ghanaian women writers Category:20th-century Ghanaian writers Category:Academic staff of the University of Ghana Category:Alumni of Achimota School Category:Cabinet ministers of Ghana Category:Ghanaian academics Category:Ghanaian human rights activists Category:Ghanaian women academics Category:Ghanaian women writers Category:Ghanaian women's rights activists Category:St. Monica's Senior High School alumni Category:Year of birth missing (living people)