Editorial

Almost two years have passed since the publication of the last issue of our journal (BULUK 13), although it was originally planned as an annual journal. One reason is that too few contributions were received from Bulsa authors. However, the main reason was the low availability of the editor, who has been active in other areas concerning the development of Bulsa culture. The work on the second edition of the Buli-English Dictionary as an app for Android smartphones and tablets must be mentioned above all. It was developed from May to August of 2021 in cooperation with the Swiss linguist Urs Niggli (SIL). I would like to take this opportunity to thank Urs Niggli, certainly also on behalf of many Bulsa, for the huge amount of work he has invested into a Bulsa project. The app has been enthusiastically received by educated Bulsa.
Another reason for the delayed edition of BULUK 14 was the problem in finding a suitable main feature. For some time (for example, during the preparation of BULUK 13), I contemplated the idea of collecting facts and historical data on the subject of Bulsa Unity and presenting them in a completely neutral way from a non-Bulsa’s point of view. It would have started at the precolonial period and ended in the present time. Educated Bulsa should have had the opportunity thereafter to express their opinions in short posts (similar to those of a Facebook group). All my Bulsa friends, some of whom had come in contact with other friends, believed that this topic was too “sensitive” and might lead to controversial, polemical arguments among the discussion participants.
I therefore decided to change the main feature from this highly-explosive topic to a more descriptive account of Bulsa Food. One of the main reasons for this was that I was able to collect a great amount of material on this topic during my years of living among the Bulsa, especially during my recurrent stays at Anyenangdu Yeri (Wiaga-Sinyangsa-Badomsa). I would like to express my sincere thanks to the housewives of this compound for giving me insights into food procurement and food preparation, bearing in mind that Bulsa women do not usually like a man “to peek into their cooking pots”.
I hope that I have been able to give an insight into the extremely diverse preparation and use of food and convey this to strangers and tourists who may be served a warm meal by the hospitable Bulsa. I ask all Bulsa to give corrections and additions to my accounts, which are certainly not always completely correct and locally very limited in their presentation.
The extraordinarily great help concerning mistakes and updated facts that I received from John Agandin will be acknowledged below.
The main feature of BULUK 15 has not yet been found, and it is even questionable whether the next issue (15) will be published again in print or only on the internet.
Another project has been on my mind for some time. In Facebook discussions about Bulsa history, often only one source (e.g. an oral tradition by a single informant) is cited. A comparison with written sources, most of which are in the National Archives of Ghana (NAG, Accra), is impossible or difficult because of the long journey, the time involved and the difficulty of consulting mostly handwritten sources. Since 2004 I have visited the following relevant archives: Oxford, Kew (Greater London), Tamale and Accra. There I have made photocopies of the most important documents and taken notes relating to Bulsa culture. I found the most relevant sources at the National Archives of Ghana (NAG, Accra), where I worked with my assistant Yaw Akumasi (Wiaga) in 2011 copying documents, mainly on the subject of Bulsa chieftaincy. I would now like to publish my copies, or a large part of them, in what will probably be a quite extensive and special issue of BULUK. This issue will also contain my own unpublished field notes as well as those of Prof. R. Schott (as far as they are accessible). The publication of this special issue shall have priority over the usual, annually-published issue of BULUK (15).
After explaining the problems which have made it difficult to produce BULUK 14, it gives me great pleasure to announce that my friend Ghanatta Ayaric (from Gbedema), who now lives in Germany again, has promised his co-editorship for the next issue of BULUK (no. 15). For the current issue (No. 14), he has already frequently given me his expert advice and support.
It would be my wish that, due to my decreasing work capacity, the editorship of our journal could be placed entirely in the hands of suitable Bulsa as this was my intention even before the first issue of BULUK appeared.