The Ghana Reader : History, Culture, Politics

Description

Covering 500 years of Ghana's history, The Ghana Reader provides a multitude of historical, political, and cultural perspectives on this iconic African nation. Whether discussing the Asante kingdom and the Gold Coast's importance to European commerce and transatlantic slaving, Ghana's brief period under British colonial rule, or the emergence of its modern democracy, the volume's eighty selections emphasize Ghana's enormous symbolic and pragmatic value to global relations. They also demonstrate that the path to fully understanding Ghana requires acknowledging its ethnic and cultural diversity and listening to its population's varied voices. Readers will encounter selections written by everyone from farmers, traders, and the clergy to intellectuals, politicians, musicians, and foreign travelers. With sources including historical documents, poems, treaties, articles, and fiction, The Ghana Reader conveys the multiple and intersecting histories of Ghana's development as a nation, its key contribution to the formation of the African diaspora, and its increasingly important role in the economy and politics of the twenty-first century. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 6 Copyright......Page 7 Contents......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 I. One Nation, Many Histories......Page 32 Ancestral Faces......Page 34 The Holocene Archaeology of Ghana......Page 36 Quest for the River, Creation of the Path......Page 45 A Creation Story and a “Beautiful Prayer” to Tano......Page 54 Folk Songs of Ghana......Page 57 Bono-Takyiman Oral Traditions......Page 61 Oral Traditions of Adanse and Denkyira......Page 66 An Account of Early Asante......Page 75 Fante Oral Traditions: Kwamankɛse and Komenda......Page 78 Archaeological Reflections on Ghanaian Traditions of Origin......Page 84 Prelude to the Atlantic Slave Trade......Page 91 II. Between the Sea and the Savanna, 1500–1700......Page 96 Encounter with Europe......Page 98 The Voyage of Eustache de la Fosse......Page 102 A View of the Gold Coast from the Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis......Page 105 Letter from Mina Governor to the Queen [Catarina]......Page 109 A Report on Mina......Page 112 The Gold Kingdom of Guinea......Page 115 Letter 17......Page 121 Treaties between Gold Coast Polities and the King of Denmark and the Danish Africa Company......Page 124 The Dutch and the Gold Coast......Page 127 Denkyira in the Making of Asante......Page 129 Ta’rīkh Ghunjā......Page 133 III. Commerce and the Scrambles for Africa, 1700–1900......Page 140 The Various Nations of Blacks in Guinea......Page 142 Plates......Page 146 Revolt on a Danish Slaving Voyage......Page 154 Journal and Correspondences of H. W. Daendels......Page 162 The “Bowdich” Treaty with Asante and the Oath at Nyankumasi......Page 164 She Who Blazed a Trail: Akyaawa Yikwan of Asante......Page 168 Plantations and Labor in the Southeast Gold Coast......Page 173 Petition of the Principal Mulatto Females of the Gold Coast......Page 179 Grievances of the Gold Coast Chiefs......Page 181 Proclamation of George Cumine Strahan......Page 183 Gold­Mining and Colonial Capitalism in the Gold Coast......Page 185 Between the Sea and the Lagoon: The Anlo­Ewe of Southeastern Ghana......Page 194 One Hundred and Fifty Years of Christianity in a Ghanaian Town......Page 200 The Peoples of the Gold Coast Hinterland......Page 212 For the Safety of the Public, and the Welfare of the Race......Page 221 To the Educated Community in the Gold Coast Colony......Page 225 IV. Colonial Rule and Political Independence, 1900–1957......Page 230 The Petition of 1913......Page 234 Fathering, Mothering, and Making Sense of Ntamoba in Colonial Asante......Page 237 The Blinkards......Page 243 The Trial of Akrofi......Page 247 Of Water and Spirits......Page 254 AFRINHYIA PA O-O-O!......Page 260 Reminiscences: The Hill of Knowledge......Page 265 The ARPS and the National Congress, 1901–30......Page 270 Women’s Conjugal Strategies in a World of Cash and Cocoa......Page 276 Report on the Riots of 1948, Commission of Enquiry into Disturbances in the Gold Coast......Page 282 History and National Development: The Case of John Mensah Sarbah and the Reconstruction of Gold Coast History......Page 288 The Administrative Problem......Page 293 The Employment of Men: Clerks, Police, Soldiers, and Teachers, 1930–1951......Page 300 Achimota: From the Story My Mother Taught Me......Page 306 Women and Their Organizations during the Convention People’s Party Period......Page 308 Ghana: The Pioneer Guards the Gate......Page 315 Birth of Ghana......Page 318 V. Independence, Coups, and the Republic, 1957–Present......Page 322 Independence Speech......Page 324 The Nkrumah Government and Its Opposition......Page 326 Africa’s Resources......Page 330 Ordained by the Oracle......Page 334 Flight......Page 338 Everything Counts......Page 345 Story: Patience and Pleading......Page 349 Rebellion, Revolution, and Tradition: Reinterpreting Coups in Ghana......Page 352 Miracles and the Message (1983 Drought in Ghana)......Page 357 Win the Match and Vote for Me......Page 359 The 1994 Civil War in Northern Ghana......Page 364 “That All Konkomba Should Henceforth Unite”......Page 367 I Am Not Brainwashed......Page 370 Hydro­Power and the Promise of Modernity and Development in Ghana......Page 375 The Ghanaian Media and National Unity......Page 379 VI. The Exigencies of a Postcolony......Page 384 The Return of the Native......Page 388 Toward a Pan­African Identity: Diaspora African Repatriates in Ghana......Page 392 Slavery and the Making of Black Atlantic History......Page 397 The Return through the Door of No Return......Page 402 Citizenship and Identity among Ghanaian Migrants in Toronto......Page 407 Chieftaincy, Diaspora, and Development......Page 413 China–Africa Relations: A Case Study of Ghana......Page 419 Ghana Market Women Pay the Daily Micro Man......Page 422 “The Slums of Nima” and “Fading Laughter”......Page 426 Ghanaian Highlife......Page 429 Profile of Five Ghana Emcees......Page 433 Kumasi Realism: Alex Amofa......Page 439 Paradigm Shift......Page 445 The Funeral as a Site for Choreographing Modern Identities in Contemporary Ghana......Page 451 The United States, Ghana, and Oil: Global and Local Perspectives......Page 457 Obama’s Visit as a Signifier of Ghanaians’ “Colonial Mentality”......Page 463 Mobile Phones and Our Cultural Values......Page 470 Ghallywood or the Ghanaian Movie Industry......Page 474 Ghana’s Philosophy of Survival......Page 478 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 480 Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources......Page 484 Index......Page 492