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 With sources including historical documents, poems, treaties, articles, and fiction, The Ghana Reader conveys the multiple and intersecting histories of Ghana's development as a nation, its key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.
Author(s): Kwasi Konadu, Clifford C. Campbell
Publisher: Duke University Press
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 499
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
