Gocking provides a historical overview of Ghana from the emergence of precolonial states through increasing contact with Europeans that led to the establishment of formal colonial rule by Great Britian at the end of the 19th century. Colonial rule transformed what was known as the Gold Coast economically, socially, and politically, but it contained the seeds of its own demise. After World War II an increasingly more effective nationalist movement challenged British rule, and in 1957 Ghana became independent. Independence brought its own challenges the most important of which was the inability to maintain political stability. Within the space of 24 years there were four military coups and the collapse of three republics. Ghana's Fourth Republic, established in 1993, has dealt with the legacy of instability inherited from the past as it moves towards a more stable future. A timeline, photographs, maps, and an appendix of biographies of notable figures in the history of Ghana are included. Students and adults alike will find this book to be highly effective in describing the often turbulent and tumultuous history of this country.

Winner of The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. The jury cited the book as "...no ordinary history book. It is a fascinating story, elegantly told by a meticulous historian in a beautifully produced volume. The author, a major historian and political figure, skilfully presents the story of the making of modern Ghana through the life history of one school." The author illuminates how western education has refined and changed the destiny of Ghanaian families from the school, and the contribution of the school to nation building through the excellence of the products of the school. The history of the school is set against the background of the history of Ghana in general; and a completely new light is thrown on a turning point in Ghana's history - the 1948 riots and their aftermath.

By featuring the life histories of eight senior men, Making Men in Ghana explores the changing meaning of becoming a man in modern Africa. Stephan F. Miescher concentrates on the ideals and expectations that formed around men who were prominent in their communities when Ghana became an independent nation. Miescher shows how they negotiated complex social and economic transformations and how they dealt with their mounting obligations and responsibilities as leaders in their kinship groups, churches, and schools. Not only were notions about men and masculinity shaped by community standards, but they were strongly influenced by imported standards that came from missionaries and other colonial officials. As he recounts the life histories of these men, Miescher reveals that the passage to manhood—and a position of power, seniority, authority, and leadership—was not always welcome or easy. As an important foil for studies on women and femininity, this groundbreaking book not only explores masculinity and ideals of male behavior, but offers a fresh perspective on African men in a century of change.

In this edition of The Making of an African King: Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle Among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Ghana, Revised & Updated, every chapter is updated, taking into account the 2015 Ghana Supreme Court ruling on the internecine kingship struggle among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Simpa (Winneba). The patrilineal Otuano Royal Family sued the Acquah faction and proponents of matrilineal succession in 1976, seeking confirmation of their inalienable right as the sole kingmakers of Simpa, and also for the court to place perpetual injunction on the Acquahs never to interfere in the royal affairs of Simpa. During the intervening decades from 1976-2015, Simpa witnessed a spate of intermittent political violence, especially the months leading to their annual Nyantɔr (aboakyir) Festival, all aimed at preventing the king from propitiating the ancestors and deities of Simpa led by Pɛnkyae Otu. With the Supreme Court ruling, people now have the opportunity to read the judgment in its entirety and make up their own minds. What is actually fascinating about the whole internecine royal struggle is, that we have a situation whereby a matrilineal political system practiced by the Akan is displacing a long-established patrilineal system of descent traditionally practiced by the Guan speaking people of Simpa. Such an idea would be unheard of in the West, but this is what is happening among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Simpa (Winneba) socio-culturally and politically. Indeed, it shows how unique and transformative the Akan ābusua (a mother and her children) system is all about.

In 1957 Ghana became one of the first sub-Saharan African nations to gain independence from colonial rule. Over the next decade, hundreds of African Americans--including Martin Luther King Jr., George Padmore, Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Pauli Murray, and Muhammad Ali--visited or settled in Ghana. Kevin K. Gaines explains what attracted these Americans to Ghana and how their new community was shaped by the convergence of the Cold War, the rise of the U.S. civil rights movement, and the decolonization of Africa. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's president, posed a direct challenge to U.S. hegemony by promoting a vision of African liberation, continental unity, and West Indian federation. Although the number of African American expatriates in Ghana was small, in espousing a transnational American citizenship defined by solidarities with African peoples, these activists along with their allies in the United States waged a fundamental, if largely forgotten, struggle over the meaning and content of the cornerstone of American citizenship--the right to vote--conferred on African Americans by civil rights reform legislation.

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.

As early as the 1910s, African drivers in colonial Ghana understood the possibilities that using imported motor transport could further the social and economic agendas of a diverse array of local agents, including chiefs, farmers, traders, fishermen, and urban workers. Jennifer Hart's powerful narrative of auto-mobility shows how drivers built on old trade routes to increase the speed and scale of motorized travel. Hart reveals that new forms of labor migration, economic enterprise, cultural production, and social practice were defined by autonomy and mobility and thus shaped the practices and values that formed the foundations of Ghanaian society today. Focusing on the everyday lives of individuals who participated in this century of social, cultural, and technological change, Hart comes to a more sensitive understanding of the ways in which these individuals made new technology meaningful to their local communities and associated it with their future aspirations.