‘When the Bull Elephants Fight’: Kwame Nkrumah,Non-Alignment,and Pan-Africanism as an Interventionist Ideology in the Global Cold War (1957–66)

From independence onwards, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana pursued a position of positive neutrality and non-alignment. Historians claim that the Congo crisis and the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 led Nkrumah to question the viability of strict non-alignment. Newly declassified Ghanaian sources and an analysis of the components that make up the pan-African ideology, however, suggest that these events validated Nkrumah's pan-African worldview. Only a combination of continental unification and non-alignment was considered to be an effective strategy to avoid a repetition of the Congo debacle. Ghana's public diplomacy tactics switched from targeting political activists to convincing people through a vociferously anti-colonial propaganda campaign, a modification that cast doubt on the sincerity of Ghanaian neutrality at a moment when non-alignment actually began to affect Ghanaian diplomacy on all levels.     

Processes of Change--A Longitudinal Ethno-Archaeological Study of a Ghanaian Village: Hani 1970–98

Most ethno-archaeological research involves the study of single communities over short time periods. As archaeology endeavors to appreciate the processes of change over extended periods of time it is important to obtain insights into the dynamics of past communities by studying comparable communities over periods long enough to delineate significant changes in site formation, uses of material culture and reactions to environmental, economic, and political stimuli. The study of the Ghanaian village of Hani, the successor community to the medieval town of Begho (ca. AD 1100–1800), is unique in that it provides a continuous study of a community over 28 years, during which time the village has been mapped on seven occasions, agricultural practices and collecting activities studied at different seasons, the changing material culture of the village recorded and the attitudes and reactions to environmental, economic, and political changes monitored through a continuous series of questionnaires. Conclusions are drawn as to the effect of these changes and archaeological implications evaluated.La plupart des études ethno-archéologiques sont basées sur des communautés uniques durant des périodes courtes. Etant donné que l'archéologie apprécie de plus en plus le processus de changement à long terme, c'est très important de connaître le fonctionnement des anciennes communautés en étudiants des communautés comparables durant des longues périodes pour pouvoir démarquer des changements pertinents; notamment dans le domaine de la formation des sites, l'utilisation de la culture matérielle, des réactions á l'environnement, et l'impact politique. L'étude du village ghanéen de Hani, successeur de l'ancienne ville médiévale de Begho (ca. AD 1100–1800) est unique parce que c'est le résultat d'une étude progressive de plus de 28 ans. Pendant cette période, la carte de la ville a été tracée sept fois, les activités d'agriculture et de collecte ont été étudiées pendant les saisons différents, et les changements de la culture matérielle ont été enregistrées. Les attitudes et réactions aux changements d'environnement, ainsi que les changements politiques et économiques, ont été documentés à l'aide d'une série continue des questionnaires. Des conclusions ont été tirées sur les effets de ces changements et les implications archéologiques sont évaluées.     

Ghana's Vanishing Past: Development, Antiquities, and the Destruction of the Archaeological Record

Ghana's past is being destroyed at a rapid rate. Although the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board has in some instances successfully intervened to stop the illicit trading of antiquities, the destruction of archaeological sites as a consequence of development over the past two decades has been staggering and the pace is accelerating. The potential of the legislation that established the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and empowered it to manage and preserve the country's archaeological past has not been realized. The lack of political action, limited relevant public education, insufficient funding, and the poverty of the majority of the Ghanaian populace have allowed for the widespread destruction of both sites and historic buildings. Conspicuously, both the absence of integrated development planning by the Ghanaian government and the inability of development partners (both foreign and domestic) to recognize the potential value of cultural resources have contributed significantly to the continued loss of the archaeological record. While the antiquities trade is a continuing threat to Ghana's cultural resources, it is, in fact, tourism and economic development that pose the major menace to the country's archaeological past. This article reviews the history of cultural resource management in Ghana, including both traditional attitudes toward preservation and current legislation. Case studies are used to illustrate the problems faced. Actuellement le passé matériel du Ghana disparaît très rapidement. Le Conseil des musées et des monuments du Ghana a réussi à intervenir dans certains cas pour arrêter la traite illicite en antiquités. Toutefois, la croissance rapide du développement urbain au fil des derniers vingt ans a entraîné une énorme destruction de sites archéologiques qui ne fait qu'accroître. Les lois établissant le Conseil des musées et des monuments du Ghana lui ont en même temps accordé les pleins pouvoirs en mesure de la gestion et la préservation du passé archéologique du pays, malheureusement les possibilités de cette législation n'ont jamais été réalisées. Plusieurs éléments contribuent à la destruction très répandue de sites et de bâtiments historiques, dont le manque de prises de mesures politiques, d'éducation publique pertinente, de fonds, et la misère dans laquelle vivent la plus grande partie de la population ghanéenne. Il est évident que l'absence d'une planification intégrée pour le développement de la part du gouvernement ghanéen et l'incapacité des partenaires en développement (nationaux ainsi qu'internationaux) de reconnaître la valeur potentielle de ressources culturelles sont deux éléments supplémentaires clés qui contribuent de façon importante en la perte continue de vestiges archéologiques. La traite en objets antiques présente toujours une menace pour les ressources culturelles du Ghana. En fait le tourisme et le développement économique représentent une menace encore plus importante à la préservation du passé archéologique du pays. Cet article revoit l'histoire de la gestion des ressources culturelles au Ghana, comprenant à la fois les positions traditionnelles envers la préservation ainsi que la legislation actuelle. Des études de cas éclairent les problèmes actuels.     

Ceramic production,consumption and exchange in the Banda area,Ghana: Insights from compositional analyses

Ceramic production, exchange and consumption in the Banda area, west central Ghana has been affected by historical developments ranging from recent competition with alternative vessels (made of metal and plastic) to political economic upheavals that altered community relationships within and outside the region. In this study, we explore spatial and temporal patterning in pottery production, exchange and consumption using a combination of analytical techniques. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of a large sample (491 specimens) of archaeological and ethnographic pottery, clay and temper samples from sites across the Banda area has led to the identification of seven compositional groups whose differential distribution implies shifts in resource selection through the last thousand years. Laser ablation-ICP-MS analysis was used to explore the effects of distinctive tempering agents (crushed slag) on the bulk chemical signature of a subset of Banda ceramics, while petrographic analysis provides insight into the preparation of ceramic fabrics. We integrate insights from these diverse physical studies to investigate the dynamics of pottery production, exchange and consumption over the course of the last millennium in the Banda area and explore potential linkages with broader political economic transformations.     

Pearl Millet and Kintampo Subsistence

Subsistence practices of the Kintampo cultural complex of sub-Saharan West Africa are now known to have included pearl millet cultivation, in addition to the utilization of tropical forest margin species such as oil palm. Charred plant remains recovered from the Birimi site, northern Ghana, suggest that the growing of pearl millet, possibly in uniform stands, was occurring amongst northerly Kintampo groups during the fourth millennium bp. The cultivation of this drought-tolerant crop facilitated the establishment of sedentary villages by providing a storable food resource enabling Kintampo people to survive the protracted dry season of the West African savanna.Nous savons maintenant que les pratiques de subsistance du complexe culturel Kintampo de l'Afrique de l'Ouest sub-saharien comprenaient la culture du mil à chandelle ainsi que l'utilisation d'espèces végétales qui poussaient en bordure de la forêt tropicale, comme le palmier à huile. Des restes de plantes carbonisé ont été récupérées du site du Birimi dans le Nord du Ghana; elles suggèrent que la pratique de la culture du mil à chandelle dont les plantations étaient peut-être déjà uniformes, se soit produite parmi les groupes Kintampo du Nord pendant le quatrième millénaire bp. La culture du mil à chandelle tolérait la sécheresse et avait ainsi facilité l'établissement de villages sédentaires car elle fournissait des ressources alimentaires entreposables. Cela permettait aux groupes Kintampo de survivre pendant la longue saison sèche de la savane de l'Afrique de l'Ouest.     

Maritime Archaeology and the Early Atlantic Trade: research at Elmina,Ghana

This article details recent maritime archaeological research off the town of Elmina in coastal Ghana. Founded in 1482, Elmina Castle was the first and largest European outpost in sub‐Saharan West Africa, and remained a centre of maritime trade for almost four centuries. Survey and diver investigations led to the discovery of several sites, including a shipwreck dating to the mid 17th century, which is characterized by a mass of trade goods, cannon and buried hull remains. A second Dutch vessel dating to c.1700 was documented after its discovery during dredging operations in the Benya Lagoon adjacent to Elmina. These sites present an opportunity to study ships and cargoes involved in the West African trade.     

Caregiving as mobility constraint and opportunity: married daughters providing end of life care in northern Ghana

In the global south where care services are sparse and familial care remains practically and socially important, end of life care often occurs within families. Furthermore, in health care related policy development, care is often assumed to be ensured by ‘traditional’ norms of extended family relationships. In this context, the demands of providing care may require care providers to relocate, as well as reorganize their everyday responsibilities. This article contributes to geographies of care by offering an examination of the mobility constraints experienced by married and externally-resident daughters seeking to provide end of life care to a parent in northern Ghana. Drawing on ethnographic research, I examine how particular familial relationships are embedded with socially constructed labour obligations, leading to conflicting responsibilities at a parent’s end of life. I then consider how a woman as a daughter works to overcome these constraints to provide end of life care. I conclude that understanding the mobility of care providers can contribute to avoiding potentially damaging assumptions of ‘traditional’ norms of care and is an important consideration towards understanding the geographies of care in the rural global south.     

Movements in Time and Space: Using Multiple Methods in Research with Young People in Accra,Ghana

The contribution discusses methodological issues involved in researching youth in an African context. Based on the experiences gathered during field research in Ghana, it is argued that research with young people in Africa requires careful reflexive practice. The rationale behind, and experience of, methods such as group discussions, oral life stories, lifelines, written diaries, photo-diaries and participant observation is critically discussed. It is argued that by combining these methods it is possible to capture the diversity and complexity of youth experiences in the present as well as longitudinal processes of transition. Moreover, combining different methods provides young people with the space and time they require to communicate the complexities of their lives.     

Structural adjustment programs and housing affordability in Accra, Ghana

Due to the persistent socio-economic problems that have beset African countries since the late 1970s, many of them have been forced to accept IMF and World Bank sponsored Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). Ghana came under one such program in 1983. While proponents of the program point to growth in GDP and other measures as evidence of successful adjustment in Ghana, critics have pointed to the negative impacts on the labor market, women, farmers and the like. This paper seeks to add to the debate by examining the impacts of SAPs on housing production, delivery and affordability from 1983–1998. It argues that since shelter is a very important basic need, what happens to its production, affordability and access under the SAPs should be considered among the criteria for judging their success or failure. The paper examines housing affordability in Accra, Ghana, using standard measurement criteria applied by lending institutions to determine affordability. It uses market data to compare and contrast housing prices and income ratios in Ghana from 1980 to 1998. The analysis is based on a combination of primary and secondary data from market surveys, the Ministry of Housing, the Ghana Statistical Services and a variety of other sources. It concludes that not all the dramatic increases in the price of both developed and undeveloped land over the past 16 years can be wholly attributed to the ongoing Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) per se. Nonetheless, SAP inspired policies such as currency devaluation and hikes in interest rates have contributed greatly to these changes. The end result is that real estate prices have been pushed beyond the affordability of a significant proportion of Ghana's population.     

INTERNAL BOUNDARIES AND DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION: A CHALLENGE TO DECENTRALIZATION AND DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA

Traditional institutions in Africa and their role in a decentralized administrative framework has been the subject of analysis in recent times. However, these discussions have centred largely on political power and local control of resources, to the neglect of the challenges of local government boundary setting and its consequences for local development. Therefore, in countries implementing decentralization with existing strong chiefdoms and traditional areas of jurisdictions, such as Ghana, little consideration has been given to the effects of local government boundaries on community cohesiveness and local development. This article examines the challenges of decentralization in Ghana with particular focus on district administrative boundaries. It argues that the non-coincidence of the 'traditional' ethnic boundaries, namely Traditional Areas, and the 'formal' district administrative boundaries of some districts as well as the absence of an integrative system of traditional and modern governance present a challenge to local and district development under the present decentralization process. The article concludes that district boundary setting should be a process of 'negotiated contract' between the state and communities of which the boundary is meant to create a local government territorial area of jurisdiction. This process entails that the criteria for boundary setting take into account both cultural and economic factors.