Politics of Social Change in Ghana [Hardcover]

With Ghana's colonial and postcolonial politics as a backdrop, this book explores the ways in which historically marginalized communities have defined and redefined themselves to protect their interests and compete politically and economically with neighbouring ethnic groups.Introduction: Power and Social Change in Africa * Chapter One: Their Power Will Be Uniformly Supported - The Politics of Historical Memory in Northern Ghana * This Wild but Interesting Tribe - Konkomba Feuds and Obstacles to British Rule * A Festering Sore on an Otherwise Healthy Administrative Body - Konkomba Political Agency and British Authority * Down with Black Imperialism in the North! - Education, Local Politics and Self-Help Initiatives * That All Konkombas Should Henceforth Unite - Ethnic Politics and the Use of Violence in Northern Ghana * We Even Dance Together - Social Relations in Post-Conflict Northern Ghana *Bibliography

The book s strengths are its relevance for understanding broader colonial Africa and its array of primary, especially archival, sources, backed by an impressive list of secondary sources. These focus on colonial and independent Ghana but include literature from many parts of Africa as well as the classics of African studies. Recommended. - CHOICE

What might a conflict, sparked by the sale of a guinea fowl in a fairly remote corner of Ghana in 1994, tell us about identity and politics in a rapidly globalizing, post-colonial world?Talton s Politics of Social Change in Ghana is one of only a handful of works in African Studies to expertly demonstrate the centrality of the local to understanding power and political consciousness in our globalizing world. It provides fresh insight into debates on tradition, religion, ethnicity, and political mobilization, while making sense of the horrific communal violence that has devastated the social fabric of parts of Northern Ghana for the past three decades. - Jean Allman, J.H. Hexter PrlÃ#