Shaping Tradition : Civil Society, Community and Development in Colonial Northern Ghana, 1899-1957 /
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Using Northern Ghana as a case study, this book challenges the invocation of civil society as a tool for building community in the name of development. Far from equating civil society with community, colonial officials used the doctrine of community against African civil society. For colonial officers, civil society represented the corruption of authentic development, which could be avoided only by protecting traditional peasant communities in the face of economic transformation. The book charts this colonial program, from the creation of "native states" in the early twentieth century to an ambitious agricultural mechanisation scheme in the late 1940s. In its challenge to current writing on civil society, the study offers an important contribution to African history and development studies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047410232
9789004152434
Critical Perspectives on Politics and Socio-Economic Development in Ghana /
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This volume provides a comprehensive and integrated analysis of Ghanaian politics, economy and society, outlining tensions, dilemmas and prospects that the country has to contend with. The chapters critically examine the performance and prospects of democratic institutions and processes; responses to, and impact of, economic policies and programs; and how culture intersects with the preceding developments to shape socio-economic and political institutions and practices. The collection is divided into four thematic sections: Politics, the State and Democratic Consolidation Economic Crisis and Neo-Liberal Reforms: Responses and Implications Indigenous Institutions and the Shaping of Development Culture, Indigenous Knowledge and Development It combines rich, recent, empirical material with sophisticated theoretical analyses, and brings unique interdisciplinary perspectives to bear on the issues examined.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047402169
9789004130135
Gender, social change and spiritual power : charismatic Christianity in Ghana /
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Charismatic Christianity is the most recent and fastest growing expression of Pentecostal religion in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana's capital, Accra, the charismatic churches dominate the religious scene. This book focuses on the gender discourses of Ghana's new churches, and considers charismatic perspectives on womanhood, manhood, marriage and family life. Offering a fresh perspective on the organisational structures of the charismatic churches, this study looks at the leadership roles of female pastors and pastors' wives, and draws attention to the links between female leaders and spiritual power. By highlighting the importance of spiritual power in interpreting gendered social change, the book sheds new light on the socio-cultural role of Ghana's new churches.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-248) and index. :
9789047419396 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Encounters in quest of Christian womanhood : the Basel Mission in pre- and early colonial Ghana /
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Christianity has come to be a religion embraced especially by women and not least in Africa. This book provides one of the as yet rare case studies for the early stages of this development: how African women on the pre- and early colonial Gold Coast (Ghana) encountered Basel Mission Christianity, 1843-1885. Popular interpretations have tended to describe Christianity as either 'empowering' or 'domesticating' African women. Looking at variegated push-and-pull factors and in its focus on the agency of Ghanaian women this detailed analysis moves beyond. It situates the quest for Christian womanhood as part of trans-national discourses and exchanges, as well as local interactions, and writes a social history that is at once transnational and transcultural.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004193734 :
0924-9389 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A decade of Ghana : politics, economy and society, 2004-2013 /
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This chronology for 2004 to 2013 compiles the chapters on Ghana previously published in the Africa Yearbook. Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara . Political stability in Ghana in the last few years contrasted with dramatic developments in other West-African countries. Ghana has a relatively high growth-rate, and also plays a role in regional security issues.
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1 online resource (vi, 148 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004310940 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Hindu gods in West Africa : Ghanaian devotees of Shiva and Krishna.
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In Hindu Gods in West Africa , Wuaku offers an account of the histories, beliefs and practices of the Hindu Monastery of Africa and the Radha Govinda Temple, two Hindu Temples in Ghana. Using historical material and data from his field work in southern Ghana, Wuaku shows how these two Hindu Temples build their traditions on popular Ghanaian religious notions about the powerful magicality of India's Hindu gods. He explores how Ghanaian soldiers who served in the colonial armies in India, Sri Lanka, and Burma during World War II, Bollywood films, and local magicians, have contributed to the production and the spreading of these cultural ideas. He argues that while Ghanaian worshippers appropriated and deployed the alien Hindu religious world through their own cultural ideas,as they engage Hindu beliefs and rituals in negotiating challenges their own worldviews would change considerably.
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1 online resource (346 pages) :
9789004255715 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Unveiling modernity in twentieth-century West African Islamic reforms /
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In this book Ousman Kobo analyzes the origins of Wahhabi-inclined reform movements in two West African countries. Commonly associated with recent Middle Eastern influences, reform movements in Ghana and Burkina Faso actually began during the twilight of European colonial rule in the 1950s and developed from local doctrinal contests over Islamic orthodoxy. These early movements in turn gradually evolved in ways sympathetic to Wahhabi ideas. Kobo also illustrates the modernism of this style of Islamic reform. The decisive factor for most of the movements was the alliance of secularly educated Muslim elites with Islamic scholars to promote a self-consciously modern religiosity rooted in the Prophet Muhammad's traditions. This book therefore provides a fresh understanding of the indigenous origins of "Wahhabism."
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1 online resource (xxxix, 383 pages) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-356) and indexes. :
9789004233133 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.