The Fruits of Freedom in British Togoland

ISBN-13: 9781107074637 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 320 str.

Kate Skinner

Opis

The end of World War I saw the former German protectorate of Togoland split into British- and French- administered territories, and by the late 1940s, a political movement known as Abl e (meaning 'freedom' in the Ewe language) called for the reunification of British and French Togoland into an independent multiethnic state. Despite its efforts, the United Nations trust territory of British Togoland was ultimately merged with the Gold Coast to become part of independent Ghana; three years later French Togoland achieved a separate independence as Togo. Based on interviews with former political activists and their families, access to private papers, and a collection of oral and written propaganda, this book examines the history behind the failed project of Togoland reunification. Kate Skinner challenges the marginalization of the Togoland question from popular and academic analyses of post-colonial politics and explores present-day ramifications of the contingencies of decolonization."

Recenzje

'For this illuminating and cogent book, Skinner conducted research at archives and libraries in Ghana and Britain, complemented by an impressive collection of oral interviews in those countries as well as in Togo. The fruit of her labor is a model political history that reaches beyond the nation-state to include political activists, teachers, and missionaries on the margins of Ghana's political scene to define liberation, independence, and sovereignty.' Benjamin Talton, African Studies Review

Spis treści

1. Ablɔɖe: African political history, from below and from within; 2. Godly teachers and clever rascals: Southern British Togoland's intelligentsia; 3. Education, citizenship and the 'sacred trust'; 4. Revealing stepfather's secrets: making and losing the case for Togoland reunification; 5. Activists in exile: political possibility in the postcolony; 6. 'No one will hear your name again': the terms of the union; 7. Of elephants and umbrellas: Ablɔɖe in Ghana's political traditions.