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
Summary
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. The study uses the often marginalized Konkomba and their relationship with their historically dominant neighbours to show the ways in which local communities define power, tradition, and belonging. Through rich narrative and nuanced analysis, the author challenges the popular thinking on the construction of ethnicity, the basis for the social and political conflict, and the legacy of European colonial rule in Africa
