Article in Africa Today

After nearly three years of researching, writing, rewriting, and rewriting some more, my article comparing how Ghanaian intellectuals and its social studies textbooks approach its past has just appeared in Africa Today (volume 59, Winter 2012), which is available online at PSU and other university libraries.

The article examines why Ghanaian textbooks are relatively positive about British colonialism, certainly when compared to historical accounts intended for adults, such as the novels of Ayi Kwei Armah and the film Heritage Africa.  My argument is that the textbooks express the government's emphasis on unity (they depict colonialism as bringing Ghana together) and progress (colonialism is praised for bringing Christianity, education, railroads, and other technologies).  In sum, "pragmatism trumps romanticism."

I don't think that this emphasis on colonialism's advantages can be simply interpreted or criticized as an example of internalized colonialism, in part because Ghana's "entire education system, not just its textbooks, serves the ends of unity, conformity, orderly progress, and other conservative themes," impulses that were present in Ghana before the British imposed colonialism and that still resonate for many Ghanaians today.