Who Knew the Minds of the People? Specialist Knowledge and Developmentalist Authoritarianism in Postcolonial Ghana

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11943567
AutoresKate Skinner (0000-0002-3559-4916, autor de correspondencia)
Año2011
Volumen39
Número2
Páginas297-323
Fecha de publicación2011-05-28
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0308-6534 • E-ISSN: 1743-9329
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03086534.2011.568756
OpenAlexW1975107461
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas14

By the mid-1960s, local-level development workers in Ghana were expected to act as the eyes and ears of the state, reporting on 'the minds of the people' and explaining their reactions to President Kwame Nkrumah's project of socialist reconstruction. This articles argues that through mass education, social welfare and community development plans, both the late colonial and early independent state sought to make its presence manifest in the everyday lives of its citizens, to bind them to a broader vision for their country, and to present their successes to the outside world. By identifying some of the competing models of social development that were promoted by British, Ghanaian and African-American experts in the aftermath of independence, this article investigates the role of specialist knowledge in the developmentalist authoritarianism which is often presented as a generic legacy of the colonial state in Africa

Authoritarianism · Colonial rule · Colonialism · Democracy · Economic growth · Economics · Independence (probability theory · Kwame · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · State formation · Welfare · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropology · Australian History and Society · Law · Race, History, and American Society