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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11943567
AutoresKate Skinner (0000-0002-3559-4916, autor correspondente)
Ano2011
Volume39
Fascículo2
Páginas297-323
Data de publicação2011-05-28
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0308-6534 • E-ISSN: 1743-9329
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03086534.2011.568756
OpenAlexW1975107461
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências 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