The contentious Ghanaian: An historical appraisal of social movements in Ghana

Abstract

Ideas of freedom, liberty, and social justice are germane to most societies, including African societies. The quest for these values also often involves contentions, dialog, and compromise. Sadly, the often-told stories of political and social change in Africa are brush-stroked with bloodshed, tears, and anguish. This Africa of pessimism, unfulfilled dreams, state-sponsored violence, and civil wars is a familiar headline in the global North. This work, however, proposes that African countries such as Ghana have been resolving their disagreements and contentions through other means. These range from subtle, subversive, noncompliant and complex responses to the less preferred direct and open confrontation with authority. Secondly, the historiography of protest movements in Ghana reveals a lingering preference for twentieth century social movements, neglecting nineteenth century forms of protest and social movement bases, which employed subtlety, noncompliance, and sometimes, direct confrontation. Lastly, initial social movement literature showed a preponderance of male-dominated narratives, which eventually led to the creation of female-inspired alternate narratives. Using selected works in social movement theory, general surveys on the history of Ghana, monographs, journal articles, book chapters and unpublished theses, this article seeks to offer a panoramic view of the history-writing of social movements and its prospects in Ghana.