Making Men in Ghana

Cover

By featuring the life histories of eight senior men, Making Men in Ghana explores the changing meaning of becoming a man in modern Africa. Stephan F. Miescher concentrates on the ideals and expectations that formed around men who were prominent in their communities when Ghana became an independent nation. Miescher shows how they negotiated complex social and economic transformations and how they dealt with their mounting obligations and responsibilities as leaders in their kinship groups, churches, and schools. Not only were notions about men and masculinity shaped by community standards, but they were strongly influenced by imported standards that came from missionaries and other colonial officials. As he recounts the life histories of these men, Miescher reveals that the passage to manhood—and a position of power, seniority, authority, and leadership—was not always welcome or easy. As an important foil for studies on women and femininity, this groundbreaking book not only explores masculinity and ideals of male behavior, but offers a fresh perspective on African men in a century of change. STEPHAN F. MIESCHER is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is co-editor (with Luise White and David William Cohen) of African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History (available from Indiana University Press) and has edited Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa with Lisa A. Lindsay. Making Men in Ghana Stephan F. Miescher Making Men in Ghana Miescher INDIANA Cover illustrations: (front) Elders at a funeral in Pepease, 1993. (back) “To Be a Man Is Hard.” Slogan on Ghanaian transport lorry. Photos by the author. http://iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 African Studies • Gender Studies MAKING MEN IN GHANA MAKING MEN IN GHANA Stephan F. Miescher INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS The author and publisher acknowledge permission to use scattered excerpts from the following material: Stephan F. Miescher, “The Life Histories of Boakye Yiadom (Akasease Kofi of Abetifi, Kwawu): Exploring the Subjectivity and ‘Voices’ of a Teacher-Catechist in Colonial Ghana,” in African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History, ed. L. White, S. F. Miescher, and D. W. Cohen (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), 162–93. Stephan F. Miescher, “The Making of Presbyterian Teachers: Masculinities and Programs of Education in Colonial Ghana,” in Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa, ed. L. A. Lindsay and S. F. Miescher (Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 2003), 89–108. This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail iuporder@indiana.edu
2005 by Stephan F. Miescher All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miescher, Stephan. Making men in Ghana / Stephan F. Miescher. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-34636-3 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-253-21786-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Men— Ghana. 2. Men—Ghana—History—20th century, I. Title. HQ1090.7G4M54 2005 305.31'096—dc22 2005016231 1 2 3 4 5 10 9 8 7 6 5 For Lane and my parents ...