Market Encounters: Consumer Cultures in Twentieth-Century Ghana by Bianca Murillo (review)

This highly original and creative book traces the dynamic nature of consumer cultures in the history of Ghana from the late-nineteenth century up to the 2007 opening of the Accra shopping mall. Murillo skillfully weaves together the history of large corporations and institutions that dominated the importation of consumer goods with the personal narratives of Ghanaians who recall their experiences as shopkeepers, clerks, market sellers and consumers, among others, within the wholesale and retail economies of the Gold Coast Colony and the Republic of Ghana. The result is a new interpretation of Ghana's twentieth-century economic history from the perspective of African consumers that is in dialogue with the inner workings of major corporations such as the United Africa Company and, later, government institutions such as the Ghana National Trading Corporation.

The book is arranged chronologically. Following a thoughtful introduction, the five chapters consider the early colonial period, changes during and after World War II, the independence era, the 1966 international trade fair, and the militarized period of the 1970s and '80s. An afterword considers new ways of understanding structural adjustment and the popular Accra shopping mall. Throughout the book, photographs of places and people provide useful visual aids that enhance the author's narrative.

Murillo rightly emphasizes the centrality of British racial attitudes in the process by which European trading firms expanded and established retail shops in the colonial period. Through several detailed examples, she shows how British notions of African inferiority effectively curtailed their firms' success in reaching African consumers. From humiliating African staff on a daily basis to grossly misjudging the business acumen of African market women, British firms overwhelmingly failed to tap into African knowledge of how to most effectively reach African consumers. Through her extensive archival research and collection of oral histories, Murillo was able to identify the few exceptions that prove this rule. In the case of Isaac Ogoe of Sekondi, Murillo reveals how an African employee who gained the unlikely confidence of United Africa Company executives through decades of service, was able to benefit the company by drawing on his personal connections with chiefs, relatives, and friends. The essential African-ness of his skill set is revealed by his continued financial demands of the company after his retirement (which the UAC paid, because of Ogoe's stature in the community).

Another strength of the book is how Murillo highlights women's roles in the colonial economy, despite the near total absence of women in the documentary record. In spite of colonial attitudes that diminished them for both their race and gender, Ghanaian market women seized a substantial portion of the trade in imported goods in the boom years of consumer imports after WWII. Murillo introduces us to the Tobacco Queen of Kumasi and women textile traders who were invited to Britain to advise wholesale buyers on the latest trends in Ghana's markets. Some of these women made enough money to build large family houses, a marker of success aspired to by elite African men.

The chapters on the colonial economy create a helpful backdrop against which the dramatic changes of the second half of the twentieth century can be better understood. The hugely publicized opening of Ghana's first department store, Kingsway, in 1957 was not driven by economic logic, for example, but by political and popular demand for symbols of modernization. Similarly, the iconic construction of the grounds for the international trade fair, and perhaps the more recent building of shopping centres and malls, can be understood as part of a complex consumer culture that evolved over decades. In light of Murillo's book, they are certainly more than mere outlets for commercial exchange.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars who seek to better understand the colonial and post-colonial history of Ghana, Africa, and the British Empire, and those interested in the intersection of economic and cultural...