Market Encounters: Consumer Cultures in Twentieth-Century Ghana PDF
Preview Market Encounters: Consumer Cultures in Twentieth-Century Ghana
n e w a f r i c a n h i s t o r i e s MARKET ENCOUNTERS Consumer Cultures in Twentieth-Century Ghana Bianca Murillo Market Encounters new african histories SERIES EDITORS: JEAN ALLMAN, ALLEN ISAACMAN, AND DEREK R. PETERSON David William Cohen and E. S. Atieno Matthew M. Heaton, Black Skin, Odhiambo, The Risks of Knowledge White Coats Belinda Bozzoli, Theatres of Strug gle Meredith Terretta, Nation of Outlaws, and the End of Apartheid State of Vio lence Gary Kynoch, We Are Fighting Paolo Israel, In Step with the Times the World Michelle R. Moyd, Violent Intermediaries Stephanie Newell, The Forger’s Tale Abosede A. George, Making Jacob A. Tropp, Natures of Colonial Modern Girls Change Alicia C. Decker, In Idi Amin’s Shadow Jan Bender Shetler, Imagining Serengeti Rachel Jean- Baptiste, Conjugal Rights Cheikh Anta Babou, Fighting the Shobana Shankar, Who Shall Enter Greater Jihad Paradise? Marc Epprecht, Heterosexual Africa? Emily S. Burrill, States of Marriage Marissa J. Moorman, Intonations Todd Cleveland, Diamonds in the Rough Karen E. Flint, Healing Traditions Carina E. Ray, Crossing the Color Line Derek R. Peterson and Giacomo Macola, editors, Recasting the Past Sarah Van Beurden, Authentically African Moses E. Ochonu, Colonial Meltdown Giacomo Macola, The Gun in Central Africa Emily S. Burrill, Richard L. Roberts, and Elizabeth Thornberry, editors, Lynn Schler, Nation on Board Domestic Vio lence and the Law in Julie MacArthur, Cartography and the Colonial and Postcolonial Africa Po liti cal Imagination Daniel R. Magaziner, The Law and Abou B. Bamba, African Miracle, the Prophets African Mirage Emily Lynn Osborn, Our New Daniel Magaziner, The Art of Life in Husbands Are Here South Africa Robert Trent Vinson, The Americans Paul Ocobock, An Uncertain Age Are Coming! Keren Weitzberg, We Do Not James R. Brennan, Taifa Have Borders Benjamin N. Lawrance and Richard L. Nuno Domingos, Football Roberts, editors, Trafficking in and Colonialism Slavery’s Wake Jeffrey S. Ahlman, Living David M. Gordon, Invisible Agents with Nkrumahism Allen F. Isaacman and Barbara S. Bianca Murillo, Market Encounters Isaacman, Dams, Displacement, and the Delusion of Development Laura Fair, Reel Pleasures Stephanie Newell, The Power to Name Thomas F. McDow, Buying Time Gibril R. Cole, The Krio of West Africa Jon Soske, Internal Frontiers Market Encounters Consumer Cultures in Twentieth- Century Ghana Bianca Murillo ohio university press athens Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701 ohioswallow . com © 2017 by Ohio University Press All rights reserved To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or other wise reproduce or distribute material from Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax). Printed in the United States of Amer i ca Ohio University Press books are printed on acid- free paper ™ 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 5 4 3 2 1 A version of chapter three is based on Bianca Murillo, “ ‘The Modern Shopping Experience’: Kingsway Department Store and Consumer Politics in Ghana,” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 82, no. 3 (2012): 368–92, © 2012 by Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with permission from Cambridge University Press. Cover Image. Miss Ghana, Monica Amekoafia, visits Kingsway Department Store, Accra, April 1957. Reproduced with kind permission of Unilever from the original at the Unilever Archives, UAC/2/10/B1/8/1/15. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Murillo, Bianca, author. Title: Market encounters : consumer cultures in twentieth- century Ghana / Bianca Murillo. Other titles: New African histories series. Description: Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, 2017. | Series: New African histories | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017027990| ISBN 9780821422885 (hc : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821422892 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821446133 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Consumption (Economics)— Ghana— History—20th century. | Consumption (Economics)— Political aspects— Ghana. | Consumers— Ghana— History—20th century. | Ghana— Commerce— History—20th century. Classification: LCC HC1060.Z9 C64 2017 | DDC 381.309667— dc23 LC rec ord available at https:// lccn.loc . gov / 2017027990 To Teresa Rubie Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowl edgments xi List of Abbreviations xv Introduction Consuming Histories and Creating Economies 1 Chapter 1 A Door “Wide Open” 28 Imagining Gold Coast Markets Chapter 2 “We Cannot Afford to Be Fooled” 60 African Intermediaries on Shifting Commercial Terrain Chapter 3 “In Time for In de pen dence” 86 Kingsway Department Store, Modernity, and the New Nation Chapter 4 “Shop Win dow on the World” 115 Ghana’s First International Trade Fair and the Politics of Wealth and Accumulation Chapter 5 “Power to the People” 137 Militarization of the Market and the War against Profiteers Afterword From Structural Adjustment to Shopping Malls 157 Notes 165 Bibliography 205 Index 221 vii Illustrations Figures 1.1 Exterior of provision store, Sekondi, ca. 1910 32 1.2 Interior of provision store, Accra, May 1907 39 1.3 Interior of provision store, Sekondi, ca. 1912 49 2.1 Isaac Ogoe celebrates his eightieth birthday, Sekondi, ca. 1970 69 2.2 UAC passbook belonging to Madam Amba Otwiwa, ca. 1950–60 75 2.3 UAC passbook belonging to Mrs. Annah Manful, ca. 1950–60 76 2.4 Esther Mensah at UAC Swanmill, Accra, August 3, 1950 78 3.1 Exterior of Kingsway Department Store, Accra, ca. 1957 88 3.2 Post office counter, Kingsway Department Store, Accra, ca. 1960 97 3.3 Hat sale, February features, Kingsway Department Store, Accra, February 1960 98 3.4 Cosmetics counter, Kingsway Department Store, Accra, ca. 1960 98 3.5 Salesmen preparing a display, Kingsway Department Store, Accra, ca. 1960 102 3.6 “Your Way,” advertisement, ca. 1955 107 3.7 “What We Like about Kingsway,” advertisement, ca. 1957 108 ix
The list of books you might like
