Political Anthropology of History: The Case of Nanun, Northern Ghana
Journal Title: Social Evolution & History - Year 2014, Vol 13, Issue 2
Abstract
History in Africa is largely anthropological, that is based on ethnography and oral traditions. But increasingly the writ-ten/published texts compete with first hand testimonies. In effect, interest groups and individual people re-interpret, re-construct or directly falsify the past by using references to the published material irrespective of its merit. Thus, the Nanumba of the chiefdom of Nanuŋ construct their pre-colonial independence even though the tiny Nanuŋ was hardly fully independent, while the Konkomba who are the twentieth century settlers in Nanuŋ argue that they were autochthons there. The contests between different versions of history take place among the educated ethnic elites. The ordinary sub-jects/citizens do not necessarily share the competing opinions of the elites. They may continue to adhere to the non-ideologized oral traditions or, in dependence on proximity to the elites, repeat uncritically the politically correct version of their (ethno-)history.
Authors and Affiliations
Petr Skalník
Keywords
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