Books by David Owusu-Ansah
Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independ... more Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independence in 1957, the former British colony of the Gold Coast is known for its pan-African stance, gold and cocoa production, and national commitment to Western formal education. The Portuguese, the first European nation to arrive on the Costa da Mina (the Gold Coast) in 1471, reported of coastal communities organized under the leadership of chiefs. The position of the chief, with the support of local elders, illustrates the stratified political structures and chains of authority from the small village to the centralized states with whom the early Europeans and other foreign traders conducted commerce. Attracted by its gold deposits, merchants from several European nations followed the Portuguese to establish competing commercial ports on the 300-mile coastline. They invested in and defended the trading posts as forts and castles. Some of these establishments are now preserved as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in remembrance of the transatlantic slave trade. To the northern fringes of the Akan forest and through the Volta Basin, Mande Muslim traders from the old Western Sudanese empires, as well as Hausa merchants from the northeast, arrived as early as the 15th century to exchange Sahelian products for gold, slaves, and kola nuts. The history of Muslim engagement in the commerce from the north is linked to the spread of Islam in the territories. The European missionary activities on the southern coast introduced Western formal education and Christianity. The contemporary boundaries of Ghana can be traced to the history of precolonial state formation resulting from local wars of expansion and consolidation of territories by the powerful ethnic kingdoms, especially of the Akan nations. The long Asante resistance to the British presence and the ultimate European territorial delineations led to the consolidation of British rule of the Gold Coast in 1902 to commence the colonial era. Ghana's independence from British rule was historic, as it represented the first Black sub-Saharan African nation to become independent. But, for the first thirty-five years after independence, the rule of law was intermittent, as the military overthrew civil administrations deemed corrupt or incompetent to address ongoing national economic challenges. The return to civilian constitutional rule, a free press, and successive changes of government through the ballot box since 1992, despite economic and development challenges, gave room to grow the nation's democracy.
Oxford Encyclopedia of African History, 0
Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independ... more Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independence in 1957, the former British colony of the Gold Coast is known for its pan-African stance, gold and cocoa production, and national commitment to Western formal education. The Portuguese, the first European nation to arrive on the Costa da Mina (the Gold Coast) in 1471, reported of coastal communities organized under the leadership of chiefs. The position of the chief, with the support of local elders, illustrates the stratified political structures and chains of authority from the small village to the centralized states with whom the early Europeans and other foreign traders conducted commerce.
Knowledge in many societies in precolonial Africa was understood in terms of transformative power... more Knowledge in many societies in precolonial Africa was understood in terms of transformative power: the smelter's skill with iron, the potter and clay, the healer with herbs. Power in Africa though materially manifested has always been spiritually grounded. Power existed in people who had acquired the knowledge to tap into the spiritual, natural, and human worlds, and to live astride these overlapping worlds in spectacular ways. As scholars, how can we acknowledge the reality of mystical agency and its causal value in interpretation without believing in it? In this article, we explore this epistemological quandary. Tapping into precolonial Asante history and fieldwork, we have conducted with shrines and imams for the past several years we interrogate the close links between political and spiritual power. From narratives of migration stories to favorable outcomes in difficult battles, deities, priests, diviners, and Muslim clerics played critical roles that were made possible by their demonstrable religious knowledge. Asante ontology recognized the reality of spiritual power, but also a recognition that spiritual power not tied to the service of the state was problematic. Résumé Dans de nombreuses sociétés de l'Afrique précoloniale, le savoir était compris en termes de pouvoir de transformation : l'habileté du fondeur avec le fer, du potier avec l'argile, du guérisseur avec les herbes. Le pouvoir en Afrique, bien que matériellement manifesté, a toujours été spirituellement fondé. Le pouvoir existait chez les personnes qui avaient acquis les connaissances nécessaires pour puiser dans les mondes spirituel, naturel et humain, et pour vivre à cheval sur ces mondes qui se chevauchent de manière spectaculaire. En tant que chercheurs, comment pouvons-nous, sans y croire, reconnaître la réalité du pouvoir mystique et sa valeur causale dans l'interprétation ? Dans cet article, nous explorons ce dilemme épistémologique. Puisant dans l'histoire précoloniale et le travail de terrain d'Asante que nous avons mené avec des sanctuaires et des imams au cours des dernières années, nous interrogeons les liens étroits entre le pouvoir politique et spirituel. Des récits d'histoires de migration aux résultats favorables de batailles difficiles, les divinités, les prêtres, les devins et les religieux musulmans ont joué des rôles essentiels rendus possibles par leurs connaissances religieuses démontrables. L'ontologie Asante reconnaissait la réalité du pouvoir spirituel, mais aussi que le pouvoir spirituel non lié au service de l'État était problématique.
Papers by David Owusu-Ansah
The Historian, Dec 1, 2006
The American Historical Review, Jun 1, 1996
History of Education Quarterly, 1993
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, Mar 22, 2023
Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independ... more Taking its name from the medieval West African kingdom of Ghana when it gained political independence in 1957, the former British colony of the Gold Coast is known for its pan-African stance, gold and cocoa production, and national commitment to Western formal education. The Portuguese, the first European nation to arrive on the Costa da Mina (the Gold Coast) in 1471, reported of coastal communities organized under the leadership of chiefs. The position of the chief, with the support of local elders, illustrates the stratified political structures and chains of authority from the small village to the centralized states with whom the early Europeans and other foreign traders conducted commerce. Attracted by its gold deposits, merchants from several European nations followed the Portuguese to establish competing commercial ports on the 300-mile coastline. They invested in and defended the trading posts as forts and castles. Some of these establishments are now preserved as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in remembrance of the transatlantic slave trade. To the northern fringes of the Akan forest and through the Volta Basin, Mande Muslim traders from the old Western Sudanese empires, as well as Hausa merchants from the northeast, arrived as early as the 15th century to exchange Sahelian products for gold, slaves, and kola nuts. The history of Muslim engagement in the commerce from the north is linked to the spread of Islam in the territories. The European missionary activities on the southern coast introduced Western formal education and Christianity. The contemporary boundaries of Ghana can be traced to the history of precolonial state formation resulting from local wars of expansion and consolidation of territories by the powerful ethnic kingdoms, especially of the Akan nations. The long Asante resistance to the British presence and the ultimate European territorial delineations led to the consolidation of British rule of the Gold Coast in 1902 to commence the colonial era. Ghana's independence from British rule was historic, as it represented the first Black sub-Saharan African nation to become independent. But, for the first thirty-five years after independence, the rule of law was intermittent, as the military overthrew civil administrations deemed corrupt or incompetent to address ongoing national economic challenges. The return to civilian constitutional rule, a free press, and successive changes of government through the ballot box since 1992, despite economic and development challenges, gave room to grow the nation's democracy.
Routledge eBooks, Feb 17, 2015
African American Studies Center, Dec 8, 2011
History: Reviews of New Books, 2000
Page 1. THE NILE HISTORIES, CULTURES, MYTHS EDITED BY HAGGAI ERLICH AND ISRAEL GERSHON1 Page 2. P... more Page 1. THE NILE HISTORIES, CULTURES, MYTHS EDITED BY HAGGAI ERLICH AND ISRAEL GERSHON1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. THE NILE HISTORIES, CULTURES, MYTHS I DITED BY HAGGAI ERL1CH .ND ISRAEL ...
History: Reviews of New Books, 2001
... I owe a great deal to Yasser Alwan, Anita Fabos, Zein Abdeen Fuad, Barbara and Saad Eddin Ibr... more ... I owe a great deal to Yasser Alwan, Anita Fabos, Zein Abdeen Fuad, Barbara and Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Sherif Hetata, Manal Kamal, Cynthia Nelson, Hassan Saber and Moheb Zaki. I am thankful to Nadia Wassef, Aida Seif El-Dawla and Marlyn Tadros for helping me to obtain ...
Journal of Church and State, 1998
West Africa Review, Dec 29, 2011
... David Owusu-Ansah is Professor of History and Africana Studies at James Madison University. .... more ... David Owusu-Ansah is Professor of History and Africana Studies at James Madison University. ... Amulets, and Healing in The History of Islam in Africa (2000), he has authored The Islamic Talismanic Tradition in Nineteenth Century Asante (1991), and with Daniel M. McFarland ...
The Journal of African History, Nov 1, 2018
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Books by David Owusu-Ansah
Papers by David Owusu-Ansah
Key words & phrases: Islam, secular education, Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, religious education, and education about religion.