Nate Plageman, Ato Quyason, Carina Ray, Kate Skinner, Lynn Thomas, Dmitri van den Bersalaar, Sarah Watkins, and Alice Wiemers. I offer thanks also for the support and feedback received from participants at conferences and workshops organized by the UC African Studies Multi-Campus Research Group in Accra and Dakar; the Berkshire Conferences on the History of Women; the Capitalismo desde el Sur/ Capitalism from Below conference at the Tepoztlán Institute for Transnational History of the Americas, and several sessions at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association. Purnima Bose and Kundai Chirindo also deserve thanks for their comments on later chapter drafts.
The research for this book would not have been possible without the generous assistance of numerous librarians and archivists. I am grateful for the staff at the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) in Accra, Cape Coast, and Sunyani; the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research at the University of Ghana, the National Archives in London; the Guildhall Library in London; the Bodleian Library at Oxford University; the Unilever Historical Archive in Port Sunlight, England; and the Basel Mission Archives in Basel. In particular, I wish to thank Cletus Azangweo, Judith Botchway, and Bright Botwe, who facilitated my research at PRAAD. The entire staff at PRAAD-Sunyani deserves a special thank you for making my daily work in their small reading room so pleasurable. My gratitude also goes to Guy Thomas, whose knowledge of the Union Trading Company collection at the Basel Mission Archives was invaluable. Finally, I am enormously grateful to Diane Backhouse and her successor Helen Unsworth for helping me “leave no stone unturned.” By tracking down rare photographs, digging through unmarked boxes, and pointing out last minute details, both went above and beyond as archivists.
My research came to life as a book during my assistant professorship in the History Department at Willamette University. I am grateful to department colleagues Wendy Peterson Boring, Seth Cotlar, Leslie Dunlap, Bill Duvall, Ellen Eisenberg, Jennifer Jopp, and Bill Smaldone for providing me with the autonomy, encouragement, and support to focus on my manuscript and hone my skills as a teacher-scholar. Department chair Cecily MacCaffrey deserves special mention as a friend, colleague, and committed advocate of my work.
This book was also inspired by a number of students have energized me in the classroom and beyond. A special thank you to Noor Amr, Hannah Leslie, Christina Luedtke, Lindsay Russell, Désirée Werlen, Kelley Villa, who all served as research and editing assistants. In 2016, I joined the History Department at California State University–Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). I am lucky for the opportunity to work alongside another group of colleagues that uphold a strong teacher-scholar ethic. Becoming a member of a diverse campus community that is politically committed, in theory and practice, to serving its students has been a privilege. At CSUDH, Alvin Okoreeh also deserves thanks for editing support in the final stages.
I must also thank a number of institutions that generously provided the funding required for such a project. Research and travel to Ghana, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom was supported by a University of California Regents Fellowship and a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Research Grant, as well as generous funds and research leaves awarded by the College of Liberal Arts at Willamette University. I am also grateful for publication subvention support from CSUDH’s College of Arts and Humanities. I would especially like to acknowledge the Woodrow Wilson Junior Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship Program; the research funds and one-year research leave it granted me was fundamental to bringing my manuscript to completion. Most important, its built-in mentorship program allowed me to work closely with Jean Allman, whose book “I Will Not Eat Stone”: A Woman’s History of Colonial Asante transformed the way I thought about history as a young undergraduate and has remained in heavy rotation on my course syllabi. Jean’s work as a scholar and her commitment to African Studies through institutional leadership, program building, and mentoring junior scholars continues to inspire me.
I am also indebted to many people who have offered good company and opened their homes to me during the research and writing of this book: in Abetifi and Santa Barbara, Lane Clark and Stephan Miescher; in Accra, Emily Asiedu; in Liverpool, Dmitri van den Bersalaar and Stephanie Decker; in London, Walter and Barbara Prime, and Jean Smith; and in Suhum, Elizabeth Konadu Yiadom, “Nana.” I would like to acknowledge colleagues who have become close friends for looking after me in their cities and proving to be some of the best traveling companions: Serena Dankwa, Gabriel Klager, Sophie Mew, Tim Mechlinski, Thomas Yarrow, Duncan Yoon, and Leandra Zarnow.
My gratitude also goes to the staff and series editors at Ohio University Press: Jean Allman, Allen Isaacman, and Derek Peterson, and to Gillian Berchowitz for believing in my research from the very beginning and guiding me through the process. This book has benefited tremendously from our conversations and their sharp editorial notes, as well as the feedback provided by two anonymous readers. Thank you also to David Lobenstine for editing assistance; your advice to “make these pages sing” guided me through each chapter revision.
I also owe an especially large intellectual and personal debt to Justin Bengry, Ellen Caldwell, Jonneke Koomen, Uri McMillian, Brooke Mascagni, and Roy Pérez for sharing so much of their brilliant minds and big hearts. For years our caffeinated writing dates, late-night phone chats, I5 carpool rides, shared meals; happy hours, shopping breaks, weekend excursions, and guaranteed laughs kept me grounded. I thank also my closest childhood friends, who are like sisters to me and who, often times without knowing it, helped me write this book; for so much love, thank you Megan Adams and Lauren Pfeiffer. And to my goddaughter Lucy Jane Williams, our special bond brings me joy.
Finally, I am grateful to my family for their unconditional love and support. I am especially thankful for growing up alongside so many smart, creative, and bold women: my grandmothers Elizabeth Mae Rubie and Vilma Susanna Saballos Nino Murillo; my aunts, the seven Rubie sisters, Carla, Diane, Jackie, Janice, Kathy, Liz, and Margaret; and my cousins Monica and Natalie Cuevas, who have been a constant source of friendship and empowerment. My father Alfonso Murillo and my younger brother Lucas have also encouraged and believed in me. Above all, I thank my mother, Teresa Rubie, for giving her everything to invest in me and my dreams. This book is dedicated to her.
Abbreviations
| AWAM | Association of West African Merchants |
| BMA | Basel Mission Archives |
| BRG | Brong-Ahafo Region |
| CFAO | Compagnie Française de l’Afrique Occidentale |
| CPP | Convention People’s Party |
| EAS | Export Advertising Service |
| FP | Frederick Pedler Papers |
| GBO | G. B. Ollivant |
| GNTC | Ghana National Trading Corporation |
| NAUK | National Archives of the United Kingdom |
| NLC | National Liberation Council |
| NRC | National Redemption Council |
| PNDC | Provisional National Defense Council |
| PRAAD-A | Public Records and Archives Administration Department, Accra |
| PRAAD-S | Public Records and Archives Administration Department, Sunyani |
| RHL | Rhodes House Library |
| SAT | Swiss African Trading Company |
| SCOA | Société Commerciale de l’Ouest African |
| SMC | Supreme Military Council |
| UAC | United Africa Company |
| UARM | Unilever Archives and Records Management |
| UGL | Unilever Ghana Limited Archive |
| UTC | Union Trading Company |
Introduction
Consuming Histories and Creating Economies
IN THE AFTERNOON ON Saturday, February 28, 1948, over a thousand African veterans gathered in the center of Accra, the capital of present-day Ghana (then called the Gold Coast). The men assembled on the Old Polo Grounds, opposite Parliament House, and headed toward the governor’s residence.1 Their goal was to demand compensation from the British colonial government for their service during the Second World War, and they intended to present their list of grievances to the governor
