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| Title: | The Youngmen and the Porcupine: Class, Nationalism and Asante's Struggle for Self-Determination, 1954-1957 |
| Author: | Allman, Jean M. |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Periodical: | The Journal of African History |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 263-279 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ghana |
| Subjects: | nationalism Ashanti separatism Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/182768 |
| Abstract: | This article examines the origins, background, composition and policies of the National Liberation Movement, a mass political organization founded in Asante in 1954. The central aim of the NLM was to advance Asante claims for self-determination and to oppose Nkrumah's Convention People's Party (CPP) in its advocacy of a constitutional settlement with the British colonial government - a settlement that would bring about a unitary government in an independent Gold Coast (Ghana). The analysis developed here places the 'youngmen' of Asante, the 'nkwankwaa', at the centre of these events. It is argued that this somewhat enigmatic group was the catalyst behind the formation of the NLM and the resurrection of Asante nationalism that it represented. The discussion addresses the legacies of indirect rule in Asante, the importance of cocoa, the development of class, and the ambiguous role of Asante's political intelligentsia. It is suggested that the political development of the NLM turned upon the struggle within Asante between the 'nkwankwaa' and the Asantehene over the very definition of 'nation' and of 'self-determination'. Thus, the article highlights the historical conflicts and contradictions within Asante society. Notes, ref. (Comment by R. Rathbone together with a rejoinder by the author in: The Journal of African History, vol. 32, no. 2 (1991), p. 333-338.) |
