Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T09:03:09.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Underdevelopment, Modes of Production, and the State in Colonial Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2016

Beverly Grier
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a recent essay reviewing the literature on modes of production and the transition to capitalism in underdeveloped countries, Aiden Foster-Carter (1978: 72) criticizes the growing volume of Marxist works on development for their lack of theoretical rigor and cohesion:

The very recrudescence of Marxist analysis is tending, like a tide going out, to create little rock pools increasingly unconnected to one another, in which narrowly circumscribed issues are discussed separately and without thought of their mutual implications. Thus the “dependency” literature scarcely attempts to “place” itself in the older (or newer) “imperialism” literature, any more than the “modes of production” writers attempt to situate themselves in either.

Separate small scale debates, moreover, are taking place on various topics, including the postcolonial state, the capitalist world system, the development of underdevelopment, the national bourgeoisie, and articulation of modes of production, without their respective protagonists taking note that “each of these mini-debates almost inevitably takes as ceteris paribus matters which are themselves variables at issue in the other debates” (Foster-Carter, 1978: 72). Foster-Carter concludes that there is a need for a broader theoretical synthesis that will help illuminate the processes of development and underdevelopment and, we might add, the various situations of dependency that exist in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The objectives of the present study are modest in view of Foster-Carter's challenge. It is our intention to draw from the contributions made to three mini-debates—underdevelopment and dependency, the articulation of modes of production, and the colonial state—in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the nature and meaning of underdevelopment in Ghana. By themselves, none is sufficient to illuminate the process of underdevelopment in Ghana.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 1981 , pp. 21 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alavi, Hamza. (1972) “The State in Post-Colonial Societies: Pakistan and Bangladesh.” New Left Review 74: 59–81.Google Scholar
Alavi, Hamza. (1975) “India and the Colonial Mode of Production.” Socialist Register, pp. 160–97.Google Scholar
Amin, Samir. (1974) Accumulation on a World Scale: A Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment. Vol. 1. New York and London: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Asante, S. K. B. (1975) Property Law and Social Goals in Ghana, 1844-1961. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.Google Scholar
Bauer, P. T. (1967) West African Trade: A Study of Competition, Oligopoly and Monopoly in a Changing Economy. New York: Augustus M. Kelley.Google Scholar
Bauer, P. T. (1975) “British Colonial Africa: Economic Retrospect and Aftermath,” pp. 635–54 in Duignan, Peter and Gann, L. H. (eds.) Colonialism in Africa: 1870-1960. Vol. 4. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bradby, Barbara. (1975) “The Destruction of Natural Economy.” Economy and Society 4, 2: 127–61.Google Scholar
Brett, E. A. (1973) Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa: The Politics of Economic Change, 1919-1939. New York: NOK Publishers.Google Scholar
Cardinall, A. W. (1932) The Gold Coast, 1931. Accra: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Cardoso, Fernando Henrique. (1977) “The Consumption of Dependency Theory in the United States.” Latin American Research Review 12, 3: 7–24.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick. (1979) “The Problem of Slavery in African Studies.” Journal of African History 20, 1: 103–25.Google Scholar
Fitch, Robert, and Oppenheimer, Mary. (1966) Ghana: End of an Illusion. New York and London: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Foster-Carter, Aiden. (1978) “The Modes of Production Controversy.” New Left Review 107: 44–74.Google Scholar
Frank, Andre Gundar. (1969) Latin America: Underdevelopment or Revolution? New York and London: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Ghana National Archives. (1930) The “Gold Coast” and “Ashanti” Cocoa Federation 1930. Accra: File 2095/30.Google Scholar
Gold Coast Gazette. (1925) “Governor's Address.” 25 April: 632. Accra.Google Scholar
Great Britain. Colonial Office. (1938) Report of the Commission on the Marketing of West African Cocoa. [The Nowell Commission Report] Cmd. 5845. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Great Britain. Colonial Office. (1944) Report on Cocoa Control in West Africa, 1939-1943, and Statement on Future Policy [White Paper] Cmd. 6554. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Great Britain. Colonial Office. (1946) Statement on Future Marketing of West African Cocoa. [White Paper] Cmd. 6950. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Great Britain. Colonial Office. (1917) West African Lands Committee. Draft Report. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Grier, Beverly. (1979) “Cocoa, Class Formation and the State in Ghana.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Hill, Polly. (1956) The Gold Coast Cocoa Farmer: A Preliminary Survey. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, Polly. (1970) Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern Ghana: A Study in Rural Capitalism. London and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hopkins, Anthony G. (1968) “Economic Imperialism in West Africa: Lagos, 1880-92.” Economic History Review 21, 3: 580–606.Google Scholar
Howard, Rhoda. (1976) “Differential Class Participation in an African Protest Movement: The Ghana Cocoa Boycott of 1937-38.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 10, 3: 469–80.Google Scholar
Hymer, Stephen. (1970) “Economic Forms in Pre-Colonial Ghana.” Journal of Economic History 20, 1: 33–50.Google Scholar
Johnson, Marion. (1964) “Migrants Progress, Part I.” Ghana Geographical Association Bulletin 9, 2: 4–27.Google Scholar
Johnson, Marion. (1965) “Migrants Progress, Part II.” Ghana Geographical Association Bulletin 10, 1: 13–40.Google Scholar
Kay, G. B. (1972) The Political Economy of Colonialism in Ghana: A Collection of Documents and Statistics, 1900-1960. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kimble, David. (1971) A Political History of Ghana: The Rise of Gold Coast Nationalism, 1850-1928. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Klein, A. Norman. (1981) “The Two Asantes: Competing Interpretations of ‘Slavery’ in Akan-Asante Culture,” pp. 000-000 in Lovejoy, Paul E. (ed.) The Ideology of Slavery. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Klein, Martin, and Lovejoy, Paul E. (1979) “Slavery in West Africa,” pp. 181–212 in Gemery, H. A. and Hogendorn, J. S. (eds.) The Uncommon Market: Essays in the Economic Reality of the Atlantic Slave Trade. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Laclau, Ernesto. (1971) “Feudalism and Capitalism in Latin America.” New Left Review 67: 19–38.Google Scholar
Lenin, V. I. (1956) The Development of Capitalism in Russia: The Process of the Formation of a Home Market for Large-Scale Industry. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.Google Scholar
Leys, Colin. (1975) Underdevelopment in Kenya: The Political Economy of Neo-Colonialism, 1964-1971. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, Paul E. (1980) Caravans of Kola: The Hausa Kola Trade, 1700-1900. Kano: Ahmadu Bello University Press.Google Scholar
Luxemburg, Rosa. (1951) The Accumulation of Capital. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Macmillan, W. M. (1940) “African Development, by African Enterprise: Gold Coast Cocoa Industry,” pp. 80–93 in Meek, C. K., Macmillan, W. M., and Hussey, E. R. J. (eds.) Europe and West Africa: Some Problems and Adjustments. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. (1909) Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Vol. 1: The Process of Capitalist Production. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr.Google Scholar
McEachern, Doug. (1976) “The Mode of Production in India.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 6, 4: 444–57.Google Scholar
Meek, C. K. (1949) Land Law and Custom in the Colonies. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meillassoux, Claude. (1972) “From Reproduction to Production.” Economy and Society 1, 1: 93–105.Google Scholar
Newbury, Colin W. (1971) “Prices and Profitability in Early Nineteenth Century West African Trade,” pp. 91–106 in Meillassoux, Claude (ed.) The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nowell Commission Report. (1938) See Great Britain. Colonial Office.Google Scholar
Plange, Nii-K. (1979) “ ‘Opportunity Cost’ and Labour Migration: A Misinterpretation of Proletarianisation in Northern Ghana.” Journal of Modern African Studies 17, 4: 655–76.Google Scholar
Rattray, R. S. (1929) Ashanti Law and Constitution. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rey, Pierre-Philippe. (1971) Colonialisme, Néo-Colonialisme, et Transition au Capitalisme. Paris: Maspero.Google Scholar
Rey, Pierre-Philippe. (1973) Les Alliances des Classes. Paris: Maspero.Google Scholar
Reynolds, Edward. (1974) Trade and Economic Change on the Gold Coast, 1807-1874. Essex: London.Google Scholar
Rhodie, Sam. (1968) “The Gold Coast Cocoa Hold-Up of 1930-31.” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 9: 105–18.Google Scholar
Shephard, C. Y. (1936) Report on the Economics of Peasant Agriculture in the Gold Coast. Accra: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Simensen, Jarle. (1974) “Rural Mass Action in the Context of Anti-Colonial Protest: The Asafo Movement of Akim Abuakwa, Ghana.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 8, 1: 25–41.Google Scholar
Southall, Roger J. (1978) “Farmers, Traders and Brokers in the Gold Coast Economy.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 12, 2: 185–212.Google Scholar
Terray, Emmanuel. (1974) “Long-Distance Exchange and the Formation of the State: The Case of the Abron Kingdom of Gyaman.” Economy and Society 3, 3: 315–45.Google Scholar
Terray, Emmanuel. (1975) “Classes and Class Consciousness in the Abron Kingdom of Gyaman,” pp. 85–135 in Bloch, Maurice (ed.) Marxist Analyses and Social Anthropology. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Terray, Emmanuel. (1980) “Production d'or, travail des esclaves à l'intérieur de l'Afrique de l'ouest pré-colonial.” Research in Economic Anthropology 3: 000-000.Google Scholar
Thomas, Roger G. (1973) “Forced Labor in British West Africa: The Case of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, 1906-1927.” Journal of African History 14, 1: 79–103.Google Scholar
Tudhope, W. S. D. (1918) Enquiry into the Gold Coast Cocoa Industry: Interim Report. Sessional paper no. 2, 1918/1919. Accra: Government Press.Google Scholar
Tudhope, W. S. D. (1919) Enquiry into the Gold Coast Cocoa Industry: Final Report. Sessional paper no. 4, 1918/1919. Accra: Government Press.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel and Valenzuela, Arturo. (1978) “Modernization and Dependency: Alternative Perspectives in the Study of Latin American Underdevelopment.” Comparative Politics (July): 535–57.Google Scholar
Vickery, Kenneth P. (1978) “The Making of a Peasantry: Imperialism and the Tonga Plateau Economy, 1890-1936.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University.Google Scholar
Vickery, Kenneth P. (1980) “Saving Settlers: Maize Control in Northern Rhodesia.” Paper presented at the spring 1980 meeting of the Southeastern Regional Seminar on African Studies, Chapel Hill, N.C.Google Scholar
Weiskel, Timothy C. (1977) “Labor in the Emergent Periphery: From Slavery to Migrant Labor Among the Baule Peoples, c. 1880-1925.” Paper presented at a conference on agrarian labor, Columbia University.Google Scholar
White Papers. (1944, 1946) See Great Britain. Colonial Office.Google Scholar
Wickizer, V. D. (1951) Coffee, Tea and Cocoa: An Economic and Political Analysis. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. (1961) The Northern Factor in Ashanti History. Legon: University College of Ghana, Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. (1969) “Asante Government,” pp. 206–35 in Ford, Daryll and Kaberry, P. M. (eds.) West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. (1971) “Asante Policy Towards the Hausa Trade,” pp. 124–41 in Meillassoux, Claude (ed.) The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. (1975) Asante in the Nineteenth Century: The Structure and Evolution of a Political Order. London and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. (1977) “Land, Labour, Capital and the Forest Kingdoms of Asante: A Model of Early Change,” pp. 487–534 in Friedman, J. and Rowlands, R. M. (eds.) The Evolution of Social Systems. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Wilks, Ivor. (1979) “The Golden Stool and the Elephant Tail: An Essay on Wealth in Asante.” Research in Economic Anthropology 2: 1–36.Google Scholar
Wolpe, Harold. (1972) “Capitalism and Cheap Labour Power in South Africa: From Segregation to Apartheid.” Economy and Society 1, 4: 425–56.Google Scholar