Labour, Land, and Capital in Ghana: From Slavery to Free Labour in Asante, 1807-1956 (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora)

616 Pages·2005·2.53 MB·English

by  Gareth Austin

LABOUR, LAND AND CAPITAL IN GHANA
Toyin Falola, Senior Editor
The Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History
University of Texas at Austin
(ISSN: 1092-5228)
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Labour, Land and Capital in Ghana:
The United States and Decolonization From Slavery to Free Labour in Asante,
in West Africa, 1950–1960 1807–1956
Ebere Nwaubani Gareth Austin
LABOUR, LAND AND CAPITAL
IN GHANA
FROM SLAVERY TO FREE LABOUR
IN ASANTE, 1807–1956
Gareth Austin
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS
Copyright © 2005 Gareth Austin
All Rights Reserved.Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this
work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in
public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded, or reproduced in any form or by
any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2005
University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and of Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN 1–58046–161–1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Austin, Gareth.
Labour, land and capital in Ghana : from slavery to free labour in
Asante, 1807–1956 / Gareth Austin.
p. cm. – (Rochester studies in African history and the diaspora,
ISSN 1092-5228 [v. 18])
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58046-161-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Ashanti (Kingdom)–Economic conditions–19th century. 2. Ashanti
(Kingdom)–Economic conditions–20th century. 3. Land tenure–Ashanti
(Kingdom)–History–19th century. 4. Land tenure–Ashanti
(Kingdom)–History–20th century. 5. Labor–Ashanti
(Kingdom)–History–19th century. 6. Labor–Ashanti
(Kingdom)–History–20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
HC1060.Z7A723 2004
330.9667'018–dc22
2004021237
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
To my father and mother, who first stimulated my passions
for Africa and history.

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
List of Tables xiii
Preface xv
Note on Names xix
Maps xxi
Note on the Maps xxiv
1 Introduction 1
Part I. Context and Concepts
2 Theories and Debates:
Some Tools for Thinking about the History of
Property and Markets in Asante and Beyond 23
3 Asante, 1807–1956:
The State, Output and Resources 34
4 The Changing Relationship Between Inputs and
Output, 1807–1956 72
Part II. Social Relations of Production and
Trade, 1807–1896: Absent and Imperfect
Factor Markets
5 Land Tenure, 1807–1896 99
vii
viii Contents
6 The Mobilization of Labour, 1807–1896 106
Appendix: Nineteenth-Century Slave Prices 128
7 Capital and Credit, 1807–1896 135
Part III. Slavery as Hobson’s Choice: An Analysis of the
Interaction of Markets and Coercion in Asante’s Era of
‘Legitimate Commerce’, 1807–1896
8 Factor Markets Without Free Labour:
The Nieboer Hypothesis and Asante Slavery and
Pawnship, 1807–1896 155
9 Gender and Kinship Aspects of the Social Relations of
Production, 1807–1896 171
10 Exploitation and Welfare:
Class and ‘Social Efficiency’ Implications of the
Property Rights Regime, 1807–1896 181
Part IV. The Decline of Coercion in the Factor Markets of
Colonial Asante: Cocoa and the Ending of Slavery,
Pawnship and Corvée, 1896–c.1950
11 Why Was Prohibition So Long Delayed?
The Nature and Motives of the Gradualism of the
British ‘Men on the Spot’ 205
12 The Decline of Coerced Labour and Property in
Persons in Practice:
Change from Above and from Below in
Colonial Asante, 1896–1950 215
13 Cocoa and the Ending of Labour Coercion, c.1900–c.1950 236
Contents ix
Part V. Social Relations of Production and
Trade, 1908–1956: Towards Integrated
Factor Markets?
14 Land Tenure:
What Kind of Transformation under Cash-Cropping
and Colonial Rule? 253
15 Capital and Credit:
Locking Farms to Credit 278
16 Free Labour:
Family Workers, the Spread of Wage Contracts, and
the Rise of Sharecropping 304
Part VI. Freedom and Forest Rent, 1908–1956
17 Land in a Tree-Farm Economy 325
18 Capital in a Tree-Farm Economy 356
19 Free Labour:
Why the Newly-Emerged Regular Wage Contracts
Were Eclipsed by Sharecropping 401
20 Conclusion 431
Abbreviations Used in the Notes 455
Notes 456
List of References 547
Index 574