article
The youngmen and the porcupine: class, nationalism and Asante';s struggle for self-determination, 1954-1957
Journal of African history • 31 • Published In 1990 • Pages: 263-279
By: Allman, Jean Marie.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article is a very good analysis of the failed Asante National Liberation Movement (1954-1957.) Allman traces the root of the movement back to the 1860s and the rise of the Asante ‘young men’ (NKWANKWAA) who were the disaffected heirs of downwardly mobile Asante elite. Angered by an increase in taxes and an imposition of fines for petty offenses, the nkwankwaa led the movement to overthrow the ASANTEHENE Mensa Bonsu in 1883 (see Austin, document no. 38.) On the eve of national independence in the 1950s, the nkwankwaa were angered by the under-representation of Asante in the new parliament. They formed the NLM and advocated Asante independence. Allman argues that the NLM was not a tribal movement, but represented a clear bid for power by an economically diverse, but politically motivated group. According to Allman, the movement failed, because the nkwankwaa had no strong class base and their nationalist rhetoric was co-opted by the ruling Asante elite, who were the true representatives of traditional Asante culture.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cultural identity and pride
- Age stratification
- Territorial hierarchy
- Chief executive
- Political parties
- Political movements
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Akan
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ;1999
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- Not Specified
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1860-1956
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ashanti; Ghana
- NotesAdditional notes
- By Jean Marie Allman
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 63005723
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Akan (African people)