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Imagining Architecture:The Structure
of Nationalism in Accra, Ghana
Janet Berry Hess
Introduction
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'jig Bronze monument to Ghanaian
President Kwame Nkruma
Nicola Cataudella, installe
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National Museum, Accra,
(photograph by Janet Hes
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characteristic of the postcolonial era: "imaginings" of the community, to
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employ the terminology of Benedict Anderson (1991), have depended up-
0 on the employment of abstracted and idealized culture in the advance-
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ment of national identity. The architectural construction of identity in
independence-era Ghana, however, was particularly complex and multi-
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faceted. This article will examine the history of architecture and spatial
organization in Accra, focusing upon the symbiosis between British ad-
z ministrative and local commercial interests and on British colonial efforts
to segregate and regulate architectural space. It will then explore the Nkru-
mah administration's reconfiguration of colonial architectural objectives,
and argue that the administration constructed-through architecture and
spatial organization-a distinctive notion of the "nation."
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and governing center for the Ga was the consequence of the protection
from raiding incursions which the Dutch Fort Crevecoeur (Ussher Fort)
and the British Fort James afforded (Amoah 1964: 12-18).2 The presence of
these forts, and of Christiansborg Castle (controlled by Swedish, Danish,
Portuguese, Akwamu, and British forces in succession), enhanced trade
opportunities for outlying kingdoms, and reinforced the primacy of the Ga
Mantse, "King of Great and small Accra, Osu, Labadi, and other villages
and districts belonging under this Royal Government."3
The expansion of the city of Accra under colonial administration
was shaped by the existing pattern of coastal settlement. Colonial mer-
chants and administrators established permanent residences and commer-
cial institutions among existing residences to facilitate trade in gold and
the export of enslaved human beings. During a visit to Accra in 1873, Hen-
ry Stanley noted the presence of "many pretentious houses, whitewashed,
attracting attention from their prominence above the clay-brown huts
among them" (Amoah 1964: 54). Between the house of the British com-
mandant and the Basel Mission, "the body of the town of native and Euro-
pean buildings jammed itself" along with the port and lighthouse of Accra.
Among the European institutions which were located in James Town dur-
ing this period were the Post and Telegraph Offices, the Queen's Ware-
house, the Public Works Yard, the Treasury Building, and the Customs
House offices (Brand 1972: 39).
By the turn of the century, the British colonial headquarters had been
transferred from Cape Coast to Accra. Governmental operations had shift-
ed to Accra in 1852, but the transfer was not made official due to "the
storm of opposition raised by the Chiefs and people of Cape Coast" (Brand
1972: 18). Among the residences which lined High Street in Accra, British
commercial trading houses were established. The impressive balustraded
structures of these institutions, many presently in ruins, facilitated the
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activities of Yates Brothers, F. & A. Swanzy's, and Alexander Miller & Co.,
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of Africa.4
Accra's establishment as a capital city was thus the consequence of a
Cl symbiosis of British administrative and local commercial activities. Colo-
nial rule, however, was from its inception characterized by an effort to
regulate the structure and organization of the city. Measures were intro-
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duced to regulate sanitation and delimit the boundaries of certain sectors
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of the city, and local councils were established that were "responsible for
the collection of the poll tax, the provision of minimum sanitary services
and general town improvement." In 1878, the Gold Coast Towns Police
and Health Ordinance was enacted, an ordinance which empowered the
Governor to approve new construction, to "compel the cleaning and re-
pairing of all dilapidated or unsanitary buildings, to fine those responsible
for unsanitary conditions, and to detain offenders without a warrant until
brought before a district commissioneris court" (Brand 1972: 34). Tremen-
dous resistance was mounted on the part of the people of the Gold Coast to
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the Town Council Ordinance of 1894, which imposed taxes on the resi-
dents and vested authority in a Town Council, the election provisions of
which effectively disenfranchised the townspeople and "institutionalized
an expatriate majority" (Brand 1972: 64). The personal correspondence of
the British governor reveals a more or less benevolent paternalism on the
part of the government: as the Colonial Governor stated in 1858, "the ob-
ject of this Government was not to clean out dirty towns but to direct the
people to that and other objects by controlling and modifying their own
Government" (Acquah 1972: 22).
The British resolve to define the terms of the organization of the city
was manifested in regulations related to settlement boundaries and speci-
fically segregation of local populations (Amoah 1964: 59-66; Berkoh 1974:
64-5; Brand 1972: 49-50). A racially segregated "European Quarter," for
example, was established in the region of Victoriaborg. The British advo-
cacy of racial segregation in Africa was officially abandoned after the pub-
lication of the Devonshire White Paper of 1923, which maintained:
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health of the community ... to effect such separation by leg-
islative enactment except on the strongest sanitary grounds
would not, in the opinion of His Majesty's Government, be
justifiable. (Brand 1972: 44)
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priority was given to urban improvements which benefited government
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towns . . . after a precipitous drop the construction of Gov-
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ing for expatriates in the civil service remained unaltered.
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(Brand 1972: 129)
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During the years of the Depression even fewer funds were marked for
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the improvement of inner-city needs. Migration to squatter settlements in
James Town and Ussher Town increased, and only moderate relief for over-
z crowding was provided in the form of resettlement to outlying communi-
ties in Korle Gonno, Christiansborg, South Labadi and Kaneshie (Acquah
1972: 28).
During the Second World War, the Gold Coast was selected as the
base of Allied military operations. Outlying residential areas-already
developed under the administration of Guggisberg-were consequently
expanded, and British architect, Maxwell Fry, was employed to create an
overall development plan for the city (Amoah 1964: 78; Brand 1972: 170-
9). In the years following the war, the increased number of European mer-
chants and administrators in Accra and the emergence of a residential
middle class led to a further expansion of the city's governmental and com-
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H The advancement of a constructed community serves to submerge diver-
z gent cultures within a facade of homogeneity and to "advance the power
and independence of government as an institution" (Vail 1992: 51). But the
construct of a unitary culture also serves a socially useful function: it sym-
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bolizes and manifests an emerging nation's claim to legitimacy and self-
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In the Nkrumah administration's approach to urban development,
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both the wish to enhance the stature of the administration and the desire
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to promote a sense of national identity are evident. The Nkrumah gov-
ernment's response to the configuration of urban development and politi-
cal infrastructure inherited from the British was the importation of archi-
tectural modernity and the reconceptualization of plans for urban renewal.
The embrace of modernity and the reconfiguration of plans developed un-
der the British colonial administration in turn advanced the notion of the
"constructed" community.
Perhaps the most obvious manifestation in the urban context of the
objectives of the Nkrumah administration was the promotion of archi-
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The Directory evidences the pervasiveness of commercial rhetoric extol-
ling the fact that "[o]n land, on sea and in the air, man is perpetually build-
ing. Building anew for high standards . . . of living . .. of comfort . . . of
industrial efficiency."5 The manner in which this vision of "industrial ef-
ficiency" was interpreted and implemented, however, was attributable to
the priorities of the Nkrumah administration, which advanced modernity
as a sign of national and political achievement.
As the construction projects commissioned from British and Am-
erican architectural firms attest, a modified version of the International
Style-the architectural aesthetic advanced and implemented by Mies van -I
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architect Harry Weese (New Ghana 1959:7).
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Perhaps the most striking example of the association between Nkru-
mah's achievements and architectural monuments was the bronze statue
of Nkrumah erected at the heart of the government sector in Accra. The
statue, commissioned from Cataudella, was unveiled by the Chief Justice
of Ghana in 1956. Ceremonies associating the monument with the ad-
vancement of self-government were orchestrated by the CPP: a procession
by the CPP women's organization, Emasi Non, and described in the Eve-
ning News on 9 March 1962, was intended to "mark Osagyefo's gallantry
in leading the country to independence" and culminated in the placement
of a garland of roses around the statue's neck. Photographs of the monu-
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ment, ceremonially dressed in a white garment, were featured in the Eve-
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prosperity, officials of the Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches
H threatened a boycott over the Accra Municipal Council's plans to pour li-
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bation at the dedication ceremony. The controversy was resolved after it
0 was determined that both Christian and "traditional" rites would be per-
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formed at the dedication, but the cultural differences underlying the archi-
tectural "facade" of national unity are evident.
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:> The construction projects that the government commissioned can
thus be understood as representations of the administration and the newly
z unified nation. The complex of architectural monuments, commissioned
:) by the government in commemoration of national independence and erect-
ed in the vicinity of Black Star Square, illustrates this conceptual duality.
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I Black Star Square, erected on the coast halfway between James Town and
Christiansborg Castle, consists of an assembly ground surrounded by four
seating structures and dominated by the enormous arch of the Presidential
seating stand. Directly opposite the Presidential Stand, in the vicinity of
the Christiansborg Crossroads, looms Independence Arch, an immense edi-
fice commemorating the liberation of Ghana. Inscribed in large letters on
the arch are the words, "A.D. 1957/Freedom and Justice;" a bronze plaque
on the arch bears the inscription, "Ghana's Independence. A.D. 1957. Let
this monument hold sacred in your memory, the liberty and freedom of
Ghana. The liberation and freedom, which by our struggle and sacrifice,
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the people of Ghana have this day regained. May this independence be pre-
served and held sacred for all time."
In the structure of the major commemorative site in Nkrumah-
era Accra, two opposing principles or constructs of value are evident. The
Presidential Stand constituted a literal, psychological, and symbolic eleva-
tion of the figure of Nkrumah; Independence Arch symbolized the sacri-
fices made on behalf of independence, and a sense of pride in the achieve-
ment of self-determination. The coexistence of these systems of value may
be discerned in the architectural monument later added to the Square near
Independence Arch, the "Flame of Liberty," or "African Perpetual Flame":
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although Nkrumah declared, according to the Ghanaian Times of 2 July
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0 1963 that the Flame "enshrine[d] the spirit of the Republic of Ghana," the
image fixed in the minds of the public was that of Nkrumah, dressed in
white and announcing in ringing tones that he lit the Flame "in sacred
duty to the millions of Africans . . . to whom we are bound by common
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destiny."
The duality manifested in the juxtaposed structures of Black Star
Square was reinforced by representations of architectural monuments cir-
z culated in Ghana and abroad. Stamps, currency, and illustrations in the
mass media bore representations of architectural monuments and of Nkru-
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I mah, a merging of icons which underscored the achievements of the na-
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tion and allied the figure of Nkrumah with the goals of prosperity and
c progress. The architecture which foreign dignitaries observed and experi-
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enced also underscored an image of philosophical duality: while the stark
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ity and modernity, Nkrumah's residence-relocated at Nkrumah's request
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to Christiansborg Castle-directed the attention of visitors to the continu-
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ity between Nkrumah's authority and a legacy of centralized power. The
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architecture with which official visitors were confronted hence reinforced
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the diverse motivations underlying the capital's topography: visitors wit-
0 nessed an architecture which manifested the desire for national unity and
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prosperity, but they also experienced a symbolic manifestation of colonial
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authority.
C)z The architecture associated with the Nkrumah administration and
:) the representations of architecture which the administration disseminated
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may be seen as advancing a particular worldview. In the buildings and ar-
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I chitectural monuments which it commissioned, the government under-
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took a radical restructuration of the environment formerly controlled by
the colonial administration. The reconceptualization of Accra, however,
was not restricted to the erection of specific architectural monuments. The
construction of a nationalist vision is evident in the reconfiguration of the
town plan commissioned by the British government and in the pattern of
urban and suburban growth in Nkrumah-era Accra.
The town plan, prepared by Maxwell Fry in 1944 and revised in 1958
by B.A.W. Trevallion and Alan Flood, reveals the priority placed by the
British administration on the reorganization of the central business dis-
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Redevelopment plan for the coastline, High Street, Accra, Ghana (Image rendered from Accra:
A Plan For the Town, Diagram 27).
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trict in Accra and the development of the coastal region of the city (Berkoh
1974: 167-8). The attention given to the redirection of roads, concerns ex-
pressed over population density and commercial congestion, and detailed
plans for the refurbishment of the "central area," all evidence the impor-
tance of order and preeminence within the region extending from James
Town to Christiansborg Castle. The map of Accra Central Area Develop-
ment which accompanied the report illustrates this vision of order and
hierarchy: a tightly organized grid has been superimposed on the region
north of Ussher Fort, and, to the east of the fort, a broad expanse was re-
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p; served for a restaurant, country club, and fields for polo and cricket.
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In the development of the central business area under the Nkrumah
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0 administration, quite different priorities and political exigencies are evi-
0 dent. The administration repeatedly instigated "slum clearance" in James
Town and Ussher Town, but relocation and demolition efforts, according
to an article published in the Daily Graphic, 16 May 1957, were consis-
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tently resisted by Ga leaders and members of the opposition. The land-
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scaped parks and plazas envisioned by Fry and Trevallion were subsumed
during Nkrumah's administration by a continued compression of immi-
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z grants and commercial establishments in the business sector, particularly
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along Liberia Road and Liberation Avenue. Expenditures envisioned in the
C) Fry and Trevallion plan for "public squares, fountains, ornamental pools
and statues," and for a vast Parliament complex were directed by the Nkru-
mah government to the Organization of African Unity building, the refur-
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bishment of Christiansborg Castle and the construction of the State House,
and the establishment of the Ambassador Hotel (Ministry of Public Hous-
ing 1958: 88).
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The most striking distinction between the Fry/Trevallion plan for
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tualization of coastal development. The plan commissioned by the British
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government sector. In the vision of the capital developed by Nkrumah,
both the plans for Parliament-occupying, in the British plan, a significant
portion of northern Victoriaborg-and the notion of the coast as a recre-
ational haven were subordinated to a grand vision of national unity. From
Ussher Town to Christiansborg, the coast was left undeveloped, lending
visual weight and symbolic significance to the Community Center and to
the expanse of Black Star Square.
In the suburban areas which developed outside of the central busi-
ness sector, the distinction between British plans for urban renewal and
the realities of growth in an expanding urban center are also evident. The
new suburb of Kokomlemle, for example, adhered to the British ideal of
storied residences and spacious boulevards, but the relative priorities of
and pressures on the Nkrumah administration swiftly rendered these amen-
ities irrelevant.9 The architectural plan of one residence in Kokomlemle
demonstrates the colonial residential ideal of commodious living quarters;
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the history of its use, howevere reveals the pattern of massive overcrowd-
ing and defiance of land use ordinances typical of suburban Accra. The
crush of relatives, tenants, and businesses which came to overwhelm resi-
dences in Kokomlemle was also characteristic of Adabraka, New Town,
Nima, and other urban and suburban areas.
In its preference for modernism and its reconceptualization of urb-
an development, the Nkrumah administration therefore implemented a
distinctive worldview. In part, this perspective was consistent with colo-
nial priorities: the emphasis upon new construction and a contemporary
architectural style, the association between Christiansborg Castle and cen-
tralized administration, and the implementation of a suburban ideal were
all influenced by a colonial worldview. But the Nkrumah government's
response to the colonial regulation of architectural space also reflected a
distinctive "imagining" of modernism, a vision which allied the heroi-
cized vision of Nkrumah with a culturally homogeneous notion of the "na-
tion."
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on 2 March 1966, that a sheep was slaughtered" and libation poured for the
successful overthrow of the wicked regime of Nkrumah;" the monumen-
tal statue of Nkrumah-which had been damaged in an explosion attrib-
uted to the actions of "saboteurs and anti-Socialists" in 1961-was toppled
and beheaded.
In the years immediately following the coup, restrictions were placed
on the erection of architectural monuments. Within seventeen hours of
Nkrumah's overthrow, the National Liberation Council enacted legisla-
tion which rendered the display of Nkrumah's "effigy" an offense (Kabral
p; Blay-Amihere 1992: 23). The architectural structures which dominated the
coast-the Accra Community Center, which had housed the administra-
-I
0 tive offices for the ideological/educational institution known as the "Young
n
Pioneers," the "Flame of Liberty," and Black Star Square-fell into disuse
and were eventually abandoned.
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After the overthrow of the second President of Ghana, the attitude
toward Nkrumah and architectural monuments associated with his rule
underwent a transformation. When Nkrumah died in exile in 1972, Presi-
dent Acheampong ordered the return of his body to Ghana, and Nkrumah
z
z was granted a state funeral in Accra. A number of development projects in
. .
the central business district of Accra, including the Conference Center for
I the Organization of African Unity, were constructed in memory of Presi-
dent Nkrumah. In 1975, the Cataudella monument, which had borne so
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and [the] inspiration of his leadership" (Dadson 1985: 30-1). In the same
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year, the W. E. B. DuBois Memorial Center for African Culture was dedi-
cated. The DuBois Center-which encompasses the former home and
z mausoleum of the Pan-Africanist and African American activist DuBois
-expresses in its modern architectural form, its dedication text, and its
installations lauding the achievements of both DuBois and Nkrumah a
I merging of idealism and architectural modernity.
z In 1992, in a year of both presidential and legislative elections, Rawl-
ings dedicated a memorial complex to Nkrumah situated on the site of
the British colonial polo grounds in Accra. At the dedication of the com-
plex-attended by Namibian President Sam Nujoma, Oliver Tambo (the
Chairman of the African National Congress), the African American Mus-
lim leader Louis Farrakhan, Patricia Barnes, and the widow of Malcolm X,
among others-Rawlings presided over the reinterment of the mortal re-
mains of Nkrumah, emphasizing in his dedication address the themes of
nationalism and self-determination (Ziorklui 1993: 625-6).
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. . . . . . . . . . . .
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Mausoleum in Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Accra, Ghana (photograph by Janet Hess).
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[Nkrumahl rose to the pinnacle of his political authority ...
with the support of his own people and race. He was too
proud to do otherwise. In short, he understood the value and
dignity of the black African. In the name of the people of
Ghana, of Africa and the diaspora, and in the name of all
those who truly seek freedom and justice, we dedicate this
park to the memory of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. (Ziorklui 1993:
631)
P
-k Although Black Star Square stands empty and disintegrating, the Rawl-
ings administration welcomes visitors to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial
0 Complex. Attendants sell tickets to tourists entering the vast space of the
ca
U,
memorial plaza; postcards and ephemera bearing images of the architec-
tural spaces of the plaza are everywhere available. While the museum dedi-
cated to the history of Nkrumah is virtually empty, the marble mauso-
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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I would like to thank Barry Matsumoto for his steadfast belief in me and in my work, and
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Suzanne Blier, the shining support and inspiration for my scholarship. William Dewey and
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z Christopher Roy also offered me their kindness and selfless support. I thank Caroline Dean for
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the generous gift of her friendship, and Donna Hunter for providing her peers with a model
of compassion and professionalism.Valentine Hemingway shared her funny stories with me;
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Heather Ricks and Allan Langdale extended to me their friendship and understanding; Na-
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tasha Gray made me laugh through many adventures in Accra; and John Hanson and Akare
G) John Aden, as well as my anonymous readers at Africa Today, gave me invaluable editorial
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advice. Asa Hess-Matsumoto, James Norris, Amy Petersen, Jill Hagenkord, and Devin Hawker
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NOTES
1 I thank Professors Suzanne Blier and Allan Langdale for their observation of parallels be-
tween the Cataudella monument and 'classical" Greek art. Professor Blier has also sug-
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All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
gested provocative visual parallels between the monument and both Soviet Realist and
2 See Reindorff 1895: 24, in Amoah 1964: 12-18; Abloh 1967: 13; Acquah 1972: 16; Erlich
3 Letter from Cornelisen to Okai Koi (October 1680), Archives of Danish West Indian and
Guinea Company, 1670-1754 (Copenhagen), in Wilks 1957: 108. For a discussion of the
origins of the Ga and the sociopolitical formation of Accra in the precolonial era, see Par-
ker 1972.
4 Abloh 1967: 56; Acquah 1972: 23; Brand 1972: 32, 36. For a discussion of the history of
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Christiansborg, see Richter 1972.
P-4
5 Directory of the Republic of Ghana, 1961/62: 37, 59. Other advertisements extended this
image of ceaseless construction and modernity: an ad for the British firm of D. R. Illumina- 0
tions Limited,for example, featured photographs of structures illuminated for the celebra-
stant users, and you will be well advised to specify D. R. Festoon Lighting for your projects." U,
An ad for Austin of England carried the headline,"Ghana Builds a New Coast/and Austins
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help to build a new nation." (21; WestAfrican Review 1961: inside cover)
6 A similar metaphor was employed by Nkrumah in his dedication of a steel bridge erected
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Nkrumah maintained that the bridge was a "fitting symbol" of his policy of"weld[ing] the
north and south ever more firmly together so that the unity of the Northern Territories,
Togoland, Ashanti, and the South would be the foundation upon which the superstruc-
ture of a free, sovereign and independent state of Ghana under a unitary form of govern-
ment would be built."
7 The designation of Ghanaian architecture as'tropical" is suggested by the title of the text
8 For an overview of the characteristics of the International Style, see Hitchcock and John-
son 1995.
9 For a discussion of the effects of Nkrumah's policies on housing conditions, see Mawuen-
yegah 1980.
REFERENCES CITED
Abloh, Frederick. 1967. Growth of Towns in Ghana: A Study of the Social and Physical Growth of
Selected Towns in Ghana. Ph.D. diss., University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Acquah, lone. 1972. Accra Survey. Accra, Ghana: Ghana Universities Press.
Amoah, Frank. 1964. Accra: A Study. Ph.D. diss., University of Legon, Accra, Ghana.
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of National-
ism. London: Verso.
Arhin, Kwame. 1990. A View of Kwame Nkrumah: 1909-1972. Accra, Ghana: Sedco Publishing.
Berkoh, Daniel. 1974. Urban Primacy in a Developing Country: A Case Study of Accra-Tema Area.
Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York.
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Blay-Amihere, Kabral. 1992. Nkrumah of Ghana. Africa Forum 2(2): 22-3.
Brand, Richard. 1972. A Geographical Interpretation of the European Influence on Accra, Ghana
Erlich, Heidi. 1967. Accra, Ghana: Politics in an African City. Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University,
Evanston, Illinois.
Fry, Maxwell, and Jane Drew. 1956. TropicalArchitecture in the Humid Zone. London: Batsford Ltd.
Ghana. Ministry of Public Housing. 1 958.Accra:A Plan for the Town. Accra, Ghana: Government Print-
er.
Hitchcock, Henry Russell, and Philip Johnson.1 995.The Intemational Style. New York: W. W. Norton
and Company.
Kwaku, Ken. 1977. The Ghana Housing Corporation and the Politics of Housing, 1956-72. Ghana
come Group in the Ghana Municipality, 1955-1977. Ph.D. diss., University of Science and
Parker, John. 1995. Ga State and Society in Early Colonial Accra, 1860s-1 920s. Ph.D. diss., School of
Vail, Lawrence. 1992. Architecture, Power, and National Identity. New Haven, Connecticut:Yale Univer-
sity Press.
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m Wilks, Ivor. 1957.The Rise of the Akwamu Empire. Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 3(2).
Ziorklui, Emmanuel. 1993. Ghana: Nkrumah to Rawlings. Accra: Em-Zed Books Centre.
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