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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Dagara rebellion against Dagomba rule? Contested stories of origin in north-western Ghana
Author:Lentz, CarolaISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:The Journal of African History
Volume:35
Issue:3
Pages:457-492
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:Dagari
history
ethnic groups
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/182644
Abstract:The article explores the historiography of 'Stateless' peoples, notably the Dagara, in northwestern Ghana. At the same time, it is a contribution to the recent debate on the role of history in the construction of new 'tribal' identities in Africa in the colonial and postcolonial periods. After discussing local oral patriclan accounts of migration and settlement, and the historical imagination of British colonial officers, the author analyses histories of tribal origins written recently by Dagara intellectuals, which draw upon hypotheses, evidence, tropes and narrative models from both colonial and indigenous sources. The concern is not with a conventional history of ideas, but with showing how authors with new requirements and interests can fuse disparate elements into new accounts of the past whose underlying intentions differ considerably from those of their sources. More specifically, the article discusses the claims of intellectuals' and villagers' stories with reference to different underlying political agendas, suggesting that they constitute different historiographic genres appealing to different audiences. The former are basically concerned with establishing the Dagara as a political community within a modern State, the latter with providing charters for local boundaries and rights. Notes, ref., sum.
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