Smugglers, Secessionists and Loyal Citizens on the Ghana-Toga Frontier: The Life of the Borderlands since 1914 FROM THE PUBLISHER
"This is the first integrated history of the Ghana-Togo borderlands. The result of two colonial partitions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the current border is usually regarded as a classically arbitrary European construct, resisted by Ewe irredentism. This book challenges this conventional wisdom, contending that whatever the origins of partition, border peoples quickly became knowing and active participants in the shaping of this international boundary." Based on extensive archival and field research over nearly two decades, this book straddles the conventional divide between social and political history. It offers a reconstruction of a long-range history of smuggling and a reappraisal of Ewe identity in the light of recent debates. It will be of interest to African historians, political scientists, anthropologists, comparative borderlands scholars and others concerned with issues of criminality, identity and the state.
SYNOPSIS
It is now widely accepted that the borders of African nation-states were imposed by European colonial powers in order to divide African space between themselves. Adding to the burgeoning number of border studies in the historical literature, Nugent (African history, Edinburgh U., UK) explores issues of border negotiation between states, as well as the experiences of border communities, thereby mixing what are generally two distinct methods of inquiry. The phenomenon of smuggling is seen as particularly enlightening in terms of processes of cross-border affiliations and disengagement from the state. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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