The Predicament of Blackness: Postcolonial Ghana and the Politics of Race by Jem

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Tackles the question of race in West Africa through its postcolonial manifestations. Challenging the view of the African continent as a nonracialized space, the author envisions Africa, and in particular the nation of Ghana, as a place whose local relationships are deeply informed by global structures of race, economics, and politics.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

What is the meaning of blackness in Africa? While much has been written on Africa's complex ethnic and tribal relationships, Jemima Pierre's groundbreaking The Predicament of Blackness is the first book to tackle the question of race in West Africa through its postcolonial manifestations. Challenging the view of the African continent as a nonracialized space—as a fixed historic source for the African diaspora—she envisions Africa, and in particular the nation of Ghana, as a place whose local relationships are deeply informed by global structures of race, economics, and politics. Against the backdrop of Ghana's history as a major port in the transatlantic slave trade and the subsequent and disruptive forces of colonialism and postcolonialism, Pierre examines key facets of contemporary Ghanaian society, from the pervasive significance of "whiteness" to the practice of chemical skin-bleaching to the government's active promotion of Pan-African "heritage tourism." Drawing these and other examples together, she shows that race and racism have not only persisted in Ghana after colonialism, but also that the beliefs and practices of this modern society all occur within a global racial hierarchy. In doing so, she provides a powerful articulation of race on the continent and a new way of understanding contemporary Africa—and the modern African diaspora.

Author Biography

Jemima Pierre teaches in the Program in African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction ONE / Of Natives and Europeans: Colonialism and the Ethnicization of Racial Dominance TWO / "Seek Ye First the Political Kingdom": The Postcolony and Racial Formation THREE / "You Are Rich Because You Are White": Marking Race and Signifying Whiteness FOUR / The Fact of Lightness: Skin Bleaching and the Colored Codes of Racial Aesthetics FIVE / Slavery and Pan-Africanist Triumph: Heritage Tourism and State Racecraft SIX / "Are You a Black American?": Race and the Politics of African-Diasporic Interactions SEVEN / Race across the Atlantic . . . and Back: Theorizing Africa and/in the Diaspora EPILOGUE / Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa, Interrogating Diaspora Notes References Index

Review

"In The Predicament of Blackness, Jemima Pierre makes an important intervention in Africanist anthropology, which is in dire need of analyses, such as Pierre offers, that illuminate the workings of race. This book is in a class by itself. It is not only a welcome addition to the field, but will in fact inspire a new generation of African studies scholarship that is more attentive to the cultural practices of race." (Bayo Holsey, Duke University)"

Review Quote

"This provocative, stimulating study encourages readers to think about what race means-specifically, blackness and whiteness-and how race has historically been constituted in association with the European slave trade, colonial rule, and the global dominance of Western-style capitalism."

Details ISBN0226923037 Author Jemima Pierre Short Title PREDICAMENT OF BLACKNESS Language English ISBN-10 0226923037 ISBN-13 9780226923031 Media Book Format Paperback Imprint University of Chicago Press Subtitle Postcolonial Ghana and the Politics of Race Place of Publication Chicago, IL Country of Publication United States Illustrations 23 halftones UK Release Date 2012-11-27 Year 2012 Publication Date 2012-11-27 AU Release Date 2012-11-27 NZ Release Date 2012-11-27 US Release Date 2012-11-27 Pages 288 Publisher The University of Chicago Press DEWEY 305.8009667 Audience Undergraduate We've got this

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