Disability and Rehabilitation in Late Colonial Ghana
Main Article Content
Keywords
disability, rehabilitation, colonial Ghana
Abstract
This paper analyzes disability and economic rehabilitation in late colonial Ghana (the Gold Coast), focusing particularly on a program for African soldiers between 1943 and 1947. The project, which attempted to reintegrate the rehabilitees into the existing workforce, failed within a few years of its inception. I argue that its failure occurred for three reasons: urban economic hardship, the rehabilitees’ peasant backgrounds and the colonial doctrine of community development. Reinforcing this analysis is the fact that after independence, the Ghanaian government reversed the colonial conditions and achieved much better success.
References
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Cooper, F. (1996). Decolonization and African society.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cooper, F. (2002). Africa since 1940: The past of the present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cooter, R. (1993). Surgery and society in peace and war: Orthopaedics and the organization of modern medicine, 1880-1948. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan.
Courtland, G. B. (1943, September 24). [Minutes. Clerk of the Executive Council]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Cowen, M., & Shenton, R. (1996). Doctrines of development. London: Routledge.
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Ghana Department of Social Welfare and Community Development (GDSWCD). (1966). Annual report, 1963. Accra: Government Printer.
Ghana Office of the Planning Commission. (1964). Seven year development plan: A brief outline. Accra: Government Printer.
Gocking, R. (2006). The history of Ghana. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
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Gold Coast Italian Limb Team. (1946, February 5). [Letter to Medical Department]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/4/5) Accra, Ghana.
Gold Coast Legion. (1947, May 30). [Letter to Colonial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Great Britain Ministry of Pensions. (1942, January 20). Rehabilitation of disabled persons in the colonies. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Grischow, J. D. (2006). Shaping tradition: Civil society, community and development in colonial Northern Ghana, 1899-1957. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
Grischow, J. D. (2011). “Kwame Nkrumah, disability and rehabilitation in Ghana, 1957-1966,” Journal of African History, 52(2), 179-99.
Hilliard, F. H. (1955a). Community development—Its problems and possibilities. In F. H. Hilliard and L. J. Lewis (Eds.), Perspectives in Mass Education and Community Development (pp. 27-35). London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
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Hopple, R. A. (1942, May 17). Physical rehabilitation and training of disabled African soldiers. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Jackson, A. (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. London: Hambeldon Continuum.
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Killingray, D. (1982). Military and labor recruitment in the Gold Coast during the Second World War. Journal of African History, 23(1), 83-95.
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Omari, T. P. ( 1970). Kwame Nkrumah: The anatomy of an African dictatorship. New York: Africana Publishing Corporation.
Phillips A. (1989). The enigma of colonialism: British policy in West Africa. London: James Currey.
Robinson, G. (1945, March 20). [Meeting Minutes. Gold Coast Director of Medical Services]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Shepherd, N. L. (1944, August 25). Provisional notes concerning the visit of I. I. Gough [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO/18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Spooner, A. C. (1945, May 15). [Letter. Acting Labor Commissioner to Colonial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Spooner, A. C. (1945, August 7). [Letter. Acting Labor Commissioner to Colonial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1943, August 24). [Minutes. Secretary of State for the Colonies]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1944, February 28). Rehabilitation of disabled persons in the colonies. [Circular Memorandum. Secretary of State for the Colonies]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1944, March 15). Rehabilitation of disabled persons in the colonies. [Statement. Secretary of State for the Colonies]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO 18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1944, May 16). [Letter. Colonial Office to West African Resident Minister]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Watson-Jones, R. (1942). Rehabilitation in the royal air force. British Medical Journal, 1 (4238), 403-407.
West Africa Command. (1945, July 22). Convalescent wings. [Letter to Resident Minister for West Africa]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council (WAWC). (1943, January 16). [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1943, January 28). [Minutes]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1944, August 1). [Letter. Resident Minister for West Africa to Acting Financial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/4/5), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1944, September 14). Rehabilitation of disabled African servicemen. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO 18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1945, January 23-4). [Memorandum for the 18th Meeting]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO 18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1945, March 8). [Minutes. Secretary, Demobilisation and Resettlement Committee]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives(CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1945, May 20). Conclusions of First Meeting. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Wilson, J. (1961). Ghana’s handicapped citizens. Accra: Government Printer.
Adoo, J. S. (1964). Evaluation and projection: Rehabilitation of the physically handicapped. Advance, 42, 26-31.
Anderson, J. (2003). Turned into taxpayers': Paraplegia, rehabilitation and sport at Stoke Mandeville, 1944-56. Journal of Contemporary History, 38(3), 461-75.
Borsay, A. (2005). Disability and social policy in Britain since 1750. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.
Borsay, A. (2006). Disciplining disabled bodies: The development of orthopaedic medicine in Britain, c.1800-1939. In D.M. Turner & K. Stagg (Eds.), Social Histories of Disability and Deformity (pp. 97-116). London: Routledge.
Bourret, F. M. (1960). Ghana: The road to independence, 1919-1957. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Burns, A. (1945, February 12). [Telegram to Secretary of State for the Colonies from Governor of the Gold Coast]. Public Records and Archives Administration, Ghana National Archives (CSO18/4/5), Accra, Ghana.
Cohen, D. (2001). The war come home: Disabled veterans in Britain and Germany, 1914-1939. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cooper, F. (1996). Decolonization and African society.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cooper, F. (2002). Africa since 1940: The past of the present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cooter, R. (1993). Surgery and society in peace and war: Orthopaedics and the organization of modern medicine, 1880-1948. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan.
Courtland, G. B. (1943, September 24). [Minutes. Clerk of the Executive Council]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Cowen, M., & Shenton, R. (1996). Doctrines of development. London: Routledge.
Emberton, J. J. (1942, July 6). [Letter to the West African Governors Conference]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Department of Social Welfare and Community Development (GDSWCD). (1966). Annual report, 1963. Accra: Government Printer.
Ghana Office of the Planning Commission. (1964). Seven year development plan: A brief outline. Accra: Government Printer.
Gocking, R. (2006). The history of Ghana. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Gold Coast Finance Committee (GCFC). (1944, July 25). [Meeting Minutes]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Gold Coast Italian Limb Team. (1946, February 5). [Letter to Medical Department]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/4/5) Accra, Ghana.
Gold Coast Legion. (1947, May 30). [Letter to Colonial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Great Britain Ministry of Pensions. (1942, January 20). Rehabilitation of disabled persons in the colonies. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Grischow, J. D. (2006). Shaping tradition: Civil society, community and development in colonial Northern Ghana, 1899-1957. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
Grischow, J. D. (2011). “Kwame Nkrumah, disability and rehabilitation in Ghana, 1957-1966,” Journal of African History, 52(2), 179-99.
Hilliard, F. H. (1955a). Community development—Its problems and possibilities. In F. H. Hilliard and L. J. Lewis (Eds.), Perspectives in Mass Education and Community Development (pp. 27-35). London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Hilliard, F. H. (1955b). The need for roots. In F. H. Hilliard and L. J. Lewis (Eds.), Perspectives in Mass Education and Community Development (pp. 36-40). London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Hopple, R. A. (1942, May 17). Physical rehabilitation and training of disabled African soldiers. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Jackson, A. (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. London: Hambeldon Continuum.
Jones, W. J. A. (1944, October 12). [Letter to A. C. Talbot Edwards, Colonial Office]. Public Records and Archives Administration - Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Killingray, D. (1982). Military and labor recruitment in the Gold Coast during the Second World War. Journal of African History, 23(1), 83-95.
Killingray, D. (2007). African civilians in the era of the second world war 1935-1950, In J. Laband (Ed.), Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa (pp. 139-67). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Le Vay, D. (1990). The history of orthopaedics: An account of the study and practice of orthopaedics from the earliest times to the modern era. Park Ridge, NJ: Parthenon.
Mamdani, M. (1996). Citizen and subject: Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Omari, T. P. ( 1970). Kwame Nkrumah: The anatomy of an African dictatorship. New York: Africana Publishing Corporation.
Phillips A. (1989). The enigma of colonialism: British policy in West Africa. London: James Currey.
Robinson, G. (1945, March 20). [Meeting Minutes. Gold Coast Director of Medical Services]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Shepherd, N. L. (1944, August 25). Provisional notes concerning the visit of I. I. Gough [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO/18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Spooner, A. C. (1945, May 15). [Letter. Acting Labor Commissioner to Colonial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Spooner, A. C. (1945, August 7). [Letter. Acting Labor Commissioner to Colonial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1943, August 24). [Minutes. Secretary of State for the Colonies]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1944, February 28). Rehabilitation of disabled persons in the colonies. [Circular Memorandum. Secretary of State for the Colonies]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1944, March 15). Rehabilitation of disabled persons in the colonies. [Statement. Secretary of State for the Colonies]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO 18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Stanley, O. (1944, May 16). [Letter. Colonial Office to West African Resident Minister]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
Watson-Jones, R. (1942). Rehabilitation in the royal air force. British Medical Journal, 1 (4238), 403-407.
West Africa Command. (1945, July 22). Convalescent wings. [Letter to Resident Minister for West Africa]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council (WAWC). (1943, January 16). [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1943, January 28). [Minutes]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/23), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1944, August 1). [Letter. Resident Minister for West Africa to Acting Financial Secretary]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/4/5), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1944, September 14). Rehabilitation of disabled African servicemen. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO 18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1945, January 23-4). [Memorandum for the 18th Meeting]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO 18/5/24), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1945, March 8). [Minutes. Secretary, Demobilisation and Resettlement Committee]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives(CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
West African War Council. (1945, May 20). Conclusions of First Meeting. [Memorandum]. Public Records and Archives Administration—Ghana National Archives (CSO18/5/25), Accra, Ghana.
Wilson, J. (1961). Ghana’s handicapped citizens. Accra: Government Printer.
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Oct 26, 2014
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Author Biography
Jeff D. Grischow, Associate Professor, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University.
Jeff D. Grischow is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University.