Recommended Items
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Working with Rawlings
Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings burst on the Ghanaian political scene with a failed military mutiny on May 15th, 1979. On June 4th 1979, following a successful uprising staged by junior officers and other ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces, he emerged as the Chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which ruled Ghana for three months and handed over to a civilian constitutional government on 24th September 1979. On 31st December 1981, he overthrew the constitutional government and formed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) as the Government of Ghana. He was elected a constitutional President in 1992 and assumed office as such on 7th January 1993. He served two terms as President of the Republic of Ghana, finally leaving office on 6th January 2001.
Jerry John Rawlings is an enigma. It was a privilege working with him and being close to him. He and I went through many exciting experiences together. I have documented some of those experiences in this book. But there are many other experiences which I have not documented either because they belong to the realm of confidentiality or of privacy. What I have documented, however, is enough to give present and future leaders some ideas about governance at the highest levels; the dos and don’ts of governance; the skills required for governance and the importance of human relations as a leadership trait.
This is not a book about Jerry John Rawlings. It is not a book about Kwamena Ahwoi. It is not a book about the PNDC. It is not a book about the NDC. It is a book about Kwamena Ahwoi working with Jerry John Rawlings; our working relationship; our ups and downs and our joint commitment to building a better Ghana than the one we found it. Somewhere along the line, we drifted apart. This book is about that as well. It is my hope that Ghana’s leaders of today and our leaders of the future will learn some lessons from my account of Working with Rawlings, leaving out the negatives and accentuating the positives.
₵150.00Working with Rawlings
₵150.00 -
The UT Story: Humble Beginnings – Vol 1 (Hardcover)
How does an Army Captain who failed to obtain a ₵20 million (about $20,000) loan from the banks, set up a successful finance house and cause such a monumental paradigm shift to the lending culture of a country?
Capt. Prince Kofi Amoabeng(Rtd) defied the odds to found Unique Trust Financial Services Limited, which was later rebranded to UT Financial Services Limited and metamorphosed into a Bank (UT Bank) under the UT Holdings Umbrella together with subsidiaries in Germany, South Africa and Nigeria.
In this first instalment of a series of memoirs, PK, as he was affectionately called by his fiercely loyal and dedicated team, shares an inspiring, in-depth, no-holds-barred, behind the scenes, unabashed account of how and what made UT a household name and impacted so many lives.
Written with George Bentum Essiaw, a tenacious, talented writer and filmmaker, The UT Story: Humble Beginnings is replete with profound lessons in entrepreneurship and leadership, employing an effective mixture of orthodox and unorthodox methods grounded firmly in time-tested military principles.
Whatever your background or occupation, this book will fascinate and inspire you to dare.
₵200.00 -
Essential History Primary 6 Learner’s Book
Essential History Primary 6 Learner’s Book
₵52.00 -
The Boabab Tree of Salaga
Suitable for upper primary pupils and children between 9 and 11 years
Dauda, a twelve-year old boy lives in a village north of Salaga with his parents. He often helps his father, who is a blacksmith, at the forge. He also grazes their sheep and goats.
One night, slave raiders captured everyone from his village. Dauda gets separated from his parents. He is taken to Salaga where he is chained to a big baobab tree before he is later sold off. From Salaga, he, together with many others are marched to the coast and made to board a ship to the Americas to be sold as slaves.
Two hundred years later, a stranger visits the same baobab tree at Salaga…who is this stranger?
₵30.00The Boabab Tree of Salaga
₵30.00 -
Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism
In Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson analyzes the dynamics of Ghana’s capital city through a focus on Oxford Street, part of Accra’s most vibrant and globalized commercial district. He traces the city’s evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. He combines his impressions of the sights, sounds, interactions, and distribution of space with broader dynamics, including the histories of colonial and postcolonial town planning and the marks of transnationalism evident in Accra’s salsa scene, gym culture, and commercial billboards.
Quayson finds that the various planning systems that have shaped the city—and had their stratifying effects intensified by the IMF-mandated structural adjustment programs of the late 1980s—prepared the way for the early-1990s transformation of a largely residential neighborhood into a kinetic shopping district. With an intense commercialism overlying, or coexisting with, stark economic inequalities, Oxford Street is a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have made Accra the variegated and contradictory metropolis that it is today.
“Oxford Street, Accra offers a fresh portrait of a rising African metropolis by one of the most original and skilled critics of the African condition. Deeply researched and packed with detail and bold in scope and analysis, Oxford Street, Accra is a unique addition to the growing body of work on contemporary African Urbanism. This extraordinary book shows the extent to which the future of urban theory might well lie in the global South.” – Achille Mbembe, author of Critique de la raison négre.
KEY SELLING POINTS:
- Oxford Street, Accra is a must-buy as an invaluable companion and compass for both newcomers and returning visitors to Accra.
- Oxford Street, Accra was chosen as one of the ‘UK Guardian’s 10 Best City Books of the World in 2014.’
- Oxford Street, Accra was also the Co-Winner of ‘The Urban History Association’s Top Award in the International Category For Books Published About World Cities in 2013 – 2014.’
- Oxford Street, Accra contains an encyclopedic knowledge of the City of Accra, tracing the city’s evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day.
- The book offers a microcosm of historical and urban knowledge of the making of the city that have transformed Accra into the sophisticated metropolis that is it today.
₵160.00 -
The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound
An influential northern caucus is secretly meeting and grooming him to contest the man who will select him as a vice presidential candidate. A meeting between the first lady and the Brong-Ahafo caucus results in, perhaps, the fastest ministerial reshuffle in the history of the country. At 2a.m., before the breaking of a major scandal, there is a meeting between the president’s friend and the investigative journalist about how to involve the main opposition leader, in the story to minimise its damage to the president in the upcoming election. The wife of the president reports the wife of the vice president to the vice president’s mother. The night before a crucial election, the president and his main contender are locked up in a meeting with Ghana’s most revered traditional ruler.
These and other revealing accounts on governance, policies and programmes of the fourth presidency of Ghana’s Fourth Republic are the intriguing contents of this book. Here, the journalist whose investigations are believed to have contributed to the downfall of the administration gets brutally intimate with the regime.
Rare interviews with key figures of the governing party and historical contexts to contemporary events provide readers and students of African politics the inside story of what is considered the model democracy on the continent. The fluidity of the writing style and humour make this book about politics and governance in Ghana’s Fourth Republic both informative, educative and entertaining.
₵300.00
Best Seller Items
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Working with Rawlings
Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings burst on the Ghanaian political scene with a failed military mutiny on May 15th, 1979. On June 4th 1979, following a successful uprising staged by junior officers and other ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces, he emerged as the Chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which ruled Ghana for three months and handed over to a civilian constitutional government on 24th September 1979. On 31st December 1981, he overthrew the constitutional government and formed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) as the Government of Ghana. He was elected a constitutional President in 1992 and assumed office as such on 7th January 1993. He served two terms as President of the Republic of Ghana, finally leaving office on 6th January 2001.
Jerry John Rawlings is an enigma. It was a privilege working with him and being close to him. He and I went through many exciting experiences together. I have documented some of those experiences in this book. But there are many other experiences which I have not documented either because they belong to the realm of confidentiality or of privacy. What I have documented, however, is enough to give present and future leaders some ideas about governance at the highest levels; the dos and don’ts of governance; the skills required for governance and the importance of human relations as a leadership trait.
This is not a book about Jerry John Rawlings. It is not a book about Kwamena Ahwoi. It is not a book about the PNDC. It is not a book about the NDC. It is a book about Kwamena Ahwoi working with Jerry John Rawlings; our working relationship; our ups and downs and our joint commitment to building a better Ghana than the one we found it. Somewhere along the line, we drifted apart. This book is about that as well. It is my hope that Ghana’s leaders of today and our leaders of the future will learn some lessons from my account of Working with Rawlings, leaving out the negatives and accentuating the positives.
₵150.00Working with Rawlings
₵150.00 -
The UT Story: Humble Beginnings – Vol 1 (Hardcover)
How does an Army Captain who failed to obtain a ₵20 million (about $20,000) loan from the banks, set up a successful finance house and cause such a monumental paradigm shift to the lending culture of a country?
Capt. Prince Kofi Amoabeng(Rtd) defied the odds to found Unique Trust Financial Services Limited, which was later rebranded to UT Financial Services Limited and metamorphosed into a Bank (UT Bank) under the UT Holdings Umbrella together with subsidiaries in Germany, South Africa and Nigeria.
In this first instalment of a series of memoirs, PK, as he was affectionately called by his fiercely loyal and dedicated team, shares an inspiring, in-depth, no-holds-barred, behind the scenes, unabashed account of how and what made UT a household name and impacted so many lives.
Written with George Bentum Essiaw, a tenacious, talented writer and filmmaker, The UT Story: Humble Beginnings is replete with profound lessons in entrepreneurship and leadership, employing an effective mixture of orthodox and unorthodox methods grounded firmly in time-tested military principles.
Whatever your background or occupation, this book will fascinate and inspire you to dare.
₵200.00 -
Essential History Primary 6 Learner’s Book
Essential History Primary 6 Learner’s Book
₵52.00 -
The Boabab Tree of Salaga
Suitable for upper primary pupils and children between 9 and 11 years
Dauda, a twelve-year old boy lives in a village north of Salaga with his parents. He often helps his father, who is a blacksmith, at the forge. He also grazes their sheep and goats.
One night, slave raiders captured everyone from his village. Dauda gets separated from his parents. He is taken to Salaga where he is chained to a big baobab tree before he is later sold off. From Salaga, he, together with many others are marched to the coast and made to board a ship to the Americas to be sold as slaves.
Two hundred years later, a stranger visits the same baobab tree at Salaga…who is this stranger?
₵30.00The Boabab Tree of Salaga
₵30.00 -
The Fourth John: Reign, Rejection & Rebound
An influential northern caucus is secretly meeting and grooming him to contest the man who will select him as a vice presidential candidate. A meeting between the first lady and the Brong-Ahafo caucus results in, perhaps, the fastest ministerial reshuffle in the history of the country. At 2a.m., before the breaking of a major scandal, there is a meeting between the president’s friend and the investigative journalist about how to involve the main opposition leader, in the story to minimise its damage to the president in the upcoming election. The wife of the president reports the wife of the vice president to the vice president’s mother. The night before a crucial election, the president and his main contender are locked up in a meeting with Ghana’s most revered traditional ruler.
These and other revealing accounts on governance, policies and programmes of the fourth presidency of Ghana’s Fourth Republic are the intriguing contents of this book. Here, the journalist whose investigations are believed to have contributed to the downfall of the administration gets brutally intimate with the regime.
Rare interviews with key figures of the governing party and historical contexts to contemporary events provide readers and students of African politics the inside story of what is considered the model democracy on the continent. The fluidity of the writing style and humour make this book about politics and governance in Ghana’s Fourth Republic both informative, educative and entertaining.
₵300.00 -
Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism
In Oxford Street, Accra, Ato Quayson analyzes the dynamics of Ghana’s capital city through a focus on Oxford Street, part of Accra’s most vibrant and globalized commercial district. He traces the city’s evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. He combines his impressions of the sights, sounds, interactions, and distribution of space with broader dynamics, including the histories of colonial and postcolonial town planning and the marks of transnationalism evident in Accra’s salsa scene, gym culture, and commercial billboards.
Quayson finds that the various planning systems that have shaped the city—and had their stratifying effects intensified by the IMF-mandated structural adjustment programs of the late 1980s—prepared the way for the early-1990s transformation of a largely residential neighborhood into a kinetic shopping district. With an intense commercialism overlying, or coexisting with, stark economic inequalities, Oxford Street is a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have made Accra the variegated and contradictory metropolis that it is today.
“Oxford Street, Accra offers a fresh portrait of a rising African metropolis by one of the most original and skilled critics of the African condition. Deeply researched and packed with detail and bold in scope and analysis, Oxford Street, Accra is a unique addition to the growing body of work on contemporary African Urbanism. This extraordinary book shows the extent to which the future of urban theory might well lie in the global South.” – Achille Mbembe, author of Critique de la raison négre.
KEY SELLING POINTS:
- Oxford Street, Accra is a must-buy as an invaluable companion and compass for both newcomers and returning visitors to Accra.
- Oxford Street, Accra was chosen as one of the ‘UK Guardian’s 10 Best City Books of the World in 2014.’
- Oxford Street, Accra was also the Co-Winner of ‘The Urban History Association’s Top Award in the International Category For Books Published About World Cities in 2013 – 2014.’
- Oxford Street, Accra contains an encyclopedic knowledge of the City of Accra, tracing the city’s evolution from its settlement in the mid-seventeenth century to the present day.
- The book offers a microcosm of historical and urban knowledge of the making of the city that have transformed Accra into the sophisticated metropolis that is it today.
₵160.00
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Abusua Pa Jigsaw Puzzle: Chief Dancing (140/216 Puzzle Pieces) – Pre-Order
A Chief’s Dance in Ghana holds great cultural significance as a symbol of the chief’s authority, heritage and community unity. It preserves Ghanaian traditions and passes down ancestral knowledge. The dance has ritual and spiritual elements and honours ancestors and historical lineage.
It showcases cultural identity and attracts tourists, promoting cultural pride and understanding. The Chief’s Dance plays a vital role in Ghanaian society, connecting the past with the present and ensuring the continuity of cultural heritage.
₵450.00 -
Abusua Pa Jigsaw Puzzle: The Black Star Square (216 Puzzle Pieces) – Pre-Order
Independence Square, also known as Black Star Square, is a landmark in Accra, Ghana, with historical and cultural significance. It serves as the venue for Ghana’s Independence Day celebrations and features symbolic elements like the Independence Arch and the Independence Square Monument. The square is one of the world’s largest and can accommodate large gatherings. It has surrounding landmarks and is open to the public for recreational activities. Independence Square holds historical significance as the site where Ghana proclaimed its independence from British colonial rule in 1957. It stands as a symbol of national pride and hosts events that commemorate Ghana’s freedom.
The soldier facing the Independence Arch in Ghana symbolizes the country’s struggle for independence and its emergence as the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain freedom from British colonial rule. The soldier represents the Ghanaian military’s dedication to protecting the nation’s sovereignty and symbolizes the courage and sacrifice of the people in their fight for self-rule. It serves as a reminder of Ghana’s commitment to preserve its independence, uphold values of freedom and democracy, and promote national unity. Overall, the soldier facing the Independence Arch represents the historical significance of Ghana’s independence, the contributions of the military, and the ongoing commitment to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty.
₵450.00 -
The Akan of Ghana: Aspects of Past and Present Practices
The Akan of Ghana: Aspects of Past and Present Practices takes the reader through the ancestry of present-day Akan people – from the influence of ancient Egypt, through the ancient Empires of Western Sudan and into the forest belt of present-day Ghana. Comparative analysis of cultural practices (such as kingship and the royal setup, death, funeral rites, and family structures) between ancient Egypt and present-day Akan people are highlighted. The three elements that make up an Akan person – Blood, Soul, and Spirit – as well as the Akan family structure are elaborately treated, and a clear cultural distinction between an Akan family and clan is explained. Names and their appellations, signs and symbols, as well as some kente designs are highlighted in the appendices. Ultimately, cultural challenges of the Akan in the contemporary world are brought to the fore.
₵265.00 -
Peter Dagadu: Man of God
Usually we know those men who have influenced church and nation only by reputation, as it were from the outside. In this book we have the rare privilege of seeing such a man at close quarters his childhood and schooling, how he came to Christ, the struggles and problems he went through in short, what made him the man of God he was.
Though Peter Dagadu died so many years ago, there are thousands who knew him and who will find in this account the secret of a man they admired but did not always understand: To many others, both lay and ordained, the story of Peter Dagadu will prove a challenge to climb the upward path following in his footsteps.
Peter Barker came to Ghana in 1956, after studying history and theology at Oxford, to work on the magazine New Nation, of which Peter Dagadu was a member of the advisory board. He later taught French and history at Okuapemman and La Bone secondary schools, and in 1961 began a two-year course of study for the London BD at Trinity College (then in Kumasi). After three years as pastor of Kaneshie Presbyterian Church and editor of Christian Messenger, he was seconded to the Christian Council as secretary of the Literature Committee and later manager of Asempa Publishers.
₵25.00Peter Dagadu: Man of God
₵25.00 -
Amu the African (Children’s Edition)
This is the children’s edition of the earlier book, Amu the African, A Study in Vision and Courage, written by Fred Agyeman. From this book, we can learn about the qualities of selflessness, originality, regard for Africaness etc. which characterised the life of this renowned Ghanaian educationist and reformist, Dr Ephraim Amu.
The book seeks to inspire the youth to emulate the good example of Dr Amu – a personality who has influenced for good, many pupils and students in his 50 years of teaching.
In this children’s edition, Fred Agyemang and Phanuel Nyaku have retold the story of Amu in simple, easy-to-read narrative form.
This book is highly recommended for Ghanaian children to help them absorb some of the values we cherish from our traditional heritage as eminently exemplified in the life of Dr Ephraim Amu.
Not since Dr Kwegyir Aggrey has any other Ghanaian influenced more positively the development of Ghanaian culture and pride in the African Personality than Dr Ephraim Amu.
₵35.00 -
Ahafo and the Bono Regions of Ghana: Accomplishment & Honours of ‘Brilliant Achievers’ (Hardcover)
This book is a one-of-a-kind compendium of profiles of some distinguished citizens from Ahafo and the Bono Regions of Ghana. The book contains nuggets of inspiring biographical information that brings to the fore some men and women who have dared the oddities of life to challenge the debilitating issues of human existence.
The book is a guiding light for young people to emulate many successful Ghanaians, some of whom had humble beginnings but braced the odds to emerge as champions in their respective callings.
In addition, it is a must-read for professionals desiring to excel in their chosen careers and parents who want to inbue their children with a higher sense of confidence, patriotism and hope.
The first section of the book covers the profile of eminent natives of the Ahafo and the Bono regions who have contributed significantly to the development of the nation in all sectors, including chieftaincy, banking and finance, trade and industry, hospitality, diplomacy and farming, among others.
The second section talks about non-natives who had over the years also made a tremendous contribution to the regions and the nation while section three is a photographic presentation containing pictures of people such as female educationists, lawyers, ministers of state, regional ministers, sports personalities and some significant activities and events.
Additionally, the book contains photographs of all the chiefs and queen mothers of the former Brong Ahafo Region before it was carved into three regions.
It also has a six-page epilogue which contains the authors’ thoughts and also features all ministers of state who hailed from the regions.
₵250.00 -
My Footprints in Ghana’s Black Gold
This memoir — part historical and part autobiographical — traces the author’s involvement with the final phase of petroleum exploration in Ghana, a journey that took over a century, beginning with the first onshore well in 1896. It has been a most interesting journey, with many twists and turns.
In the early days of the existence of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, there were various myths and half-truths about the presence or absence of commercial quantities of oil and gas in the basins of the Ghana.
- Nigeria was draining Ghana’s oil and that all that was required was for Ghana to buy powerful machines and begin to pump and drain her own
- Ghana would never find oil until the gods of Nzemaland and the Volta Region had been pacified
- The GNPC Model Production Sharing Agreement was too stringent on contractors
A major seismic interpretation of the Cape Three Points sub-basin of the Western Region, in 1992, would turn out to be the watershed of this new brave phase of exploration in Ghana.
The book was finally launched in Ghana in April 2022.
Hopefully, going to the heart of the matter should help future generations of ordinary Ghanaians, politicians and explorationists understand what it took to make Ghana a petroleum producing country, just in case the country was afflicted by the “Dutch disease.”
₵120.00 -
My Name is an Address (Hardcover)
Age Range: 8 – 12 years
You are not lost! You are not alone! A GPS system navigates you to where you are going, but your name could lead to what you are looking for. What’s in a name?
Ekuwah Mends uses the alphabet letters to answer that question. She opens a window into her family, history, culture, language, geography, and more. Look through Ekuwah’s actual family photos, Mother’s artwork, and Father’s artifact collection.
My Name is an Address comes to life and touches your heart. Exit the story by finding your own Akan name. Also, return when you need to feel connected. Ultimately, be inspired to find your own address.
₵135.00 -
BBC World Service: Women Making a Difference – The Book of the English Language Teaching Radio Series for Africa
Women Making a Difference, a radio series and a book which explores the issues confronting women in Africa. It is a collaboration between the BBC World
₵60.00 -
Say It in Swahili
Contains over 1,000 useful sentences and phrases for travel or everyday living abroad: food, shopping, medical aid, courtesy, hotels, travel, and other situations. Gives the English phrase, the foreign equivalent, and a transliteration that can be read right off. Also includes many supplementary lists, signs, and aids. All words are indexed.₵50.00Say It in Swahili
₵50.00 -
English-Swahili Pocket Dictionary
A concise and portable dictionary developed by two experienced and well respected teachers of Swahili. In this work they have taken into account not only the difficulties which non-Swahili speakers from many different language backgrounds have in learning the language, but also the importance of making Swahili equivalents of English words, correspond to those of the best speakers of Swahili.The English-Swahili Pocket Dictionary will be of benefit to English speakers who are learning Swahili, while Swahili speakers who are learning English will also find it invaluable.₵50.00 -
Swahili Made Easy: A Beginner’s Complete Course
This handy book is a beginner’s complete course in the Swahili language, designed especially for foreigners. The book is a result of the author’s many years of teaching experience. It is divided into two parts: part one covers pronunciation; Swahili greetings and manners; classification of nouns; adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc. in twenty-eight lessons and thirty-six exercises. part two includes a study of Swahili usage in specific situations (e.g. at home, in the market, on the road, at the airport, etc.); eleven further lessons and thirteen exercises; the key to the exercises in Parts One and Two; and a Swahili-English vocabulary of words used in the book.
₵50.00 -
Nyakyusa-English-Swahili & English-Nyakyusa Dictionary
Unhappy with the policy of using English as the medium of instruction in secondary schools in Tanzania which left his students bewildered, a Norwegian volunteer teacher in Ipinda, Tukuyu, south western region of Tanzania decided that his students would probably cope with the foreign language only after they were grounded first in the structure of their own languages — Nyakyusa and Swahili. As a trilingual dictionary was not available, he set out to compile one and this well-produced dictionary is the product. Words, examples and usages are included.
₵75.00 -
Who Moved My Heels?
This book gives provides a diverse backdrop of females in business from eleven countries. It shares deep insights on how to ignite your purpose and passion.
The “Who Moved My Heels” classic brings 18 businesswomen into the consultation room to share their real, raw struggle of entrepreneurship. This book also collates impactful, heartfelt, valuable lessons that encourage, motivate and strengthen females starting out in business. It is a courageous collection of honest, down-to-earth experiences aimed at warding off doubts that may swerve existing entrepreneurs off-track.
Dr. Abena Asomaning-Antwi partners with prolific authors and rising women such as Kiran Shah, Dr Aloysis Ogle, Arpita Kaul, Cardela Coulson, Dr. Nongnush Ammoury, Georgina Kelly, Arundhati Seigell, Farzana Muhammad, Dr. Venessa Moussa, Lady Charul Jaitly, Priyaa Televvane, Atiyya Dudhat, Dr. Genevieve Duncan, Vyara Tosheva, Dr. Fatima Beena, Lynette Lobo, and Fauza Belts.
₵100.00Who Moved My Heels?
₵100.00 -
From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland: Urban Mutations in Tanzania
The name Dar es Salaam comes from the Arabic phrase meaning house of peace. A popular but erroneous translation is ‘haven of peace’ resulting from a mix-up of the Arabic words “dar” (house) and “bandar” (harbour). Named in 1867 by the Sultan of Zanzibar, the town has for a long time benefitted from a reputation of being a place of tranquility. The tropical drowsiness is a comfort to the socialist poverty and under-equipment that causes an unending anxiety to reign over the town. Today, for the Tanzanian, the town has become Bongoland, that is, a place where survival is a matter of cunning and intelligence (bongo means ‘brain’ in Kiswahili). Far from being an anecdote, this slide into toponomy records the mutations that affect the links that Tanzanians maintain with their principal city and the manner in which it represents them.
This book takes into account the changes by departing from the hypothesis that they reveal a process of territorialisation. What are the processes – envisaged as spatial investments – which, by producing exclusivity, demarcations and exclusions, fragment the urban space and its social fabric? Do the practices and discussions of the urban dwellers construct limited spaces, appropriated, identified and managed by communities (in other words, territories)? Dar es Salaam is often described as a diversified, relatively homogenous and integrating place. However, is it not more appropriate to describe it as fragmented?
As territorialisation can only occur through frequenting, management and localised investment, it is therefore through certain places – first shelter and residential area, then the school, daladala station, the fire hydrant and the quays – that the town is observed. This led to broach the question in the geographical sense of urban policy carried out since German colonisation to date. At the same time, the analysis of these developments allows for an evaluation of the role of the urban crisis and the responses it brings.
In sum, the aim of this approach is to measure the impact of the uniqueness of the place on the current changes. On one hand, this is linked to its long-term insertion in the Swahili civilisation, and on the other, to its colonisation by Germany and later Britain and finally, to the singularity of the post-colonial path. This latter is marked by an alternation of Ujamaa with Structural Adjustment Plans applied since 1987. How does this remarkable political culture take part in the emerging city today?
This book is a translation of De Dar es Salaam à Bongoland: Mutations urbaines en Tanzanie, published by Karthala, Paris in 2006.
₵130.00