Of “ Akankyemaa” and Beyond: Gender and Mining Income Disruptions in Late Colonial Asante

Journal article

Historical analysis of Ghana’s late colonial mine communities has been extensive and overwhelmingly dominated by organised and politically active male mineworkers. Questions regarding the linkages between formal and informal mining actors and cultural ideas in the broader mine communities have remained inadequately explored. This article makes a timely investigation by critically analysing a range of governmental and corporate archival documents and situating the discussion within the context of expansive literature on Asante, and complemented by oral histories. It centres on the Asante/Akan term “kankyema”—a sociocultural phenomenon which women transformed towards economic ends to navigate the late colonial political economy’s mining income disruptions. The article argues for the essential need to centre marginalised voices in understanding diverse agencies in African mining history and for a deeper reflection on the potentialities of contextual sociocultural ideas—notably, how marginalised actors invoke and evoke their capacities over different times.

Authors: Damtar, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: The Journal of African History
• Volume: 66
• Article number: e16
• Publication date: 2025-10-07
• DOI: 10.1017/s0021853725100571
• EISSN: 1469-5138
• ISSN: 0021-8537
• Language: English
• Keywords: gender; West Africa; decolonisation; local history; culture; mining; Ghana