As early as the 1910s, African drivers in colonial Ghana understood the possibilities that using imported motor transport could further the social and economic agendas of a diverse array of local agents, including chiefs, farmers, traders, fishermen, and urban workers. Jennifer Hart's powerful narrative of auto-mobility shows how drivers built on old trade routes to increase the speed and scale of motorized travel. Hart reveals that new forms of labor migration, economic enterprise, cultural production, and social practice were defined by autonomy and mobility and thus shaped the practices and values that formed the foundations of Ghanaian society today. Focusing on the everyday lives of individuals who participated in this century of social, cultural, and technological change, Hart comes to a more sensitive understanding of the ways in which these individuals made new technology meaningful to their local communities and associated it with their future aspirations.

About the Author

Jennifer Hart is an Assistant Professor of African History at Wayne State University.

Reviews

Hart has given us a sensitively aware and richly documented account of (auto)mobility in Ghana.

* American Historical Review *

This well-written book deeply engages with the dynamics of African mobility and constitutes a major contribution to twentieth-century Ghanaian history.

* International Journal of African Historical Studies *

Jennifer Hart's text sweeps triumphantly across a century of authomobility in colonial and post-colonial Ghana. . . sophisticated, clear and inspiring account. . .

* Journal of Transport History *

There is much here for readers across a wide range of disciplines to learn and enjoy.

* Africa *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253023070
Author Jennifer Hart
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 345g