Performing Ghana: the politics of being a black woman on the stage, 1966–1979

ABSTRACT

This article examines the politics of belonging for women in Ghana’s entertainment scene. As a result of instability while a series of different military and civilian leaders controlled the country between 1966 and 1979, Ghanaian women were scrutinized in local newspapers for actions that were deemed inappropriate, such as provocative dancing. Yet, these same Ghanaian journalists contradicted their own language and respectability ideals by celebrating the sexualized images and performances of Caribbean and African American women visiting Ghana during this period. By distinguishing between the actions of Ghanaian women and women of African descent, their language demonstrates that journalists prioritized national identity politics over the claims of respectability expected of all women in their country. Through the use of what I describe as ‘Ghanaianness’, a term indicating that ‘authenticity politics’ were at stake, I argue that journalists purposefully excluded diasporic women from Ghanaian belonging.

KEYWORDS:

• Ghana
• women
• racial respectability
• music

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Ronny Shannon, ‘I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You),’ Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man The Way I Loved You, Atlantic Recording Company, 8139, 1967, LP.

2 Frank Danso-Missah, “Emily Everett,” The Ghanaian Times, 10 August 1974, 4. Danso-Missah refers to her as Emily, but the Sweet Beans album states that she is Lola Everett. Pat Thomas and the Sweet Beans, False Lover, Gapophone GAPO LP 02, 1974, LP. See also, Collins (2003, 3). Note that ‘performance’ in this article is informed by performance studies, including Taylor (2016) and Vazquez (2014), but it refers to the actions of women on and off the stage in entertainment spaces. I consider how women presented themselves as Ghanaians, and how journalists reacted to this.

3 ‘Black British’ refers to people of African or Caribbean descent who identify as both black and British. They usually belong to the second generation or later generations of people who settled in the United Kingdom after World War II.

4 This term can be compared to ‘Africanness’, which is often used when discussing questions of cultural and national authenticity. However, I use the concept of ‘Ghanaianness’ because these writers and entertainers were not really dealing with an ‘authentic’ Ghana; the country was still new, ethnolinguistic differences remained relevant to people’s identities, and political instability prevented a straightforward definition of Ghanaianness that all citizens would have recognized. The qualities of this term remain vague throughout the paper to illustrate that the concept was not something to be bestowed on people, but denied.

5 Despite Nkrumah’s commitment to non-alignment during the Cold War, the US and UK were suspicious of his willingness to accept financial support from the Soviet Union. The National Liberation Council and its association with capitalism instilled trust in the Americans that they would have greater influence over and benefit economically from Ghana.

6 A few reviews covered visiting female artists from the Philippines, France, and elsewhere.

7 Other important works that make these arguments include Collins (1992); Gaines (2006); Feld (2012); Shipley (2013); Shain (2002).

8 Racial respectability is an important issue in African American women’s history, particularly during the Great Migration from the American South to northern cities and the development of black and Pan-African nationalism during the Jim Crow period in the first half of the twentieth century. Black women were subjected to simultaneous racial and gendered stereotypes, but also had to consider the association of resistance with masculinity. See earlier arguments by Davis ([1981] 1983). For recent work on African American women’s conflict with respectability, see Wolcott (2001); Greene (2005, 213–214, 315 n. 78).

9 See examples of gender and consumerism in Ghana from Murillo (2009); Allman (2004); Gott (2003); Clark (2010).

10 For discussions concerning citizenship in Ghana and French West Africa, see Coe (2002); Skinner (2015); Cooper (2014).

11 In doing this work, I draw on Peterson’s (2004, 242) method of reading colonial paperwork by Kenyan clerks to see in my own sources how Ghanaian writers can embed their own political agenda or ideology in seemingly innocent music reviews. See also, Peterson, Hunter, and Newell (2016). Outside of West and East Africa, music critics in Brazil were also using reviews and newspaper articles to express their opposition to the military dictatorship of the 1960s. See Leu (2016, 8–9) and her reference to Marcos Napolitano’s work.

12 The Akan word ‘obruni’ refers to people from overseas, but is often interpreted as ‘white people’. Due to this second, well-known translation, when ‘obruni’ is used to describe people of African descent, it is taken as an insult and denial of that person’s belonging in Africa.

13 Letter, from S. Kakraba-Quarshie, who resides in Accra, to the editor of the newspaper, Weekly Spectator, 15 July 1967.

14 Vicky [Tetteh], “Fashion Craze,” Weekly Spectator, 19 March 1966. The newspaper article does not define what is a Ghanaian woman’s body shape. In addition, this article and others printed in Weekly Spectator during this period do not address different fashion trends between women living in the different Ghanaian regions. A helpful comparison would be to think of this alongside Allman’s (2004) chapter in Fashioning Africa, “Let Your Fashion Be in Line with Our Ghanaian Costume” and Moorman (2004b).

15 Vicky Tetteh, “Move to Combat Immorality,” Weekly Spectator, 17 June 1967.

16 “In Defence of Our Women: Unescorted Women,” Weekly Spectator, 19 August 1967.

17 “Women Living on Fineries from Men Undermine Morality,” The Ghanaian Times, 14 November 1967. For further analysis of this debate, see Gott (2009).

18 Collins (2003, 1) explains that certain drums were understood as instruments to be played by men only.

19 The Ghanaian Times, Saturday, 12 March 1977, 6.

20 “Sex-Teasing Dandy Day,” The Ghanaian Times, 1 March 1975, 4; advertisement for Sally, The Ghanaian Times, 3 September 1977, 6.

21 K. Cab-Addae, “Should Sexy Dancers, Striptease Be Banned?” The Ghanaian Times, 29 November 1978, 6.

22 “Banning Striptease, Sexy Dancers – What Others Say,” The Ghanaian Times, 6 December 1978, 6.

23 Cab-Addae, “Should Sexy Dancers.”

24 “The First Soul Festival in Ghana,” Weekly Spectator, 22 March 1969, 6; E.A. George, “Soul Group at Star Hotel,” The Ghanaian Times, 29 March 1969, 4.

25 Kente describes the carefully woven and brightly colored cloth that is produced in Ghana and is associated with royalty.

26 Millicent “Millie” Small, “My Boy Lollipop,” Fontana TF-710, 1964, 45rpm.

27 Photo of Millie Small crowing Miss Ghana Airways VC 10, The Ghanaian Times, 6 February 1967, 1.

28 S.A. Adjei, “Ghana’s Hospitality Impresses Millie,” The Ghanaian Times, 3 February 1967, 3; and “Kente Gift for Millie,” The Ghanaian Times, 14 February 1967, 12.

29 “Sweet Soul Singers Due Here Shortly,” Weekly Spectator, 15 March 1969, 1.

30 See examples pertaining to a Ghanaian singer and a French singer, respectively. Frank Danso-Mensah, “Emily Everett,” The Ghanaian Times, 10 August 1974, 4; Frank Danso-Mensah, “Colette Lacoste,” The Ghanaian Times, 20 July 1974, 4.

31 “Sweet Soul Singers Due Here Shortly.”

32 E.A. George, “What we saw at the ‘Soul to Soul’ festival,” The Ghanaian Times, 13 March 1971, 4.

33 Soul to Soul, directed by Denis Sanders (1971; San Diego, CA: Rhino Home Video, 2004), DVD.

34 While this might not be accurate in the American context, as black women entertainers in the 1970s, there were expectations that they would market themselves as a product to be consumed by people who viewed the black female body as a sex object. Furthermore, in the late 1960s and 1970s, women were more likely to express themselves freely as people free from suppression by conservatives who shamed women’s bodies or fought the idea that “Black is Beautiful.”

35 “Caribbean ‘chick’ joins Hedzole,” The Ghanaian Times, 17 February 1973, 4.

36 Ibid.

37 There were numerous articles suggesting that Ghanaians need to have greater appreciation for their own country’s music, rather than foreign practices. For example, see Agenim Boateng, “Accept African Culture,” Weekly Spectator, 7 December 1968, 3, 9; “NLC Stresses at Kumasi Arts Festival: Nation’s Honour Lies in Culture,” The Ghanaian Times, 10 January 1969, 1. Schauert's (2015) recent book focusing on Ghana and Turino's (2000) important study of nation and music in Zimbabwe show that this was not a conversation specific to Ghana or to independent African countries.

38 Vicky Tetteh, “Miss World’ entrants must be presentable,” Weekly Spectator, 28 October 1967, 8.

39 Vicky Tetteh, “For future ‘Miss World’ Contests Vicky Tetteh suggest Choose Native Ghanaian,” Weekly Spectator, 11 November 1967, 8.

40 Ray (2015) examines the history of interracial families and children in the Gold Coast and Britain since the colonial period. While she focuses much more on colonial anxiety about the implications of mixed race families on nationalist movements, it is also clear that British fears of racial admixture have remained. Pierre’s (2012) book brings this situation into focus with evidence that concepts of race and color have been developing in the Gold Coast since the transatlantic slave trade, and they have a greater significance on Ghanaian culture and transnational relations than is often assumed.

41 See “Caribbean woman: ‘My only choice is Ghana,’” The Ghana Evening News, 16 September 1958, 8; “She’s a Real Pearl of an Artiste … Culture is her Passion!” Sunday Mirror, 18 March 1962, 8.

42 For more information on Jiagge’s role in organizing Ghanaian women, see “Talks on Emancipation of our Women,” The Ghanaian Times, 12 November 1968, 4.

43 Kate Abbam, “Whose Hands on Ghanaian Women?” The Ghanaian Times, 5 July 1976, 6; K. Cab-Addae, “Women Liberation and UNIGOV,” The Ghanaian Times, 22 March 1978, 6.

44 Jeanette Hayfron-Benjamin, interview with author, Accra, Ghana, 5 June 2013; Grace Nortey, interview with author, Accra, Ghana, 3 June 2013.

45 Margaret Busby, interview with author, London, UK, 4 December 2012.