| | This article marks a return to an analysis of merchant capital in West Africa. Clark undertakes a longitudinal look at the patterns of populism and class alliances among Ghanaian traders from the pre-colonial period, through the colonial period up to the current Rawlings administration. She draws attention to the transformation of gender roles in the colonial period stemming from the introduction of the 'passbook' system which enabled a significant number of women to begin trading as the men left for the professions. She also notes that these alliances have not always been solid. For the mercantile class, the essence of the alliance was to maintain control over the terms of trade. To achieve this aim this class sought support initially from the chiefs, and later on from smallholders and professionals in their battles with the colonial state, and more recently the post-colonial regimes. |
