Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:15:10.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Hidden History of the West African Wager: Or, How Comparison with Ghana Made Côte d’Ivoire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2018

Elisa Prosperetti
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The famous 1957 wager between Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d’Ivoire and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana is a signal event in modern African history. Yet it has never been adequately historicized. How did this fateful meeting come about? An archival discovery reveals the hidden history of the wager’s construction. This wager inaugurated a tradition of comparison between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire that shaped both the ways that Côte d’Ivoire was seen by social scientists and the ways that Ivorians saw themselves.

Résumé:

Le pari célèbre de 1957 entre Félix Houphouët-Boigny de Côte d’Ivoire et Kwame Nkrumah du Ghana est un événement marquant de l’histoire moderne de l’Afrique. Cependant, il n’a jamais été assez bien replacé dans son contexte historique. Comment s’est déroulée cette rencontre fatidique? Une découverte archivistique révèle l’histoire cachée de la construction du pari. Ce pari inaugure une tradition de comparaison entre le Ghana et la Côte d’Ivoire qui façonne à la fois la vision de la Côte d’Ivoire par les sociologues et la façon dont les Ivoiriens se perçoivent eux-mêmes.

Type
Critical Historiography
Information
History in Africa , Volume 45 , June 2018 , pp. 29 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahlman, Jeffrey, Living with Nkrumahism: Nation, State, and Pan-Africanism in Ghana (Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 2017).Google Scholar
Akindès, Francis, “Côte d’Ivoire: Socio-Political Crises, ‘Ivoirité’ and the Course of History,” African Sociological Review 7–2 (2003), 11–28.Google Scholar
Allman, Jean, “Kwame Nkrumah, African Studies, and the Politics of Knowledge Production in the Black Star of Africa,” International Journal of African Historical Studies 46–2 (2013), 181–203.Google Scholar
Amin, Samir, Le Développement du capitalisme en Côte d’Ivoire (Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1967).Google Scholar
Apter, Andrew, “Modernization Theory and the Figure of Blindness: Filial Reflections,” in: Bloom, Peter, Miescher, Stephan and Manuh, Takyiwaa (eds.), Modernization as Spectacle in Africa (Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press, 2014), 41–61.Google Scholar
Arnaut, Karel, “Les ‘Hommes de Terrain:’ Georges Niangoran-Bouah et le Monde Universitaire de l’Autochtonie en Côte d’Ivoire,” Politique Africaine 112–4 (2008), 18–35.Google Scholar
Bamba, Abou, African Miracle, African Mirage: Transnational Politics and the Paradox of Modernization in the Ivory Coast (Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 2016).Google Scholar
Baulin, Jacques, La Politique Africaine d’Houphouët-Boigny (Paris: Éditions Eurafor Press, 1980).Google Scholar
Berg, Elliot, “Structural Transformation Versus Gradualism: Recent Economic Development in Ghana and the Ivory Coast,” in: Foster, Philip and Zolberg, Aristide (eds.), Ghana and the Ivory Coast: Perspectives on Modernization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), 187–230.Google Scholar
Berret, A.M., “Review: West African Wager: Houphouet versus Nkrumah by Jon Woronoff,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 15–1 (1974), 127–129.Google Scholar
Boansi, K.O., and Denemark, Robert, “Notes Towards the Settling of an Old Wager: Lessons Learned from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,” Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 25–2 (1999), 1–41.Google Scholar
Clignet, Rémi, and Foster, Philip, “French and British Colonial Education in Africa,” Comparative Education Review 8–2 (1964), 191–198.Google Scholar
Clignet, Rémi, and Foster, Philip, “Potential Elites in Ghana and the Ivory Coast a Preliminary Comparison,” American Journal of Sociology 70–3 (1964), 349–362.Google Scholar
Clignet, Rémi, and Foster, Philip, The Fortunate Few: A Study of Secondary Schools and Students in the Ivory Coast (Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press, 1966).Google Scholar
Clignet, Rémi, and Sween, Joyce, “Accra and Abidjan: A Comparative Examination of the Theory of Increase in Scale,” Urban Affairs Quarterly 4–3 (1969), 297–324.Google Scholar
Cohen, Michael, Urban Policy and Political Conflict in Africa: A Study of the Ivory Coast (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974).Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick, Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick, “Possibility and Constraint: African Independence in Historical Perspective,” Journal of African History 49 (2008), 167–196.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick, Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945–1960 (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014).Google Scholar
Den, Tuinder, Bastiaan, A., Ivory Coast: The Challenge of Success: Report of a Mission Sent to the Ivory Coast by the World Bank ’(Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978).Google Scholar
Désalmand, Paul, Histoire de l’Éducation en Côte d’Ivoire: De la Conférence de Brazzaville à 1984, tome 2 (Abidjan: Les Éditions du CERAP, 2004).Google Scholar
Diabaté, Idriss, Dembele, Ousmane and Akindès, Francis (eds.), Intellectuels Ivoiriens Face à la Crise (Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2005).Google Scholar
Dimier, Véronique, Le Gouvernement des Colonies, Regards Croisés Franco-Britannique (Bruxelles: Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2004).Google Scholar
Dozon, Jean-Pierre, Les Clefs de la Crise Ivoirienne (Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2011).Google Scholar
Due, Jean, “Agricultural Development in the Ivory Coast and Ghana,” The Journal of Modern African Studies 7–4 (1969), 637–660.Google Scholar
Eberhardt, Markus, and Teal, Francis, “Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire: Changing Places,” International Development Policy 1 (2010), 33–49.Google Scholar
Eshag, Eprime, and Richards, P.J., “A Comparison of Economic Development in Ghana and the Ivory Coast,” Bulletin of Oxford University Institute of Statistics 29–4 (1967), 352–372.Google Scholar
Foster, Philip, Education and Social Change in Ghana (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., 1965).Google Scholar
French, Howard, “A Reversal of Fortune: The Race Between Ivory Coast and Ghana,” Emerge 4–4 (1993), 17.Google Scholar
Gaillard, Gérald, The Routledge Dictionary of Anthropologists (London: Routledge, 2004).Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford (ed.), Old Societies and New States: The Quest for Modernity in Asia and Africa (New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963).Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford (ed.), After the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).Google Scholar
Gilman, Nils, Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America (Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Grah Mel, Frédéric, Félix Houphouët-Boigny: Le Fulgurant Destin d’une Jeune Proie (?–1960), tome I (Abidjan: CERAP, 2003).Google Scholar
Guyer, David, Ghana and the Ivory Coast: The Impact of Colonialism in an African Setting (New York: Exposition Press, 1970).Google Scholar
Houphouët-Boigny, Félix, “Rapport sur la Suppression de Travail Forcé dans les Territoires d’Outre-mer à l’Assemblée Nationale Constituante le 30 mars 1946,” Anthologie des Discours, 1946–1978, volume I (Abidjan: Éditions CEDA, 1978), 37.Google Scholar
Houphouët-Boigny, Félix, “Discours Prononcé à Adzopé le 24 Mai 1959,” Anthologie des Discours, 1946–1978, volume I (Abidjan: Éditions CEDA, 1978), 291.Google Scholar
Houphouët-Boigny, Félix, Mes Premiers Combats: Confidences Recueillies par Patrice Vautier (Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Ivoiriennes, 1994).Google Scholar
Jung, Courtney, “Professor Zolberg Goes to Africa,” Social Research: An International Quarterly 77–1 (2010), 399–404.Google Scholar
Kacou, Anzouan, Aventure 46: Houphouet-Boigny Parie et Gagne (Abidjan: Imprimeur SII, 1976).Google Scholar
Loucou, Jean-Noël, and Ligier, Françoise, La Reine Pokou: Fondatrice du Royaume Baoulé (Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1977).Google Scholar
McGovern, Michael, Making War in Côte d’Ivoire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).Google Scholar
Miracle, Marvin, “The Shareholder in Agricultural Policy and Planning: Ghana and the Ivory Coast, 1960 to 1966,” Journal of Developing Areas 4–3 (1970), 321–332.Google Scholar
Mitterand, François, Présence Française et Abandon (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1957).Google Scholar
Morgenthau, Ruth Schachter, Political Parties in French-speaking West Africa (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964).Google Scholar
Newell, Sasha, The Modernity Bluff: Crime, Consumption and Citizenship in Côte d’Ivoire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012).Google Scholar
Niangoran-Bouah, Georges, “Les Akan,” in: Atlas de Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan: Ministère du Plan/ORSTOM, 1971).Google Scholar
Perrot, Claude-Hélène, “Georges Niangoran-Bouah,” Cahiers d’Études Africaines 168 (2002), 627–631.Google Scholar
Rodney, Walter, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications, 1972).Google Scholar
Sandlar, Christophe, “Les ‘Titrologues’ de l’Ivoirité,” Outre-Mer 11–2 (2005), 229–240.Google Scholar
Silverman, Raymond, “Remembering the Founding of the Ghana Studies Association,” Ghana Studies Association Newsletter 24 (2011), 1.Google Scholar
Siriex, Paul-Henri, Une Nouvelle Afrique: A.O.F. 1957 (Paris: Plon, 1957).Google Scholar
Siriex, Paul-Henri, Félix Houphouët-Boigny: L’Homme de la Paix (Paris: Éditions Seghers, 1975).Google Scholar
Smith, Stephen, “France in Africa: A New Chapter?” Current History 112–754 (2013), 163–168.Google Scholar
Tsuruta, Aya, “Archival Reports: Expanding the Archival Horizon: American Archives for Researching Postcolonial Rwandan History,” History in Africa 44 (2017), 265–283.Google Scholar
Valsecchi, Pierluigi, “Introduction,” in: Valsecchi, Pierluigi and Viti, Fabio (eds.), Akan Worlds: Identity and Power in West Africa (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1999), 15–20.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Road to Independence: Ghana and the Ivory Coast (Paris: Mouton & Co., 1964).Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel, “Ghana as a Model,” Africa Report 12–5 (1967), 43–46.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel, “Introduction,” in: Foster, Philip and Zolberg, Aristide (eds.), Ghana and the Ivory Coast: Perspectives on Modernization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), 3–8.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Modern World System, Volume I: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century (New York: Academic Press, 1974).Google Scholar
Weiskel, Timothy, “Independence and the Longue Durée: The Ivory Coast ‘Miracle’ Reconsidered,” in: Gifford and Wm. Roger Louis (eds.), Decolonization and African Independence: The Transfers of Power 1960–1980 (New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1988), 347–380.Google Scholar
Wondji, Charles, “Introduction: le Colloque de Bondoukou,” in: Colloque Inter-Universitaire Ghana-Côte-d’Ivoire: Les Populations Communes de la Côte-d’Ivoire et du Ghana (Abidjan: Université d’Abidjan, 1974).Google Scholar
Woronoff, Jon, The West African Wager: Houphouet versus Nkrumah (Metuchen NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1972).Google Scholar
Zolberg, Aristide, One-Party Government in the Ivory Coast (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964).Google Scholar