Paper short abstract:

Based on local written and oral accounts of the history of the Kumasi Zongo, this paper discusses the intersection of different scales of history to analyse the making of Muslim identities in contemporary Ghana and their expression in competing writings of ‘authentic’ Zongo history.

Paper long abstract:

Based on written and oral accounts of the history of the Kumasi Zongo(s), this paper discusses the intersections of local, transregional and transnational histories as a way to analyse the making and contestations of Muslim identities in present-day Ghana. The paper takes the history of a particular (and smaller) Mosque in Kumasi as a starting point to trace these intersections and contestations (and draws on Enid Schildkrout’s (1974) earlier work on conflicts around the Central Mosque in Kumasi in the 1960s/1970s). Investigating the history of the Mosque reveals links to the colonial history of Kumasi in terms of infrastructure (e.g. a colonial park established on the site of a Muslim cemetery), as well as in terms of Muslim identities and social organisation (e.g. elevating the Hausa chief to Sarkin Zongo and the contestation of this by other Muslim communities). These historical links and encounters have contemporary repercussions, which are expressed in various and competing writings of ‘authentic’ Zongo history. These accounts draw on a variety of transregional and transnational connections and influences, such as the tracing of early Muslim communities in Kumasi to for instance Hausa and Wangara origins and to different events of the British empire. These accounts draw on oral history, maps, terminology, colonial documents (such as receipts) and earlier anthropological, historical, and missionary writings (such as Dupuis, Freeman, Wilks, and others). The paper presents preliminary research that is carried out in collaboration with Dr. Eugenia Anderson and with assistance by Zaidan Rachid.