The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah

The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah [] Read Now

As students of history we can learn to honour great men and women without shutting our eyes to their faults. Perhaps these human imperfections make their achievements all the more heroic.

— Michael Stanford, A Companion to the Study of History, p. 41.

My fascination with Kwame Nkrumah began in my late teens during my under- graduate studies at the University of Birmingham in 1983 where I encountered Nkrumah as a larger- than- life figure and then in my years as member of the United Kingdom Chapter of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) led by Kwame Ture, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael. At Birmingham, Nkrumah was vilified in the readings I came across and by lecturers. In the AAPRP, he was shrouded in hagiography; critique was inconceivable. My interest in Nkrumah eventually led to my formal enrollment as a part- time PhD student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in 1998, under the supervision of Prof.

The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah [] Read Now

Richard Rathbone and later Dr. John Parker. At this juncture I was, as most doctoral students were, unclear on what to focus on. It was June Milne, Nkrumah’s literary executrix whom I met back in 1990, who inspired me to consider the subject of Pan- Africanism and Nkrumah. She wrote a reference for me and continued to offer encouragement . and research materials at her wonderful house in Pinner, just outside central London. Gradually it became clear that the evolution of Nkrumah’s ideas, essentially what motivated Nkrumah, was of immense interest to me. This became the focus of my doctoral dissertation and is the subject matter of this book. However, my approach to Nkrumah is encapsulated in the quotation from Michael Stan- ford that begins these words of acknowledgment. All great figures of history are

The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah [] Read Now
simply flawed human beings, like all of us. How these defects and strengths in human character impact on their agency, vision, and material reality makes an analysis of the past fascinating. Along my intellectual sojourn, I would like to sincerely thank my supervisors Richard Rathbone for his encouragement, his infectious enthusiasm, and for passing me into the rigorous supervision of John Parker when he retired in 2003.