
Making an African City
Technopolitics and the Infrastructure of Everyday Life in Colonial Accra
Jennifer Hart(Author)
Indiana University Press
Published on 5. March 2024
Book
Hardback
316 pages
978-0-253-06932-0 (ISBN)
Description
In Making an African City, Jennifer Hart traces the way that British colonial officials, Accra Town Council members, and a diverse group of technocrats used regulation to define what an "acceptable" city looked like. Unlike cities elsewhere on the continent, Accra had a long history of urbanism that predated British colonial presence. By criminalizing some activities and privileging others, colonial officials sought to marginalize indigenous practices of Accra residents and shape the development of a new, "modern" city.
Hart argues, however, that residents regularly pushed back, protesting regulations, refusing to participate in newly developed systems, reappropriating infrastructure, demanding rights to city services, and asserting their own informal vision for the future of the city. While urban plans and regulations ultimately failed to substantively remake the city, their effects were and are still felt by urban residents, who are often subject to but not served by urban infrastructure.
Making an African City explores how the informalization of Accra's development was a historical process, not a natural and self-evident phenomenon, which connects the history of the city with the history of urban development and the growth of technocracy around the world.
Hart argues, however, that residents regularly pushed back, protesting regulations, refusing to participate in newly developed systems, reappropriating infrastructure, demanding rights to city services, and asserting their own informal vision for the future of the city. While urban plans and regulations ultimately failed to substantively remake the city, their effects were and are still felt by urban residents, who are often subject to but not served by urban infrastructure.
Making an African City explores how the informalization of Accra's development was a historical process, not a natural and self-evident phenomenon, which connects the history of the city with the history of urban development and the growth of technocracy around the world.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
20 b&w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
667 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-253-06932-0 (9780253069320)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Jennifer Hart
Making an African City
Technopolitics and the Infrastructure of Everyday Life in Colonial Accra
E-Book
03/2024
Indiana University Press
€44.49
Available for download
Person
Jennifer Hart is Professor of History at Virginia Tech. She is the author of Ghana on the Go: African Mobility in the Age of Motor Transportation and the project director for Accra Wala (www.accrawala.com).
Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "Fruity" Smells, City Streets, and the Politics of Sanitation
2. "Health is the First Wealth"
3. African Trade and Expatriate Enterprise in the Colonial City
4. Of Pirate Drivers and Honking Horns
5. Building Homes in the "New Accra"
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
1. "Fruity" Smells, City Streets, and the Politics of Sanitation
2. "Health is the First Wealth"
3. African Trade and Expatriate Enterprise in the Colonial City
4. Of Pirate Drivers and Honking Horns
5. Building Homes in the "New Accra"
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index