Preserving the Imperial Project: Documenting Film Censorship Practices in the Gold Coast (Ghana)

Abstract

The British colonialists employed cinema from two key viewpoints; the first was the use of cinema in consolidating and promoting the economic and political agendas of the imperial project. Secondly, cinema became a critical medium through which the moral and social welfare of the natives in the British colonies were promoted. The considerably scattering of scholarly works on African cinema have explored colonial film censorship in some parts of Africa, however, the specific case of the Gold Coast (Ghana) has been an under-studied subject. The article engages a critical dialogue on how early film censorship was practised and further seeks to interrogate the nexus between the imperial project and the British colonial film censorship activities in the Gold Coast. While this paper does not claim an exhaustive treatment of the field of film censorship practices in Ghana, it endeavors to lay out an initial inroad, generate interests and critical debates in this neglected field.

Acknowledgements

Thank you very much, Prof. Fatimah Tuggar of the University of Florida (U.S.A) for funding this project and for offering insightful contributions to this study. I also thank Prof. Mark Jancovich of University of East Anglia, UK, for his critical contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article consciously slips between the use of ‘Gold Coast’ and ‘Ghana’ for the purpose of the wider audience, who may not be conversant with African and Ghanaian history. Specifically, Gold Coast is a former British colony, known today as Ghana.

2 Samson Kaunga Ndanyi, ‘Film Censorship and Identity in Kenya’, Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies 42, no. 2 (2021).

3 Paul Ushang Ugor, ‘Censorship and the Content of Nigerian Home Video Films’, Postcolonial Text 3, no. 2 (2007).

4 Rosaleen Smyth, ‘The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927–1939, with special reference to East and Central Africa’, The Journal of African History 20, no. 3 (1979).

5 Gairoonisa Palker, ‘The State, Citizens and Control: Film and African Audiences in South Africa, 1910–1948’, Journal of Southern African Studies 40, no. 2 (2014).

6 Augustine Danso, ‘Reconstructing Cinematic Activities in the Early Twentieth Century: Gold Coast (Ghana)’, Journal of African Cinemas, 13:2 (2021): 148.

7 John C. McCall, ‘West African Cinema’, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, (2018): 1.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Rosaleen, Smyth, ‘The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927–1939, with Special Reference to East and Central Africa’, The Journal of African History 20, no. 3 (1979): 438.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Rosaleen Smyth, ‘The British Colonial Film Unit and sub-Saharan Africa, 1935–1945’, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, no. 8, no. 3 (1988): 286.

14 Ibid.

15 John Collins, ‘The Ghanaian Concert Party: African Popular Entertainment at the Crossroads’ (PhD dissertation, Buffalo: State University of New York, 1994), 322.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

19 Colonial Executive Council, General Council Minutes, Gold Coast, February 8, 1939, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

20 A Report, ‘Cinematograph Film Censorship’ August 14, 1937, Gold Coast, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

21 Rosaleen Smyth, ‘The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927–1939, with special reference to East and Central Africa’, The Journal of African History 20, no. 3 (1979): 438–439.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 A letter, AG. Commissioner, G.C. Police to The Honorable Colonial Secretary, Victoriaborg, October 26th, 1937, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

25 Ibid.

26 A letter, H.E Newnham, Chairman, Municipal Council, and Mayor of Columbo to The Honorable Colonial Secretary, November 11th, 1926, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

27 A Report, ‘Cinematograph Film Censorship’ August 14, 1937, Gold Coast, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

28 Ibid.

29 Paul Ugor, ‘Censorship and the Content of Nigerian Video Films’, Postcolonial Text, 3, no.1 (2007): 3.

30 Ibid.

31 Edward W. Said, ‘Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient’. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin 115 (1995): 396.

32 Ibid.

33 A letter, H.E Newnham, Chairman, Municipal Council, and Mayor of Columbo to The Honorable Colonial Secretary, November 11th, 1926, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Colonial Executive Council, General Council Minutes, Gold Coast, February 8, 1939, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

38 James Burns, ‘The African Bioscope–Movie House Culture in British Colonial Africa’, Afrique & histoire 1 (2006): 67.

39 A Report, ‘Film Cinema Censorship’ June 1st, 1930, Gold Coast, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

40 Report of Committee on Return of Cinematograph Theatres Operating in the Gold Coast, enclosed in dispatch No. 113/32 of June 2nd, 1938, from The Colonial Secretary to the Director of Education: C.S. No 255.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid.

43 Clerk of Council’s Office, Minute of the Ex.Co. attached. 22nd December 1932, No 37/30 Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

46 A letter, The Head Educational Department to the Honorable Colonial Secretary, October 30^th, 1936, Cinematograph Film Censorship, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 A letter, The Attorney General to the Honorable Colonial Secretary, September 14^th, 1937, Cinematograph Film Censorship, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

51 Augustine Danso, ‘Reconstructing Cinematic Activities in the Early Twentieth Century: Gold Coast (Ghana)’, Journal of African Cinemas, 13, no. 2 (2021): 148.

52 A letter, The Attorney General to the Honorable Colonial Secretary, September 14^th, 1937, Cinematograph Film Censorship, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

53 A letter, Comptroller of Customs to the Honorable Colonial Secretary, November 11^th, 1937, Cinematograph Film Censorship, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid.

56 Ibid.

57 A letter, The Honorable Colonial Secretary to the Department of Native Affairs,22^nd July 1930, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

58 Ibid.

59 Ibid.

60 A letter, AG. Commissioner, G.C. Police to The Honorable Colonial Secretary, Victoriaborg, October 26th, 1937, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 Samson Kaunga Ndanyi, ‘Film Censorship and Identity in Kenya’, Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 42, no. 2 (2021): 26.

64 Ibid.

65 A Report, ‘Cinema and Film Censorship’ September 14th, 1936, Gold Coast, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

66 Rebecca Ohene-Asah, ‘Post-Colonial Cinema Production in Ghana: Akan Video Movies Within Ghana’s Cinematic Heritage’, PhD diss., University of Ghana, (2018):4.

67 Ibid.

68 A letter, ‘Cinema Film Censorship’ The Honorable Colonial Secretary to The Secretary, The Christian Council of The Gold Coast, March 18^th, 1930, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

69 Ibid.

70 Ibid.

71 A Report, ‘Film Cinema Censorship’ June 1st, 1930, Gold Coast, No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

72 A letter, AG. Commissioner, G.C. Police to The Honorable Colonial Secretary, Victoriaborg, June 12th, 1938, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

73 Ibid.

74 Ibid.

75 Rosaleen Smyth, ‘The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927–1939, with Special Reference to East and Central Africa’, The Journal of African History 20, no. 3 (1979): 450.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

78 A letter, Bartholomew, and Company to Board of Native Affairs, 12^th July 1930, Cinematograph Film Censorship No 37/30, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) Accra-Ghana.

79 Ibid.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Augustine Danso

Augustine Danso is a research fellow in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. His research focuses on questions of representation, politics, and power from the perspectives of cinema and media.