Java Hill: An African Journey: A nation’s evolution through ten generations of a family linking four continents“The personal is political”. So went a popular saying in the heady 60s. In presenting the story of the Ulzens and Elmina as a metaphor for the African condition in history, this novel is an eloquent corroboration of this idea. I applaud the brutal honesty, not unmixed with touching empathy, with which the author narrates the details of political events and family dramas: characters, personalities, roles and relations marked by conscious and unwitting paradoxes, complicities, mixed motives behind noble stances and deeds. In a word, IRONY is the dominant prism through which the events are rendered. Ato Sekyi – Otu Professor Emeritus of Social and Political Thought York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Contents
XXII | 82 |
XXIII | 86 |
XXIV | 95 |
XXV | 103 |
XXVI | 108 |
XXVII | 118 |
XXVIII | 122 |
XXIX | 129 |
IX | 32 |
X | 35 |
XI | 39 |
XII | 42 |
XIII | 47 |
XIV | 49 |
XV | 52 |
XVI | 54 |
XVII | 58 |
XVIII | 65 |
XIX | 70 |
XX | 73 |
XXI | 78 |
XXX | 135 |
XXXI | 141 |
XXXII | 145 |
XXXIII | 149 |
XXXIV | 151 |
XXXV | 153 |
XXXVI | 157 |
XXXVII | 163 |
XXXVIII | 175 |
Epilogue | 179 |
Index | 181 |
Additional Sources | 191 |
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Common terms and phrases
Accra Adwoa African Akan Akyeampon Yaw Angelina Asafo companies Ashanti asked Augustine’s Belanda Hitam Brielle British brother Caboceer Cape Coast captain cargo slaves Catholic Church century chiefs colonial Coopstad Cordus cousin daughter death died Dutch cemetery Dutch East Indies East Indies Edward Ulzen Ekua Elmina Castle Eminsang European Fanti Father Moreau father’s funeral Ghana Ghanaian Gold Coast governor grandfather guilders Hendrik Hendrik Vroom Hermanus Holland Huydecoper Indonesia Jacob Jan Ulsen Java Hill Java veterans Johanna Kessel King’s knew KNIL Kobena Gyan Kofi Kumasi Kwaku Dua Kwame Nkrumah later Lesotho lived maternal family Mensah military mission mother mulatto Nagtglas Nana Netherlands Nood de Gietere Nyanyiwa family ofAfrican ofAshanti ofElmina officers ofthe Prince Boakye recruitment returned to Elmina Roelof Ulsen sailed servants ship sister soldiers story Surinam tapoeyer told town uncle University of Ghana Vaandrig walked wife young