This subproject explores women’s political activism in times of decolonization. It examines the multi-layered voluntary dimensions of this engagement and thus explores an often overlooked political principle of (post-)colonial governing. It examines how and in which forms voluntary action helped constitute the political and social order in the transitional period between late colonial indirect rule and the postcolony—and how this action was linked to changing ideas of citizenship and gender.

Using the British Gold Coast/Ghana as an example, the subproject examines the changing meanings of voluntary action as resource and norm. Here, we are interested chiefly in the ethical dimensions of action as a historical phenomenon: we ask whether and, if so, to what extent, discursive designation as voluntary concurrently marked a given action as good and appropriate. In addition, we examine the historical significance of voluntariness as a mode of political and social action in the case of a (post)colonial society. We also explore how appeals for voluntary action and participation specifically addressed women and girls and how their action was identified and framed as voluntary.

Selected campaigns between 1948 and 1966, crucially sustained by various activists, are examined empirically. These were intertwined with comprehensive attempts to configure the political and social order of the postcolony in pursuit of an African modernity supposedly in the offing—and this, according to our guiding hypothesis, was to be done through voluntary action and participation. In addition, we shine a light on transregional and global contexts as well as relationships with international organizations and the diaspora.

The subproject thus responds to the call for a renewed form of contemporary history informed by postcolonial experiences. It contributes to a more globally nuanced understanding of voluntariness by teasing out its contours far beyond liberal, Western societies.