Books by Mike McGovern

When the Republic of Guinea gained independence in 1958, one of the first policies of the new state was a village-to-village eradication of masks and other ritual objects it deemed 'fetishes'. This book intends to understand why this program was so important to the state and examines the complex role it had in creating a unified national identity.

Gives play to the personalities involved, from Felix Houphouet-Boigny, 'The Ram', who managed Ivorian politics for the country's first 33 years of independence, to the contemporary First Lady Simone Gbagbo. This book's analysis is of the dynamics in place that give certain predictability to the actions of each of the key figures in the drama.