Ama Ata Aidoo's first collection of short stories entitled No Sweetness Here is a sharp critique of the failure of Independence to actually liberate the majority of people in Ghana, demonstrating the bitter disillusionment that ensues as hopes for liberation are dashed and material conditions remain unchanged and unimproved for the majority of people in the new "post-colonial" Ghana. Published in 1970, and written over eight years in the period that led up to and immediately followed the military overthrow of the Kwame Nkrumah government in 1966, No Sweetness Here, is in many ways exemplary of the transition from expectation to disillusionment that occurs with the betrayal of ordinary people by the leaders of national liberation struggles, the failure of Independence to live up to its promises and the continuation even after independence of many forms of Western imperialism in the newly founded nations.
It is against this background that Aidoo's No Sweetness Here must be read. The title itself exemplifies the bitter disillusionment of the post-independence years and the period surrounding Nkrumah's brutal reign and subsequent overthrow in Ghana. Perhaps even more telling is the title of the second short story in the collection, "For Whom Things Have Not Changed" which could in effect be the title of the whole book, as Aidoo denounces national liberation as a fraud through her stories depicting the moments of the everyday lives of a wide array of people, pointing to the continued economic hardship of ordinary people, particularly women as well as critiquing the effects of imperialism and Western consumerism on Ghanaian culture and society. She maintains an aversion to the term 'post-colonial', insisting on the continued presence of colonialism in African society, as she says, "Post what? because it has not gone yet."
The emphasis that Aidoo places on the concept of neo-colonialism must however, be problematized, for it in a sense absolves the national bourgeoisie of responsibility for the problems in post-independence Ghana and tends to minimize the effects of the very real shift of power that occurs with independence as power is transferred from the colonial ruling class to the national one. While Aidoo, certainly does not absolve the national bourgeoisie of responsibility for the failure of national liberation to improve the lives of the majority of people and avidly critiques them; there is a certain tension between her critique of the national bourgeoisie and her occasional portrayal of this class as dependents of Western powers who do not necessarily act autonomously but rather at the bequest of Imperialist powers. While it cannot be denied that imperialism and Western intervention continues to effect Ghanaian society, economy and politics (obvious examples of this are IMF and World Bank interventions) it must be recognized that the national bourgeoisie is not necessarily forced into accepting these conditions but rather frequently have an interest in complying with these.
Of particular importance to Aidoo in her work is the specific status of women in Ghanaian society, their continued oppression and the failure of national liberation struggles to address these issues. In an essay written in 1980, Aidoo bitterly critiques the betrayal of women, who frequently fought side by side with men, by the leaders of national liberation movements and other revolutionary struggles. As she says, "don't be shocked if - when victory is won - they return you to the veil as part of the process for consolidating the gains of the revolution." While this statement clearly expresses bitterness at women's marginalization in post-independence Ghana, Aidoo also argues that this is connected to larger problems that effect Ghanaian society such as colonialism and capitalism. Aidoo argues that feminism should be put at the forefront of these struggles but not necessarily separated from them, saying, "you cannot even be a feminist if you are African without also being an African nationalist; do you see? Or that you cannot be both without also being a socialist. . . . As far as I am concerned, the process, not the process, the decay of Africa's social, political and economic systems is directly related to the complete marginalization of women from developmental discourses." Aidoo, thus, argues for a more complex understanding of women's oppression as it relates to other societal problems while insisting on the urgent need to raise women's issues, which have been too often neglected, to the forefront of all liberation struggles.
[These materials have been adapted from an honors thesis written by Megan Behrent, Brown University, 1997]
