A Working Class in Formation ? Economic Crisis and Strategies of Survival among Dagara Mine Workers in Ghana

Lentz, Carola; Erlmann, Veit

doi:10.3406/cea.1989.2136

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Earlier reports of travellers and missionaries about gold, such as those by Bowdich (1873) and Ferguson (see Arhin 1974), among others, interested the British who sought to colonize the interior for purposes of exploiting its natural resources. Britain's interest in this gold was also a result of the closure of some South African mines during the Anglo-Boer war of 1899–1902 (Lentz and Erlmann 1989).…”

Section: Galamsey In Historical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

10,000 miners, 10,000 votes: politics and mining in Ghana

Ntewusu¹

2018

Africa

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Section: Galamsey In Historical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

10,000 miners, 10,000 votes: politics and mining in Ghana

Ntewusu¹

2018

Africa

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“…). Northern Ghana was designated a ‘labour reserve’ to be exploited for the benefit of resource-endowed southern Ghana (Songsore 1983; Lentz and Erlman 1989). Contacts between northerners and southerners were generally discouraged and strictly controlled.…”

Section: The Quest For Development: the Struggle For A Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘TE NYƆGEYƐNG GBENGBENG!’ (‘WE ARE HOLDING THE UMBRELLA VERY TIGHT!’): EXPLAINING THE POPULARITY OF THE NDC IN THE UPPER WEST REGION OF GHANA

Bob-Milliar¹

2011

Africa

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This article analyses the reasons why, since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1992, the Upper West Region (UWR) has become one of the strongholds of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in northern Ghana. In all five general elections to date, the NDC has won more than half of the presidential vote and over 70 per cent of the parliamentary seats. The article explores the factors that explain the NDC's electoral dominance in the UWR. At the regional level the accepted argument has been that the NDC's predecessor extended developments to the area. However, if voting preferences are based on development considerations, why didn't loyalty shift to the NPP? I argue that political loyalty is generational and that the popularity of the NDC in the UWR can be understood through an appreciation of the recent history of the region. On 14 January 1983, PNDC Law 41 decreed the creation of the Upper West Region, carved out of what was then the Upper Region. I conclude that the political and socio-economic opportunities that came along with decentralization are historical memories of high value, which the NDC capitalizes on in its electioneering campaigns.

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“…The population also consists of former fugitives from slavery, and of the under-class within centralised societies escaping from one form of domination or another. In more recent times they continue to provide the labour force for the mines or the farms of southern Ghana (Lentz and Veit, 1989;Songsore and Denkabe, 1995).…”

Section: Society and The Position Of Bagrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dagara bagr: ritualising myth of social foundation

Tengan¹

1999

Africa

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The article explores the ritualising processes of a myth of social foundation, the bagr myth, among the Dagara of north-west Ghana and south-west Burkina Faso. It describes how rituals form part of the daily life of the Dagara and shows how bagr rituals form a series of private and public events lasting the whole year or the bagr season. The article describes the social life in the neighbourhood within which most ritual activities take place and outlines the historical events which are possibly responsible for the creation of the bagr myth itself as a narrative text. The rest of the article is devoted to the ritualising processes of the bagr myth. Much of the article, particularly this section, is structured around the author's own experiences and participant observation of ritual activities. The aim is to show why the public rituals of bagr are not about initiating particular individuals into a secret society or lodges but are about how Dagara society constitutes itself. The day and night ritual narration of the bagr myth involving different segments of society and described in detail in the second half of the article seems to justify this claim. The article includes excerpts from bagr narratives recorded by the author to illustrate how the text is being constructed and the sort of information it is intended to communicate.

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A Working Class in Formation ? Economic Crisis and Strategies of Survival among Dagara Mine Workers in Ghana

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

10,000 miners, 10,000 votes: politics and mining in Ghana

10,000 miners, 10,000 votes: politics and mining in Ghana

‘TE NYƆGEYƐNG GBENGBENG!’ (‘WE ARE HOLDING THE UMBRELLA VERY TIGHT!’): EXPLAINING THE POPULARITY OF THE NDC IN THE UPPER WEST REGION OF GHANA

Dagara bagr: ritualising myth of social foundation

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