“You Cannot Be Like That Here”: Discourses of Sexual Identities among Urban Ghanaian Families

Dery, Isaac; Fiaveh, Daniel Yaw; Apusigah, Agnes Atia

doi:10.1007/s12147-019-09230-6

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Ayorma's use of the word 'must' seems to suggest that credible femininity could only be meaningfully gained through a heterosexual relationship. This is consistent with the findings of Dery et al (2019).…”

Section: 'A Man Becomes Complete When He Is Able To Marry and Bear Children': Marriage As A Form Of Social Identitysupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This normalized heteronormative social order requires that men, like women, express their sexualities with specific people ('husbands' and 'wives'). Subsequently, this normalized discourse is taken to putatively regulate intimate sexual relationships to the extent that the Dagaaba concept of marriage at once symbolizes an institution in which procreation is strongly emphasized (Dery et al, 2019). The narratives of both male and female participants highlight that a man's or woman's willingness and ability to marry and bear children signals embodiment of desirable masculinity and femininity.…”

Section: 'A Man Becomes Complete When He Is Able To Marry and Bear Children': Marriage As A Form Of Social Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Agency, Social Status and Performing Marriage in Postcolonial Societies

Dery

Bawa

2019

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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This article examines contextually-grounded perspectives on the socio-political significance of marriage in contemporary Ghanaian society. Drawing on qualitative interviews among men and women in northwestern Ghana, this article argues that, beyond historicizing the institution of monogamous marriage, women’s agency in desiring, and navigating marriages are performatively agentic and tied to attaining a myriad of socio-cultural, economic and political capital. Situated within the constrained articulations of participants, our findings alert us to complex negotiations and manoeuvres through which men and women aspire for specific forms of masculinities and femininities within the larger gender hierarchies.

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Section: 'A Man Becomes Complete When He Is Able To Marry and Bear Children': Marriage As A Form Of Social Identitysupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: 'A Man Becomes Complete When He Is Able To Marry and Bear Children': Marriage As A Form Of Social Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency, Social Status and Performing Marriage in Postcolonial Societies

Dery

Bawa

2019

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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“…Most women remain subordinated to male authority and control. The borders and contours of what it may mean to be “a man” or “woman” in the Dagaaba social organization are also “communal properties” strictly enforced and regulated by different stakeholders with various stakes (Dery et al, 2019). For example, culturally, boys are always taught by their parents, peers, and wider society to exhibit traits of hard work, machismo, and imbibe physical strength and bravery to become successful masculine figures in the future.…”

Section: Locating the Dagaaba Of Northwestern Ghanamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This argument calls into question the complex processes through which men are socialized to invest in certain emotions, feelings, values, and behaviors (Adomako Ampofo & Boateng, 2007; Mathews, Jewkes, & Abrahams, 2011; Ratele, 2013; Shefer et al, 2015). These values, norms, and behaviors are further enabled by a variety of countervailing patriarchal forces through which particular types of gender expression are considered appropriate and welcomed, and other types are repudiated (Dery, Fiaveh, & Apusigah, 2019; Ratele, 2013). Through masculine gender socialization, most men tend to believe that to be a “man” is to have access to greater cultural, social, economic, political, and symbolic power (Chant, 2000; Mathews et al, 2011; Ratele, 2013; Shefer et al, 2015).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Who Knows, You May Overpower Him”: Narratives and Experiences of Masculinities Among the Dagaaba Youth of Northwestern Ghana

Dery

Ganle

2019

The Journal of Men’s Studies

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This article focuses broadly on how young men construct, negotiate, and express masculine identities in northwestern Ghana. Situated within discourses of ruling masculinity, and drawing on qualitative interviews, this article provides locally grounded insights about how young men articulate and make themselves visible by negotiating and renegotiating the interplay of complex struggles and realities to maintain dominance over peers. Findings suggest that dominant norms on the meanings of being a young Dagaaba man entail ambivalences, status insecurity, contradictory desires, and an investment to always act in satisfaction of the observer’s gaze. The danger of being looked down on emerges as an important organizing framework that shapes participants’ engagement in discursive and exaggerated behaviors and violence. Consequently, young men engage in dramatic performances and public displays to further authenticate their manhood, which provokes and authorizes young men to mask their feelings of vulnerability. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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“…Patriarchal ideologies, gendered practices, and socio-cultural norms are discursive scripts that are taken to define what is acceptable behavior for men and women, boys and girls within a specific geographical and cultural context. These discursive constructs are often used to sustain power hierarchies and structures of inequalities between and among diverse social categories [ 4 , 5 ]. The power hierarchies and imbalances play crucial roles in shaping the dynamics and patterns of violence, including who is at the risk of experiencing violence and who is culpable of perpetrating violence [ 6 , 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community leaders’ perceptions of and responses to intimate partner violence in Northwestern Ghana

2022

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Calls to engage community leaders in preventing gender-based violence against women have gained global prominence in recent years. Situated within the growing calls for greater community leaders’ engagement, this article problematizes the assumptions that efforts to mobilize community gatekeepers in violence prevention are likely to yield better results. Drawing inspiration from decolonial African feminist perspectives coupled with five focus group discussions conducted with 30 community leaders in the patriarchal setting of Northwestern Ghana, this article highlights the potential limitations of these assumptions by paying attention to the multiple ways; albeit subtly, in which community leaders as cultural gatekeepers may individually or collectively reproduce and sustain dominant cultural tropes that normalize violence against women. Our findings show that cultural gatekeepers’ perspectives on and their approaches to addressing violence against women risk normalizing and perpetuating it. If policy makers, development practitioners, and researchers are to adequately address the violence of men, a useful starting point is to build on community leaders’ perspectives, attitudes, and responses to violence as a collective issue. By building on these, we will be able to challenge and deconstruct the multiple ways in which community leaders’ approaches to addressing violence are reinforcing gendered subordination.

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“You Cannot Be Like That Here”: Discourses of Sexual Identities among Urban Ghanaian Families

Cited by 12 publications

References 13 publications

Agency, Social Status and Performing Marriage in Postcolonial Societies

Agency, Social Status and Performing Marriage in Postcolonial Societies

“Who Knows, You May Overpower Him”: Narratives and Experiences of Masculinities Among the Dagaaba Youth of Northwestern Ghana

Community leaders’ perceptions of and responses to intimate partner violence in Northwestern Ghana

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