Ethnicity in Ghana, Day 1

Last night, our first in Ghana, we heard a presentation from Ekem Amonoo-Lartson,  who works for an NGO that partners with the U.S. State Department, and who is one of our guides during our time here.

Ekem lived in the United States for more than 20 years, where he went to school at the University of Tennessee and taught in the area around Knoxville.  For part of his career there, he worked with the Highlander Folk School, setting up educational programs for migrant farm workers in the South.  I was so excited to hear about this, and he was happy to find an American who knew about the Highlander Folk School.

We heard from Ekem about the history of Ghana, the geography and the many ethnic groups that live in Ghana.  We asked lots of questions, and I got to really begin to explore my essential question about ethnicity in Ghana.  I wrote about this question in my first post, and here it is again:

What role do ethnicity and connection to traditional cultures play in a united Ghana?  Does emphasis on a unified Ghanaian identity repress or celebrate connection to indigenous religions and cultures?

Ekem confirmed much of what I had already read about the relationship of Ghana, the nation, to the various cultures within it.  He told us that, even after independence, the current territory of Ghana was a long time in the making.  For instance, the Volta region in the east, where most of the people are Ewe, almost went to Togo, where many people also live.  The population of that region voted to be part of Ghana.

There are four big categories of ethnic groups in Ghana: the Akan, which includes the Ashanti, Fante, and the Akyem and inhabit the central and western regions in the southern half of Ghana; the Ewe, who live mainly in the eastern region, near Togo; the Ga-Adgandbe, who are said to have migrated from Nigeria long ago and who live in the area around Accra, and the Mole-Dagbani, who occupy the northern regions of Ghana.  Historically, the north in Ghana has been economically disadvantaged.  Each of these categories of ethnicity has many sub-groups.  More than 50 languages are spoken in Ghana.  When I go to my school placement in Takoradi, I'll be getting language lessons in Fante.

Religious differences are also present, of course.  Much of the country is Christian, while there is a substantial Muslim population in the north.  Ekem told us that there are no conflicts in Ghana connected to religion, but that there are ethnic conflicts, mainly chieftaincies that compete with one another.  Interestingly, though, he also said that intermarriage among ethnic groups is quite common, but most Ghanaians either won't marry outside their religion.  In cases where Ghanaians do marry outside their religion, one partner (usually the wife) converts to her spouse's religion.

I asked Ekem to what extent Ghanaians maintain their connections to traditional spiritual practices, and he said that most Ghanaians who are very religious (by which he meant Christian) are also the biggest believers in traditional, indigenous religions.

Ekem spoke positively about the move toward a more "hybrid Ghanaian culture."  "Ghanaians are becoming Ghanaian," he said.  But he also told us that this means there is some loss among individuals of their traditional cultural practices.  And he acknowledged that some of the efforts to create a national Ghanaian culture have served to repress indigenous cultures.  For instance, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana in the 1950's and 1960's, passed the Avoidance of Discrimination Act, which banned organizations or programs that were focused on particular tribal or ethnic groups.

According to Ekem, one of the places where ethnicity still asserts itself in Ghana is in electoral politics.  the two major parties are largely associated with particular ethnic groups: the National Patriotic Party with the Ashanti and the National Democratic Congress with the Ewe.  He said that he feels that people's political affiliation often has more to do with ethnicity than with beliefs and values.