The contributions to this volume commemorating three hundred years of diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Netherlands are grouped under three headings - merchants and merchandise,... Show moreThe contributions to this volume commemorating three hundred years of diplomatic relations between Ghana and the Netherlands are grouped under three headings - merchants and merchandise, missionaries, and voluntary and involuntary migrants - reflecting the three most important areas of contact between Dutch and Ghanaians over the centuries. The first part opens with a paper on a mission carried out in 1701-1702 by David van Nyendael, envoy of the Dutch West India Company (WIC), to Kumasi, which forms the starting point for the tercentenary celebrations. It also includes papers on the slave trade, the cocoa trade, and the role of Dutch 'schnapps' in Ghanaian ritual. The contributions on missionary activity deal with the tragic life of Jacobus Capitein (1717-1747), the first black minister stationed in Elmina, and the significance of Pentecostal churches for Ghanaians in the present-day Netherlands. The contributions on migration include stories of individual people who migrated back and forth between the Netherlands and Ghana, such as two Euro-African women from Elmina, as well as chapters on the Ghanaian diaspora, covering Suriname, Indonesia and the Netherlands. The contributions are by Ineke van Kessel, Michel R. Doortmont, Akosua Perbi, Henk den Heijer, Emmanuel Akyeampong, Victor K. Nyanteng, Henri van der Zee, David N.A. Kpobi, Rijk van Dijk, Natalie Everts, Jean Jacques Vrij, Andr‚ R.M. Pakosie, Endri Kusruri and Daniel Kojo Arhinful Show less
Although Ghanaians have formed a substantial immigrant community in the Netherlands for decades, the relationship between the Dutch State and the Ghanaian community remains tense. Not only is... Show moreAlthough Ghanaians have formed a substantial immigrant community in the Netherlands for decades, the relationship between the Dutch State and the Ghanaian community remains tense. Not only is Ghanaian life in the Netherlands generally marked by a high level of suspicion with regard to the Dutch State, but the community itself has long taken over certain functions that are otherwise provided by the State. This chapter explores the dimensions of this tense relationship. It pays specific attention to the many Ghanaian churches that have emerged in the Netherlands and the role they play in the creation of a notion of self-reliance and self-esteem. There is some evidence to suggest that religious structures in Ghana have a history of antagonism with regard to State policies. This feature seems to have been carried over into the Netherlands. The Ghanaian churches do not take part in the formal contacts between the government and Ghanaian interest groups, and hardly take part in the formal structures of Dutch religious life. The moral authority they represent within the Ghanaian community is a distinctive one. The chapter first examines aspects of Ghanaian immigration, before focusing on the position of Ghanaian churches in the migrant community. Bibliogr Show less
Between 1831 and 1872 some 3,000 African recruits sailed from Elmina (Gold Coast, now Ghana) to Batavia, the capital of the Netherlands East Indies. They had been recruited to serve in the Dutch... Show moreBetween 1831 and 1872 some 3,000 African recruits sailed from Elmina (Gold Coast, now Ghana) to Batavia, the capital of the Netherlands East Indies. They had been recruited to serve in the Dutch colonial army, which throughout most of the 19th century experienced a chronic shortage of European manpower. The Africans counted as part of the European contingent of the army. After expiry of their contracts, some Africans returned to the Gold Coast, while others opted to settle in the East Indies. They became the founding fathers of the Indo-African communities in the Javanese towns of Purworedjo, Semarang, Salatiga and Solo. On Java, the African soldiers and their descendants became known as 'Belanda Hitam' - black Dutchmen. This chapter outlines the background to the recruitment of Africans for the Dutch colonial army and describes three phases in the recruitment process: a slow start (1831-1836), a massive influx (1837-1841), and smaller-scale recruitment from the late 1850s onwards. After Indonesia's independence in 1949, most Indo-Africans opted for repatriation to the Netherlands. Bibliogr., ref Show less
In 1986, following the discovery that Oesophagostomum eggs are excreted by people living in northern Ghana and Togo, Polderman and Gigase concluded that Oesophagostomum worms are able to complete... Show moreIn 1986, following the discovery that Oesophagostomum eggs are excreted by people living in northern Ghana and Togo, Polderman and Gigase concluded that Oesophagostomum worms are able to complete their life cycle in humans, and that the helminth causes considerable disease in this area. There have been many cases of clinical oesophagostomiasis reported in the literature over the last century, but diagnosis has usually been based on a pathology specimen and clinical details have been sparse. We therefore amassed a cohort of 156 patients presenting to Nalerigu hospital in northern Ghana, and identified two distinct clinical presentations of the disease, Dapaong tumour and multinodular disease. Show less
Bruijn, M.E. de; Dijk, J.W.M. van; Dijk, R.A. van 2001
In the literature on population mobility, mobility has generally been seen as a temporary phenomenon. However, in many instances, mobility rather than sedentarity is the norm. This is illustrated... Show moreIn the literature on population mobility, mobility has generally been seen as a temporary phenomenon. However, in many instances, mobility rather than sedentarity is the norm. This is illustrated in the present chapter by two case studies of so-called 'cultures of travel'. The first case concerns the Fulbe, a nomadic cattle-rearing people, in the Hayre area of central Mali. The Fulbe case demonstrates how mobility has been embedded historically in Sahelian cultures under conditions that are marginal, both from an ecological and an economic perspective. It illustrates how people develop economic and cultural strategies marked by a high degree of opportunism. It shows that Fulbe society is, in fact, organized around mobility. The second case, that of Pentecostalism in Ghana, demonstrates how a specific form of culture acts to bring about a particular form of mobility. In this case, it is not a whole culture that is on the move, but individuals who are mobile for personal reasons. Mobility among Ghanaian Pentecostalists is not yet part and parcel of daily life, but presents an example of how people construct cultural forms and means for dealing with everyday problems of mobility. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum Show less
During the Fourth Republic in Ghana there has been an unprecedented growth in Pentecostalism. The chief message of Pentecostalism is the contestation of tradition. It encourages members to abandon... Show moreDuring the Fourth Republic in Ghana there has been an unprecedented growth in Pentecostalism. The chief message of Pentecostalism is the contestation of tradition. It encourages members to abandon the past and traditions and to adopt a completely new way of life, unemcumbered by the sins of the ancestors. Their rejection of their heritage has erupted into violence in Accra, largely as the result of their transgressing of the ban on drumming and silence during the Homowo Festival. This is an ancient Ga ritual which requires silence and tranquility for more than a month after the ritual planting of the crops. Music, mostly adapted Western music, is essential to Pentecostal services but their pursuit of it during the period of ritual silence led to a violent attack on one of their chapels. On the basis of fieldwork carried out in Accra and among a diaspora community in The Hague, the author draws some conclusions about a number of dialogues which are going on at different levels, more numerous and more complicated than what would appear to have been a fairly simple dispute about the transgressing of ritual silence. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
The case studies in this book on mobility in sub-Saharan Africa critically discuss dichotomous interpretations of mobility and reject the idea that migration indicates a breakdown in society. They... Show moreThe case studies in this book on mobility in sub-Saharan Africa critically discuss dichotomous interpretations of mobility and reject the idea that migration indicates a breakdown in society. They adopt the approach that sedentary and mobile worlds converge and that mobility is part of the livelihood system of African people. Contents: Mobile Africa: an introduction (Mirjam de Bruijn, Rijk van DijkandDick Foeken) - Population mobility in Africa: an overview (Han van Dijk, Dick FoekenandKiky van Til) - Territorial and magical migrations in Tanzania (Todd Sanders) - Moving into another spirit province: immigrants and the 'mhondoro' cult in northern Zimbabwe (Marja Spierenburg) - Cultures of travel: Fulbe pastoralists in central Mali and Pentecostalism in Ghana (Mirjam de Bruijn, Han van DijkandRijk van Dijk) - Mobile workers, urban employment and 'rural' identities: rural-urban networks of Buhera migrants, Zimbabwe (Jens A. Andersson) - Migration as a positive response to opportunity and context: the case of Welo, Ethiopia (Jonathan Baker) - Multi-spatial livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa: rural farming by urban households - the case of Nakuru town, Kenya (Dick FoekenandSamuel O. Owuor) - Urbanisation and migration in sub-Saharan Africa: changing patterns and trends (Cecilia Tacoli) - Processes and types of pastoral migration in northern C“te d'Ivoire (Youssouf Diallo) - Mobility and exclusion: conflicts between autochthons and allochthons during political liberalisation in Cameroon (Piet Konings) - Population displacement and the humanitarian aid regime: the experience of refugees in East Africa (Patricia Daley) Show less
The paradigm of the enchanted global economy and the moral perils of involvement with foreign commodities suggests that anxieties about the generally immoral powers believed to exist within... Show moreThe paradigm of the enchanted global economy and the moral perils of involvement with foreign commodities suggests that anxieties about the generally immoral powers believed to exist within foreign objects result from an imperfect understanding of the global marketplace. However, urban Pentecostalists in Accra, Ghana, who are deeply engaged in the global economy, do not fear the moral dangers of commodities as such and do not lack an understanding of modern global capitalism. Ambiguities do arise when commodities are turned into gifts. Gifts carry sentiments, messages and intentions, and the obligation to give or to receive them may contain dangers. In dealing with this dilemma, Pentecostalism creates a space where free gifts can be given without material reciprocity, where commodities can be personalized without invoking evil powers, where its members can be delivered from the powers that emanate from the 'fie', the "house" or "shrine" of an ancestral deity, conveyed by gifts that cannot be refused, and where gifts may signal the purity of the giver's heart and soul. This multilayered gift-ideology and gift-economy enables Ghanaian Pentecostalism to occupy a pivotal position between the global economy and its own transational and transcultural relations, on the one hand, and local cultural structures dominated by gifts and reciprocal relations, on the other. Show less
This article explores the role of religion in identity formation in situations where individuals are engaged in intercontinental diasporic movement, starting from R.P. Werbner's notion that... Show moreThis article explores the role of religion in identity formation in situations where individuals are engaged in intercontinental diasporic movement, starting from R.P. Werbner's notion that religion and strangerhood transform together. In particular, the author examines the diaspora of Ghanaians in the Netherlands and the role Ghanaian Pentecostalism appears to play in the forming of their identity as strangers in Dutch society. The author uses the term 'transsubjectivity' to indicate those processes by which religion deals with strangerhood as shaped by the power of the modern African and Western nation-State. He distinguishes two discourses in present-day Ghanaian Pentecostalism. The first, which he calls 'sending' discourse, involves so-called prayer camps in Ghana, to which (prospective) migrants may turn for spiritual help and protection in their transnational travel. The second, or 'receiving', discourse relates to the figure of the Pentecostal leader in the diaspora who represents the "abusua panyin", the family head. These two discourses 'inject' the migrant differently into transnational interconnectedness, and they deal differently with the body personal and the ways in which techniques of the self are employed in constructing the subjectivity of the Ghanaian as migrant and stranger. Bibliogr., notes Show less
Oesophagostomum spp. are common nematode parasites of sheep, goats, cattle, and also of monkeys. Infection with this parasite can cause serious gastro-intestinal symptoms, which may lead to death.... Show moreOesophagostomum spp. are common nematode parasites of sheep, goats, cattle, and also of monkeys. Infection with this parasite can cause serious gastro-intestinal symptoms, which may lead to death. Since the beginning of this century, the parasite has also been described in humans on several occasions. Human infection with Oesophagostomum has always been considered as a zoonosis, an accidental infection of man with an animal parasite. It was assumed that its life-cycle was not completed in this unsuitable host. Show less
The chapters in this collection record a workshop held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, in April 1991, on African languages, development and the State. The book is divided into an... Show moreThe chapters in this collection record a workshop held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, in April 1991, on African languages, development and the State. The book is divided into an introductory chapter, by Richard Fardon and Graham Furniss, and three parts. Part 1, West Africa, contains papers by Ayo Bamgbose (multilingualism), C. Magbaily Fyle (policy toward Krio in Sierra Leone), Mamoud Akanni Igu‚ and Raphael Windali N'ou‚ni (the politics of language in B‚nin), Ben Ohi Elugbe (minority language development in Rivers and Bendel States, Nigeria), Gillian F. Hansford (mother tongue literacy among the Chumburung speakers in Ghana). Part 2, Central and Southern Africa, contains papers by J.M.M. Katupha (language use in Mozambique), Jean Benjamin (language and the struggle for racial equality in the development of a non-racial southern African nation), Nhlanhla P. Maake (a new language policy for post-apartheid South Africa), James Fairhead (linguistic pluralism in a Bwisha community, eastern Zaire), Wim van Binsbergen (minority languages in Zambia (Nkoya) and Botswana (Kalanga)). Part 3, East Africa, contains papers by Gnter Schlee (loanwords in Oromo and Rendille), Jan Blommaert (the metaphors of modernization in Tanzanian language policy), David Parkin (Arabic, Swahili and the vernaculars in Kenya). Show less
In an attempt to overcome some of the shortcomings of the theory of the postcolonial state, this study analyses the relationship between the 'revolutionary' leadership in Ghana and the ... Show moreIn an attempt to overcome some of the shortcomings of the theory of the postcolonial state, this study analyses the relationship between the 'revolutionary' leadership in Ghana and the 'revolutionary' mass organizations established by the new regime, the Defence Committees. The contradictions between the leadership and the Defence Committees gave rise to serious conflicts, also within the leadership. One faction of the ruling petty bourgeoisie' attempted to 'commit suicide' and mobilize the Defence Committees for the ultimate establishment of a workers' hegemony within Ghanaian society. Its attempts were frustrated and finally obstructed by another faction that sought to control the Defence Committees for the sake of 'national development', and to preserve its hold over the state and its own class interests. Show less
Schets van de twee achtereenvolgende staatsgrepen uitgevoerd door kapitein Jerry Rawlings op 4 juni 1979 en op oudejaarsdag 1981, waarbij wordt gekeken naar welke resultaten er zijn bereikt, hoe... Show moreSchets van de twee achtereenvolgende staatsgrepen uitgevoerd door kapitein Jerry Rawlings op 4 juni 1979 en op oudejaarsdag 1981, waarbij wordt gekeken naar welke resultaten er zijn bereikt, hoe de bevolking tegenover het "revolutionair" proces van bijna twee jaar staat, en in hoeverre er verschillen zijn aan te wijzen tussen de eerste en de tweede coup. Show less
The recent introduction of capitalist rice farming in the Gbedembilisi Valley (a river valley located in the south-east of the Builsa Traditional Area in the upper Region of Ghana) has given rise... Show moreThe recent introduction of capitalist rice farming in the Gbedembilisi Valley (a river valley located in the south-east of the Builsa Traditional Area in the upper Region of Ghana) has given rise to the emergence of a small class of mainly stranger and partly absentee farmers within local peasant communities. This class of capitalist rice farmers has been highly dependent on local peasant communities for the allocation of land and for the supply of labor. This article shows that land allocation has resulted in: 1) various abuses of "customary" land law by both local chiefs and stranger farmers; 2) a protracted conflict between. local peasant communities, on the one hand, and stranger farmers and the state, on the other, about control over Builsa lands, the so-called Gbedembilisi Valley Dispute; and 3) and attempt by the Builsa Traditional Council to effect changes in the "customary" land law in order to "regulate" land allocation to capitalist rice farmers. Notes. Show less
