Cohabitation refers to an intimate arrangement in which a man and a woman live together in a shared residence without being formally married. While cohabitation has become increasingly common in many contemporary societies, it is generally frowned upon in Akan society and regarded as socially improper. Within the Akan marital system, there is a strong…
Sociologists use the term ableism to describe prejudice, discrimination, and social exclusion directed against persons with disabilities. The terms ablism and disablism are also used in the scholarly literature to refer to the same phenomenon, namely, the systematic disadvantaging of people whose bodies or minds do not conform to socially constructed notions of “normalcy.” Although…
In Ghana, there exists a long-standing practice in which some parents send their children to live with other families as househelps. While this arrangement is often justified as a strategy for providing children with better opportunities, it has, in many cases, become a source of profound exploitation and suffering. Many of these children are sent…
No one is born with knowledge. Human beings are born with the capacity to learn, but what they eventually know—how they speak, think, behave, believe, and interpret the world—is acquired from society. Knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills are socially produced and socially transmitted. By the time a Ghanaian child reaches the age of eighteen, that…
Among the Akan of Ghana, naming is never a casual act. Names locate a person in time, history, morality, and the spiritual universe. One of the most distinctive Akan naming practices is the giving of day names (kradin), assigned according to the day of the week on which a child is born. These names are…
The causes of Rural–Urban Migration are major concerns of African governments like Ghana. Across Ghana and much of Africa, a defining social transformation of the 21st century is the movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities. Every year, thousands of young people leave rural communities—villages and small towns—and migrate to urban centers…
In many Ghanaian communities, accusations of witchcraft generate intense moral outrage and social hostility. Persons believed to be malevolent witches are frequently subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault, forced displacement, and, in extreme cases, extrajudicial killing (Adinkrah, 2004, 2015). Crucially, however, the sanctioning of alleged witches does not necessarily terminate at biological death. Rather, death…
Akan perceptions of God can be discerned from the rich array of names and appellations used to describe the Supreme Deity. Among the Akan, the name for God is Nyankopɔn (Onyankopɔn), the Supreme Being. Etymologically, the term is often explained as deriving from “Onyame koro a ɔyɛ pɔn,” meaning “the one God who is supreme…
African witchcraft versus European witchcraft have been the focus of local discussions about witchcraft in Ghana for many years. During the period of European colonization, westernization, and the early stages of modernization, people in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) struggled to explain the wide gap in development between Africans and Europeans. Many ordinary people asked…
The Akans are the largest ethnic group in Ghana, comprising approximately 46 percent of the national population. The Akan language, commonly referred to as Twi, is widely spoken across the country. Although it is the mother tongue of the Akan people, it also functions as a lingua franca and is understood or spoken by a…
For many people, choosing a marital partner is a deliberate decision. Individuals often consider several factors before deciding who to marry. Sociologists study these choices and use specific terms to describe the different patterns people follow when selecting a spouse. Marrying Up and Marrying Down Some people seek to “marry up,” meaning they look for…
In every society, people occupy different positions called statuses. A status is simply the position a person holds in society. Throughout life, one person can have many statuses at the same time—for example, being a child, a parent, a worker, a student, or a citizen. Sociologists talk about two main types of status: ascribed status…
Marital and relationship breakdowns occur for many reasons, and these reasons often vary from one society to another. People enter intimate relationships with specific expectations—emotional, economic, sexual, social, and cultural. When these expectations remain unmet, tensions arise, and relationships may eventually rupture. For this article, I surveyed 28 Ghanaian adults—14 men and 14 women—to better…
Children are the future of every society. Yet Ghana faces a serious challenge if urgent steps are not taken to ensure that today’s children are properly guided and nurtured to grow into law-abiding and responsible citizens. In recent years, there has been a noticeable increase in juvenile delinquency across the country. Many children are skipping…
Some call it mob justice. Others describe it as instant justice or vigilante justice. But where, indeed, is the justice when a person is beaten, maimed, or killed without a proper trial or lawful conviction by the legally constituted justice system of the land? Every year in Ghana, scores of individuals are seized by members…
