African Affairs Advance Access originally published online on September 13, 2006
African Affairs 2007 106(422):71-94; doi:10.1093/afraf/adl023
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‘Where Is Not Home?’: Dagaaba migrants in the Brong Ahafo Region, 1980 to the present
Gariba B. Abdul-Korah (abdulkog{at}strose.edu) is Assistant Professor of History at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York.
The 1980s marked the beginning of a significant shift in the pattern of Dagaaba migration to southern Ghana. Instead of the mining centres of Obuasi (Ashanti region) and Prestea and Tarkwa (Western region) respectively, many Dagaaba men and women have been migrating to predominantly agricultural areas in the Brong Ahafo region. There is also evidence that Dagaaba migrants, who previously worked in the southern and coastal regions, have been relocating to the Brong Ahafo region when they either lost their jobs or retired. This article explores the factors that have culminated in the mass movement of Dagaaba men and women to the Brong Ahafo region and the reasons why ‘step’ Dagaaba migrants are relocating to the Brong Ahafo region in large numbers instead of going back home (to the north) as many of their predecessors did. The article adds to the ongoing discussion on the migration phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa by foregrounding the internal ways in which communities themselves shape migration through extended, gendered social debates over production and reproduction.
This article is based on 12-month fieldwork conducted in Ghana in 2001–02 on a broader study, ‘Migration, Ethnicity and Uneven Development in Ghana’.
1. The beginnings of Dagaaba migration to southern Ghana can be traced to the pre-colonial past — in the slave trade, but more especially in the period following Asante’s defeat of Gonja in the eighteenth century. See Jack Goody, ‘The over-kingdom of Gonja’ in D.C. Forde and P.M. Kaberry (eds), West African Kingdoms in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1967), pp. 179–205.
2. The literature that has addressed colonial labour policies towards northern Ghana is vast, but see, for example Thomas Roger, ‘Forced labour in British West Africa: the case of the northern territories of the Gold Coast, 1900–1927’, Journal of African History 24, 1 (1973), pp. 47–64; Jacob Songsore, Intraregional and Interregional Labour Migrations in Historical Perspectives: The case of northwestern Ghana (University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, 1983); Carola Lentz and Viet Erlman, ‘A working class in formation? Economic crisis and strategies of survival among Dagaaba mine workers in Ghana’, Cahiers d’ Etudes africaines 113, XXIX-1, (1989), pp. 69–111; Carola Lentz, ‘They must be Dagaba first and any other thing second: the colonial and postcolonial creation of ethnic identies in northwestern Ghana’, African Studies, 53, 2 (1994), pp. 57–91; Nicholas van Hear, Northern Labour and the Development of Capitalist Agriculture in Ghana (University of Birmingham, unpublished PhD dissertation, 1982); Nii-K. Plange, ‘Underdevelopment in northern Ghana: natural causes or colonial capitalism?’ Review of African Political Economy 6, 15–16 (1979), pp. 1–34.
3. Mine Labor, 1909, Northern Regional Archives of Ghana (NRG), NRG 8/17/1, Tamale. See also Jacob Songsore and Alosius Denkabe, Challenging Rural Poverty in Northern Ghana: The case of the Upper-West Region (Universitet I Trondheim, Trondheim, 1995), p. 11.
4. Dagaaba men and women who migrated to the south before the 1980s explained the reasons why they migrated in different ways. For a detailed discussion, see Gariba B. Abdul-Korah, Migration, Ethnicity and Uneven Development in Ghana: The case of Upper West Region in the twentieth century (University of Minnesota, unpublished PhD dissertation, 2004), pp. 124–96.
5. Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, Environmental Degradation and Desertification in Ghana: A study of the Upper West Region (Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Aldershot, 1994), p. 8.
6. Mansell Prothero, ‘Migratory labour from northwestern Nigeria’, Africa 27, 5 (1957), pp. 251–61.
7. Elliot Skinner, ‘Labour migration among the Mossi of Upper Volta’ in H. Kuper (ed), Urbanization and Migration in West Africa (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1965), p. 66.
8. Dennis Cordell, J.W. Gregory and V. Pinché, Hoe & Wage: A social history of a circular migration system in West Africa (Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1996), p. 40.
9. François Manchuelle, Willing Migrants: Soninke labor diasporas, 1848–1960 (University of Ohio Press, Athens, 1997), p. 8.
10. Ibid. Manchuelle also points out that the evidence available on the majority of taxation policies introduced by colonial administrators to promote labour migration is that they failed.
11. J.S. Nabila, The Migration of the Frafra of Northern Ghana: A case study of cyclical labor migration in West Africa (Michigan State University, East Lansing, unpublished PhD dissertation, 1974).
12. Elliot Berg, ‘The economics of the migrant labour system’ in Kuper (ed.), Urbanization and Migration in West Africa, pp. 160–85.
13. See, for example K.B. Dickson, ‘Background to the problems of economic development in northern Ghana’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 58, 4 (1968), pp. 686–96; Nii-K. Plange, ‘Opportunity cost and labour migration: a misinterpretation of proletarianization in northern Ghana’, Journal of Modern African Studies 17, 4 (1979), pp. 655–76; J.M. Hunter, ‘Population pressure in a part of the west African savanna: a study of Nangodi, north east Ghana’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 57, 1 (1967), pp. 101–14; T.E. Hilton, ‘Depopulation and population movement in the Upper Region of Ghana’, Bulletin of the Ghana Geographers Association, 11, 1 (1966), pp. 27–47.
14. Songsore and Denkabe, Challenging Rural Poverty in Northern Ghana: The case of the upper west region (Universitetet I Trondheim, Trondheim, 1995), p. 10.
15. N.J.K. Brukum, ‘Underdevelopment and the dilemma of independence: northern Ghana in nationalist politics, 1946–1956’, Research Review (NS) 14, 1 (1998), pp. 16–32.
16. Lentz and Erlman, ‘A working class in formation?’, p. 69.
17. Aderenti Adepoju, ‘Changing configurations of migrations in Africa’, Migration Information Source, 1 September 2004, p. 1. See also Aderenti Adepoju, ‘Migration in west Africa’, Development 46, 3 (2003), pp.37–41.
18. See, Seema Agarwal et al., ‘Bearing the weight: the kayayoo, Ghana’s working girl child’, paper presented at UNICEF conference on the girl child (Delhi, February 1994), p. 2. For a similar observation about street children in Accra, see Ham van Apt et al., ‘Street children in Accra: a survey report’, Report produced by the Department of Sociology, University of Ghana for the Department of Social Welfare and Save the Child Fund (UK), 1992.
20. See, for example P.A. Eshun, ‘Sustainable small-scale gold mining in Ghana: setting and strategies for sustainability’ (Geological Society Special Publication, 250, 2005), pp. 61–72; R.K. Amankwah and C. Anim-Sackey, ‘Strategies for sustainable development of the small-scale gold and diamond mining industry of Ghana’, Resource Policy 29, 3–4 (2003), pp. 131–8; M.Y. Boateng et al., Small-Scale Gold and Diamond Mining in Ghana (Mining Sector Management Project): Environmental analysis (World Bank, Washington DC, 1994).
21. The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) was formed by Nkrumah in 1948 and led the Gold Coast to independence on 6 March 1957.
22. See Government of Ghana, Ghana 2000 Population and Housing Census, Summary Report of Final Results (Ghana Statistical Service, Accra, 2002), p. 2.
23. Francis Yaw Owusu, ‘Regional inequality in development and migration in Ghana’ (Carleton University, Ottawa, unpublished MA dissertation, 1992), p. 165.
24. The administrative districts in the region include Sunyani, Techiman, Wenchi, Tano, Berekum, Dormaa, Jaman, Atebubu, and Sene. The rest are Nkoranza, Kintampo, Asunafo, and Asutufi.
25. Ghana 2000 Population and Housing Census, p. 17.
26. Ibid., p. 34. For a detailed discussion on the methods of enumeration, see also Ibid., p. 9.
27. Owusu, ‘Regional inequality’, p. 165.
28. For details on this pattern of mobility, see K.C. Zachariah and J. Condé, Migration in West Africa: Demographic aspects (London, 1980), p. 8.
29. K.C. Zachariah and N.K. Nair, ‘Demographic aspects of recent international and internal migration in Ghana’ in Zachariah et al. (eds), Demographic Aspects of Migration in West Africa, Vol. 1 (World Bank, Washington DC, 1980), p. 106. See also Zachariah and Condé, Migration in West Africa, p. 61.
30. Ghana 2000 Population and Housing Census, p. 23.
31. There are a few Dagaaba villages in the Wa district, and although some of the interviewees for the study were from those villages, the bulk (95.6 percent) of them were from the Nadowli District.
32. Songsore and Denkabe, Challenging Rural Poverty, p. 72.
34. C.K. Brown, ‘Gender roles and household allocation of resources and decision-making in Ghana’ in Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf (ed.), The Changing Family in Ghana (University of Ghana Press, Legon, 1996), p. 21.
35. Songsore and Denkabe, Challenging Rural Poverty, p. 74.
36. As a result of the imposition of colonial rule and the introduction of Christianity and Western education into the area, relationships between men (young and old) and women in terms of roles, status, access to productive resources, and inheritance of property have and continue to change. See Gariba B. Abdul-Korah, Migration, Ethnicity, pp. 124–57.
37. Among the 32 male interviewees, 15 of them had no formal education, 10 dropped out of school at the junior secondary school (JSS) level, and the remaining 7 graduated but could not make it to the senior secondary school (SSS). Of the 18 females, 15 had a formal education — they had graduated either from the JSS or SSS. The remaining three had no formal education.
38. Only 8 of the 20 male ‘step migrants’ interviewees had completed middle school. The remaining 12 had no formal education and none of the women (their spouses) had a formal education.
39. Except in a few areas along the Kulpawn River basin (popularly known as samuni among the people), the rest of the region is degraded.
40. Songsore and Denkabe, Challenging Rural Poverty, p. 23.
41. See Nsiah-Gyabaah, Environmental Degradation, pp. 54–6.
42. Interview with Simon Yellale (34 years) on 4 December 2001, Amponsah-Krom (farmer at Amponsah-Krom).
43. Interview with Jonas Bomangsang (35 years) on 6 December 2001, Subinso (farmer at Subinso).
44. James Ferguson, Expectations of Modernity: Myths and meanings of urban life on the Zambian Copperbelt (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1999), p. 238.
45. W.K. Asenso-Okyere et al., Ghana Living Standards Survey, Report of the Fourth Round (Ghana Statistical Service, Accra, 2000), p. 43.
46. L.A. Lewis and L. Berry, African Environments and Resources (Unwin Hyman Ltd., London, 1988); see also Nsiah-Gyabaah, Environmental Degradation, p. 46.
47. Interview with Cletus Daari (33 years) on 6 December 2001, Techiman (farmer at Techiman).
48. Nsiah-Gyabaah, Environmental Degradation, p. 139.
51. Interview with Angsonaah Ali (34 years) on 6 January 2002, Ombo (farmer at Ombo).
52. Interview with Joe Tizaanaah (56 years) on 2 December 2001, Bamboi (farmer at Bamboi).
53. Interview with Dumba Dery (58 years) on 20 November 2001, Techiman (farmer at Techiman).
55. See Abdul-Korah, Migration, Ethnicity, pp. 124–57.
56. The Techiman market is the largest weekly market in Ghana. It operates from Tuesday to Friday reaching a climax on Fridays and attracts traders from the north, south, and even the neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire.
57. Interview with Lawrence Banye (26 years) on 6 December 2001, Techiman (loading boy or kayayoo at Techiman central market).
59. Interview with Killer Dakurah (34 years) on 20 November 2001, Techiman (loading boy or kayayoo at Techiman central market).
60. This was disclosed by the Headmaster of the Kaleo Senior Secondary School, Felix Suglo, when I had an informal conversation with him on 15 January 2002 at Kaleo.
61. See Ghana 2000 Population and Housing Census, p. 23.
62. Adepoju, ‘Changing configurations’, p. 1.
63. Jean-Bernard Ouedraogo, ‘The girls of Nyovuuru: Dagara female labor migrations to Bobo-Dioulasso’ in Jonathan Baker and Akin Tade Aina (eds), The Migration Experience in Africa (Nordiska Afrikaninstitutet, Sweden, 1995), p. 303.
66. Interview with Theresa Nantiera (20 years) on 24 November 2001, Wenchi (waitress in a bar at Wenchi).
67. Interview with Diana Sabile (19 years) on 24 November 2001, Wenchi (waitress in a bar at Wenchi).
68. For a detailed discussion of the conditions under which Dagaaba women migrated to the south during the colonial period, see Abdul-Korah, Migration, Ethnicity, pp. 124–57.
69. Interview with Abena Saalia (22 years) on 20 November 2001, Techiman (waitress in a bar at Techiman).
70. Interview with Jane Sankuba (20 years) on 22 November 2001, Kintampo (waitress in a bar at Kintampo).
71. Beverly Lindsay (ed.), Comparative Perspectives of Third World Women: The impact of race, sex and class (Praeger Publisher, New York, 1980), p. 32. See also E. Ardayfio-Schandorf (ed.), Family and Development in Ghana: Proceedings of international training and research workshop held at the University of Ghana, Legon on 14th–18th December, 1992 (Ghana Universities Press, Accra, 1993); Michael Kevane, Women and Development in Africa: How gender works (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO, 2004).
72. For another example of how society tried to control the movement of women, see Elizabeth Schmidt, Peasants, Traders and Wives: Shona women in the history of Zimbabwe, 1870–1939 (Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 1992).
73. Interview with Ombomah Dassah (34 years) on 25 November 2001, Subinso (housewife at Subinso).
74. Interview with Lorimah Diala (38 years) on 25 November 2001, Subinso (housewife at Subinso).
76. Interview with David Sabogu (35 years) on 25 November 2001, Subinso (farmer at Subinso).
78. Interview with Daari Abudu (33 years) on 25 November 2001, Tuobodom (farmer at Tuobodom).
79. Gabriel Bannerman-Richter, The Practice of Witchcraft in Ghana (Gabari Publishing Company, Winona, 1982), p. 94.
80. Remiguis McCoy, Great Things Happen: A personal memoir of the first Christian missionary among the Dagaabas and Sissalas of northwest Ghana (The Society of Missionaries of Africa, Montreal, 1988), pp. 64–5.
81. Interview with Baibu Dong (34 years) on 4 December 2001, Subinso (farmer at Subinso).
82. Interview with Mathias Naamwinbong (33 years) on 5 December 2001, Wenchi (farmer at Wenchi).
83. For a detailed discussion of witchcraft stories of migrants in the 1930s and 1940s, see for example Abdul-Korah, Migration, Ethnicity, pp. 124–57.
84. For a detailed description of how the mat was used to identify witches among the Dagaaba, see McCoy, Great Things Happen, p. 65.