Browsing by Author "Adotey, E."
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Item ‘9th May 2017 is OUR DAY’: The Homeland Study Group Foundation and contested national imaginaries in postindependence Ghana(Nations and Nationalism, 2022) Adotey, E.Ghana has been held up as an oasis of stability in a highly volatile region of Africa due to its peaceful decolonization process, absence of serious civil conflict and successful change of governments. However, in Ghana, as in parts of post-independence Africa, there are lingering secessionist movements that are a legacy of colonialism. The latest comes from the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) which declared the former British Togoland, a former United Nations trust territory administered by the United Kingdom, as an independent state called Western Togoland. Through the prism of competing or alternative national imaginaries rather than the weak and dysfunctional state paradigm, this article seeks to explain the roots of a form of Togoland nationalism in Ghana in 1956 that remains relevant today. The paper argues that an Apparently, successful integration can stimulate/give support to alternative nationalist imaginaries.Item An imaginary line? Decolonisation, bordering and borderscapes on the Ghana–Togo border(Taylor & Francis Group, 2021) Adotey, E.Africa’s inherited colonial borders have been central in debates on decolonisation for reasons that include challenges posed to African mobilities and identities, suggesting that there is a crisis of ideas about the border. This article draws on critical border studies (CBS) to examine the agency and negotiating capabilities of border residents using Leklebi and Wli, on the Ghana–Togo border, as case studies. How are discourses and practices of the border embedded in the contemporary everyday life of the borderland residents? What do their bordering practices reveal about their borderscapes? Are borderscapes being created or negotiated dependent on context? It argues that in these borderlands, borderscapes and bordering are conceived and expressed con textually not only through the lens of the postcolonial territorial border but also through the precolonial migration histories as well as precolonial concepts of political space. It contributes to border studies by highlighting the importance of historical and cultural factors in bordering and borderscapes. An understanding of such complexities may, in a significant way, help us to rethink or reconsider the arbitrariness of borders.Item International chiefs among the ewe astride the ghana-togo boundary: from political hegemony to ritual authority, 1914-2014(2016-04-07) Adotey, E.; Eyoh, D.An important feature of Africa’s international boundaries is how they cut across ethnic groups, communities and families. This paper analyses the consequences of the bisection of communities by colonial boundaries that have become the new territorial markers of political communities. The study argues that contrary to claims of the enduring or lasting legacy of European international political boundaries on concepts of space in sub-Saharan Africa, collective identities were not weakened by colonial boundaries and administration. Rather, they were transformed and reinvigorated through cultural practices such as rituals which sustained a sense of belonging to Ewe communities that straddled international boundaries. In Nyive, an Ewe community astride the Ghana-Togo boundary the international boundary has not prevented chiefs from performing recognized ritual chiefly functions across the boundary, thus describing themselves as ‘international chiefs.’ The paper however notes that relationships between the separated communities have changed, specifically from political hegemony to largely ritual practices. It shows the importance of cultural space in the reproduction of communal or collective identities across international boundariesItem International chiefs': Chieftaincy, rituals and the reproduction of transborder Ewe ethnic communities on the Ghana-Togo boundary(Africa, 2018-08) Adotey, E.The issue of ‘alien’ voters in Ghana's electoral politics since the return to multiparty democracy in 1992 points to tensions between local/ethnic identities in culturally demarcated spaces and national identity/citizenship promoted by states. Focusing on the two Ewe-speaking communities of Nyive and Edzi, this article examines the legacies of partition in the aftermath of World War One, when the British and French split the former German colony of Togo between themselves and established new administrations under international oversight. It argues that relationships have changed, specifically from political hegemony to largely ritual practices, and that, though distinct, the two are co-determining. The salience or legitimacy of political authority is sustained by ritual authority, and chiefly authorities invest in these rituals to maintain political authority. These shared ritual practices are important, as they are mobilized to promote a sense of belonging among Ewe communities that straddle state boundaries. This is evident in the phenomenon of ‘international chiefs’, as expressed in continued allegiances of village chiefs in Ghana to senior/paramount chiefs in Togo.Item “Operation Eagle Eye”: Border Citizenship and Cross-border Voting in Ghana’s Fourth Republic(Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2020) Adotey, E.This article examines the role of elections in bordering through disputes over cross-border voting since Ghana returned to a multi-party democracy in 1992. It uses case studies from some communities that border Togo in the Volta Region of Ghana which is the epicenter of alleged cross-border voting. In these communities, “border citizenship” is expressed through the deployment of ritual space, social and political relations which is across national borders. But this begs the question of whether border citizens view voting as a right or not, or more specifically, contest the border by participating in elections on either side of the border. This article argues that border citizens are not only involved in contesting the border; one can assume to have a border citizenship and still respect the border in elections by refusing the act of cross-border voting. This study not only contributes to border studies by highlighting the importance of electoral politics in the bordering process but it also brings to light the complexities of cross-border voting, since it shows that border residents in the Ghana-Togo borderland communities do not all perceive cross-border voting positivelyItem The traditional architectural practice of the people of Gbabshe(2019-05-02) Addo, I.A.; Adotey, E.This presentation examines the traditional architectural practice of the people of Gbabshe, a rural community in the Tamale Metropolitan Area. Eurocentric thinking of vernacular or traditional architecture as a ‘low’ end architecture with no involvement of a professional architect and hence, without much ‘scientific’ design process is questioned in this ethnographic study of the building process. From the field, it came to light that a lot of thought processes and planning go into the construction of the traditional houses and they follow the principle of architectural design theory. In addition, constructing a house is not regarded as an individual project but a community project, thus displaying communitarianism and the transfer of knowledge. What was observed on the field however, was the impact of social change on the building construction and output as a result of urbanisation, migration, environmental change and status.Item Where is My Name? – Contemporary Funeral Posters as an Arena of Contestation and (Re)negotiation of Chiefly Relations Among the Ewe of Ghana and Togo(History in Africa, 2018-06) Adotey, E.In Ghana and other regions of West Africa a funeral poster is an important part of funerary ritual. Examining two funeral posters – one about omission and the other about inclusion of names – printed to commemorate two chiefs in two Ewe communities in Ghana and Togo, this article shows funeral posters as arenas of contestation, negotiation, affirmation, and elaboration of beliefs and conflicting views. The article argues that funeral posters are written with a local audience in mind, which means that they are a very useful source for historical enquiry about how people address the subjects of kinship and relationships among chiefs.