Browsing by Author "Asante, R.K.B."

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Crafting lifestyles in Urban Africa: Young Ghanaians in the world of online friendship
(Africa Today, 2009-06) Fair, J.E.; Tully, M.; Ekdale, B.; Asante, R.K.B.
The Internet in Africa has generated a lively debate in the popular press and among commentators about what its growth will mean for Africa and its people. Through indepth interviews and observations, we consider one aspect of Internet practice in Africa: how use of the Internet for making friends and dating allows young, urban Ghanaians to craft lifestyles, incorporating globally circulating cultural and symbolic forms into their identities. We suggest that when young, urban Ghanaians go online to meet, chat, and form relationships with strangers near and far, they are devising, testing out, and sharing sensibilities; they are bringing situation, mood, and new knowledge to bear on the self or selves that they are exploring and tentatively projecting.
Domestication of the Mobile Phone Amongst Kantamanto Used-Clothes Traders in Accra
(University of Ghana, 2014-12) Asante, R.K.B.; Dzorgbo, D; Darkwah, A.K.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, School of Social Sciences , Department of Sociology
The mobile phone technology only recently gained its ubiquitous status and rapidity in design and features. The African context is no exception to this, as a result, it is only in the last decade that people have had the opportunity to own and discard various mobile phone handsets. Most studies have not considered the social dimension of the "journey" of owning and discarding the mobile phone handset. Consequently, the study explored the entire process involved in the traders accessing and making the mobile phone an extension of themselves from the point of owning the technology to the point of deciding to dispose of it. The process was explored using both the innovators and domestication process frameworks at five different, but interwoven levels, including, uptake, appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion. The sequential-mixed-method (qualitative-before-quantitative) with a sample of 431 used-clothes traders was employed. The respondents were selected using the purposive, snowball and cluster sampling methods from the Kantamanto market in Accra. After obtaining data using the in-depth interview and observational approaches from 11 traders, face-to-face interviews were conducted using the survey approach for 420 respondents with 86% response rate (363). Relying on the innovators and domestication process frameworks to explore this process, the findings of the study revealed that the uptake of the mobile phone is fuelled by two broad factors: the mandatory factors and the design based factors. While the mandatory factors are the domain of women; older users and those with low education; men, younger users and those with high education dominate the design factors. This showed that innovators are not always the ones who have used the mobile phone the longest. Men and young users, who are often driven to own, use and change mobile phone handsets more by their preference for improved features than the mere replacement of a broken handset, often dominate the innovators. Additionally, the call feature of the mobile phone is now a taken for granted basis for owning a handset amongst the traders. The study further revealed that the appropriation of the mobile phone handset is fueled by self-purchase for males and older owners, and gift for females and younger owners. Additionally, males within the traders‘ family circle and mobile phone repairers located at the market also significantly influence the traders in their mobile phone decisions. Conspicuously missing from this were advertisers and marketers. The study further revealed that objectification means more than just the physical display of the handset to score social status points, it also includes display of specific usage such as display of ringtones, social media uses and fashion. Objectification is interwoven with the earlier stages of the domestication process. Incorporation showed that three major routines of the traders drive their usage patterns and the continual usage of a handset, these include business, family responsibilities and entertainment routines. However, business usage was the most dominant pattern across all socio-demographic characteristics with no significant difference. Features and functions of the mobile phone that do not find a place in the traders‘ routines are abandoned. The incorporation stage is interwoven with the earlier stages of the domestication process. The final stage is the conversion stage; the study established that three key variables mediate the traders‘ attachment to their handset as expressed by themselves and seen by members of their social group. These are the age of the handset owner, the influence of others in managing the handset and finally the control the trader has over the mobile phone operation. The domestication process is not a linear process, but the stages overlap cyclically. Finally, the study showed that depending on a trader‘s age, gender and educational level, the traders take different paths in domesticating the mobile phone either as a gadget or as a communication device, even though they all belong to the same trading context.
Exploration of the forms of mobile phone attachment among traders in Ghana
(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018) Asante, R.K.B.
Studies on mobile phone attachment have often focused on addiction to the mobile phone with a particular focus on young populations to the neglect of older ones. However, attachment to the mobile phone means more than addiction as experienced by young populations in developed nations. This paper attempts to explore the various forms of attachment across a working population in Africa. It is aimed at establishing the forms of attachment to the mobile phone and their possible sociodemographic variations. Data was collected from 374 used-clothing traders in Accra, using a mixed-methods approach. Employing the conversion framework from domestication theory, a thematic analysis showed that attachment to mobile phone use is culturally specific. A principal component analysis revealed five types of attachment with significant variations across age, gender, and level of education. © 2018, The Author(s) 2018.
In-lecture smartphone use and academic performance: A reflection on the sustainable development goal number four
(Ghana Social Science Journal, 2018-12) Asante, R.K.B.; Hiadzi, R.A.
This paper draws on lessons from the relationship between student mobile phone use during lectures and the overall academic performance of students in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals number 4. Findings from a random sample of 150 University of Ghana students confirm a relationship between mobile phone use during lectures and academic performance of students. Students who use their mobile phone handsets during lectures reported lower academic performance. It is important for the framers of goal number 4 to consider how to reduce the problematic use of mobile phones during the learning process so as to truly achieve the principles of equity and quality education for all
Perception and determination of child maltreatment: Exploratory comparisons across three countries
(Children and Youth Services Review, 2013-09) Fakunmoju, S.B.; Bammeke, F.O.; Antwi Bosiakoh, T.; Asante, R.K.B.; Wooten, N.R.; Hill, A.C.; Karpman, H.
Objective: Little is known about perception and determination of child maltreatment across countries. Although differences in perception and determination of maltreatment across regions of a single country are well documented, comparative knowledge across countries remains sparse. This internet survey examined perception of abusive behaviors and factors considered important in determining maltreatment in three countries (i.e., the United States, Ghana, and Nigeria). Method: Forty-five abusive behaviors comprising physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, child neglect, and child labor, as well as 13 factors considered important in determining maltreatment, were examined among a convenience sample of 327 respondents in the United States, Ghana, and Nigeria. Respondents were recruited within and outside universities in the three countries and links to the survey were sent to respondents who are nonstudents. Results: With all the countries combined, consensus was high for 15 of the 45 abusive behaviors, although levels of consensus and perceptions varied by country and race. Consensus was high for all of the abusive behaviors among respondents in the United States, 36 of the abusive behaviors among respondents in Ghana, and none of the abusive behaviors among respondents in Nigeria. Respondents who are White/Caucasian were significantly more likely to perceive 5 of the behaviors as abuse than respondents who are Black/non-Caucasian. Similarly, factors considered important in determining maltreatment differed by country and race. Respondents in the United States and Ghana were more likely to consider 9 of the 13 factors important in determining maltreatment compared to respondents in Nigeria. Also, Caucasians/Whites were more likely to consider 6 of the 13 factors important in determining maltreatment compared to Blacks/non-Caucasians. Conclusion: Despite racial and regional differences, there are indications that cross-cultural consensus on perception and determination of abusive behaviors is possible. Understanding differences in socio-cultural experiences may help bridge the current gaps in cross-cultural consensus on perception and determination of abusive behaviors. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
"Taming the beast”: Theorizing the use of mobile phones amongst traders in Accra
(University of Ghana, 2015-04-17) Asante, R.K.B.
Over the years, the domestication theory has been used to explore the "taming" of the television within the household space of western nations. However, few studies have employed this theory to examine the "taming" of other technologies outside the private space of people. This paper will attempt to show the process involved in the taming of technology outside the private space of people within the Ghanaian context by examining how traders in Accra domesticate the mobile phone considering data from 374 randomly selected traders. The findings showed that the taming of the mobile phone in the public-private space of the traders is largely conditioned by the culture of their public-private space. Additionally, the taming process for the mobile phone follows a parallel- cyclical process and not the inherent unilineal process described by the domestication process.