Segregated by Neighbourhoods? A Portrait of Ethnic Diversity in the Neighbourhoods of the Accra Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Studies of urban ethnicity have portrayed ethnic groups as initially concentrating in locations where they live in relatively exclusive residential areas containing few members of other groups. This concentration into ethnic enclaves is commonly regarded as a result of disadvantage and discrimination in the labour and housing markets, coupled with a desire for residential concentration to promote and guarantee group cultural, socioeconomic and physical security. To what extent do the neighbourhoods of Accra Metropolitan Area reflect these urban ethnicity patterns, and what are the factors shaping the concentration of ethnic groups in the city? Using the Location Quotient Index based on census data, the paper examines the degree of ethnic diversity and concentration in the neighbourhoods of Accra. The findings of the study reveal that Accra is not following a Western model of segregation, neither is there a single model of African segregation, but rather many African trajectories. Economic segregation is the organising force underlying residential segregation in Accra, and this operates through several social markers, one of which remains the ethnic history of migration to Accra.