Cross-Cultural Ties between Ghana and Egypt: The Agency of the Egyptian Community in Accra, Ghana (original) (raw)
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Ghanaians abroad and their ties home : cultural and religious dimensions of transnational migration
2007
There are conflicting estimates about the number of Ghanaians resident outside the country. Twum-Baah (2005) puts the number of Ghanaians abroad at about one million persons while Owusu-Ankomah (2006) estimates that more than three million out of Ghana's current population of about 20 million persons live outside the country. The fact that such a large proportion of Ghanaians are living abroad is quite a recent phenomenon. Indeed, during the 1950s and the decade immediately after independence (1957-1967), many Ghanaians living outside the country returned home while a large number of migrants from the West African subregion migrated to Ghana. During this period Ghana's economy was comparatively strong and therefore attracted a considerable number of political activists, scholars and foreigners to the country. Migrant labourers from the neighbouring West African countries came to Ghana in large numbers to work in the mines, cocoa plantations and as workers in the expanding civil service and the urban economy (Adepoju 2005: 26-8; Anarfi et al. 2003). During the 1950s and 60s, small numbers of Ghanaians went abroad (mainly to the US, UK and Eastern European countries) under the sponsorship of the government to pursue advanced training that could not be obtained within the country (cf. Anarfi & Awusabo et al. 2000). This was as a result of the developmentalist policies of the Nkrumah government and the quest for manpower to rapidly transform the nation from an agrarian to an industrial country. This group of Ghanaian students and scholars who left the country for advanced training abroad during the 1950s and 60s can be regarded as the first generation of migrants abroad. They were commonly referred to in Ghana as the 'been to' (cf. Jeanett 2004). Owusu (2000) estimates, for example, that there were only about 100 Ghanaian immigrants, most of them scholars, in Canada in 1967. Many of the educated elite returned home to Ghana despite attempts by foreign governments to encourage them to stay abroad. 1 Others decided to remain abroad and constituted the group of highly qualified Ghanaian professionals (medical doctors, engineers, social scientists etc.) living abroad. 2 1 The United States government, for example, tried to encourage Ghanaian and African scholars who had studied in that country or were on academic exchange programmes in the early 1960s to stay there by offering them US citizenship (personal communication of Prof. G. K. Nukunya, 15 th March 2006 in Accra).
Asia Pac J Hum Resour, 2006
migration and the economy of funerals: Changing practices in Ghana. Development and Change 37 (5). Mazzucato, V. (2005) The study of transnational migration: Reflections on a simultaneous matched-sample methodology, paper presented at the Workshop on Migration and Development Within and Across Borders, Social Science Research Council, New York City, November 17-19. De Witte, M. (2001) Long live the dead! Changing funeral celebrations in Asante, Ghana. Amsterdam: Askant Academic Publishers. Ethnic and Racial Studies (1999) 22(2) special issue on transnationalism. Mazzucato, V., B. van der Boom and N.N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah (2005) "Origin and destination of remittances in Ghana", in T. Manuh (ed.
IMISCOE Research Series
Recently, a burgeoning literature has emerged on the return experience of migrants, with some analysts touting the benefits of return to the socioeconomic development of countries of origin, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Still, only few studies have examined how return migrants create and sustain transnational connectivity with their countries of destination upon their return to the homeland, and fewer still have analyzed how these dynamics play out in the context of West African migrants. This primarily theoretical paper explores the interconnections between return migration and transnationalism among West African migrants, focusing on the case of Ghanaian and Senegalese migrants. The insistent premise of the paper posits that contemporary migration is essentially Janus-faced, in the sense that migrants are transnational in both their pre- and post-return periods. The paper addresses the following questions: (i) What are the perspectives of Northern countries and supra-national...
Issues of South-South Migration: A Case Study of Nigerian Diasporas in Ghana
Developing Country Studies, 2014
In spite of the fact that intra and inter-regional migration predates the colonial period in Africa, S outh-South visa-vis South-North migration has received little att ention in the international discourse on migration. Recent investigations are indicating that South-South migr ation is important in terms of its magnitude. For e xample, a World Bank study shows that about two-thirds of Sub-Saharan migrants remain within their sub-region wi th among the highest rates of intra-regional mobility (World Bank, 2011). Beyond this general observation, information is sca rce in respect of who these migrants are, their con tributions to the development process of the sub-region, their opportunities and challenges within the context of regional economic communities and most importantly the need for appropriate policies and strategies to address the constraints facing this valuable resource. It is evident from our study that Nigerians are eng aged in trans-nationalism in the context of intra-...
Migration networks and narratives in Ghana: a case study from the Zongo
Africa, 2018
The historical presence of Zongo communities in contemporary Ghana is analysed through archival documents and ethnography, with the aim of highlighting their social and political value as migrant communities, and their possible inclusion in the urban strategy of the country. Zongos have been present in Ghana since precolonial and colonial times, depending on specific cases, and are historically connected to the presence of Muslim trade communities in the market areas of various urban settlements. I argue that their role in the Ghanaian socio-political landscape goes beyond this common definition: Zongos act as interlocutors between the urban centre and peripheral rural areas, and they have a potentially effective role in dealing with migrant flows. Zongo people elaborate their memory of migration in particular ways, revealing both an inherent mode of producing a common group identity, and a conscious strategy of inclusion in the contemporary political dynamics of Ghana.
ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION OF GHANAIAN DIASPORAS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA
There was a time when outward migrations was considered as a negative phenomenon or lose of human resources for a country. It was also seen as traumatic experience for the ones who were forced to migrate due to some socio-political or historical crises. However, with the passing of time, globalization has created very complex inter connections across the world today. People move across borders not because of compulsion but free will and desire for better life opportunities. Such large number of migration has created modern day diaspora and the international community has profoundly acknowledged their remarkable role and contribution in the process of development of their homeland. Ghana is one such example.