6 research outputs found

    Inherently diseased and insanitary? the health status of the Gold Coast [Ghana] from the 18th to the late 19th Century

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    Abstract: Until the end of the 19th century, many European accounts represented the West African Coast as the “White man’s grave.” This representation was borne out by the high morbid- ity and mortality rate of European sojourners who were exposed to the Guinea Coast. This article reviews European accounts of the health status of the Gold Coast during the 18th and 19th centuries. I examine European accounts that characterised the climatic conditions of the Gold Coast as insalubrious and its social and physical environments as unwholesome –condi- tions that were held to be responsible for the high mortality and morbidity rates of Europeans who visited the region. I suggest that while there appeared to be formidable health challenges, especially, in the coastal settlements, the linear narrative that privileges the insanitary condi- tions and unwholesomeness of the region during the period under consideration could be quite misleading. I demonstrate that even though these European accounts, mostly blame the habits of the indigenous population and their social and physical environmental conditions for the unwholesome and insalubrious conditions that caused ill-health and death, the presence of Eu- ropeans on the Gold Coast littoral was itself implicated in the insanitary and depressing health conditions that the region was associated with

    Cross-cultural ties between Ghana and Egypt: the agency of the Egyptian Community in Accra, Ghana

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    Abstract : Ghana is recognized as an important destination of international migrants. In spite of the socio-economic and political upheavals that the country experienced during the early post-independence era leading to the (forced) return of several of its migrant groups, some have still remained and formed permanent communities and integrated into the Ghanaian society. This paper focuses on the Egyptian diaspora in Ghana. It examines: (1) the type of cross-border and transnational ties that Egyptian migrants in Ghana have established between Ghana and Egypt; (2) how these ties generate cross-cultural relations between Ghana and Egypt; and (3) the extent to which these ties provide a privileged economic and political position to the Egyptian community in Ghana. The work is based on the socio-cultural transnationalism theory. A socio-historical method was adopted for the research and apart from the analysis of historical data, eight key informants were interviewed. The paper shows that due to high-profile intermarriages between Ghanaians and Egyptians, coupled with the ‘Nkrumah factor’, the Egyptian community in Ghana occupies a privileged economic and political position in Ghana

    Quando a aula termina: a política econômica das manifestações dos sindicatos de professores na Quarta República de Gana

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    O presente artigo examina os protestos dos sindicatos de professores sob a Quarta República de Gana. Situando a análise dentro da evolução de sua economia política, eu mostro como as restrições na política econômica de Gana, bem como sua macroeconomia muitas vezes instável, influenciaram e moldaram os atos de protestos, assim como condicionou as respostas dos governos às demandas dos sindicatos dos professores

    When the chalks are down: the political economy of teachers’ unions protest actions under Ghana’s Fourth Republic

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    This article examines teachers’ unions protest actions under Ghana’s Fourth Republic. Situating the analysis within Ghana’s evolving political economy, I show how constraints in Ghana’s political economy as well as its often-faltering macro-economy have influenced and shaped teachers protest actions as well as conditioned governments’ responses to teachers’ unions’ demands

    Sanitation and public hygiene in the Gold Coast (Ghana) from the late 19th century to 1950

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    D.Litt. et Phil. (Historical Studies)Abstract: European narratives before the 19th century represented the Gold Coast littoral as insanitary, insalubrious and the abode of diseases that killed swiftly. Such narratives grouped the Gold Coast among West African territories that acquired the dubious reputation as the “White man’s grave”, and informed colonial efforts at sanitary reforms during the late 19th century and beyond. Nonetheless, sanitation remained an enduring challenge throughout the colonial period. Curiously, the historiography on the social history of medicine and public health has largely silenced the question of sanitation. Where it is raised, it is treated as background information to explicate a specific health phenomenon. There is, thus, no comprehensive research on the history of sanitation. This study contributes to the historiography by addressing this lacuna. By focusing on the late 19th century to 1950, this research examines the management of sanitation and public hygiene, situating the analysis within the broader context of power and control to tease out its implications for public health. Colonial measures deployed in managing sanitation and public hygiene in the Gold Coast included the use of legislative and regulatory instruments, the provision of sanitary amenities (including, public latrines, public dustbins, incinerators, potable water, etcetera.), surveillance techniques – mainly sanitary inspection and home visits, and educational prophylactic measures such as the teaching of hygiene in schools, public lectures, and the organisation of health weeks, etcetera. Other measures targeted mainly the materiality of malaria in public spaces and included segregation, drainage construction, swamp and lagoon reclamation, larvicide application and weed control. Furthermore, the colonial administration targeted the sanitary regulation of public and dwelling spaces through town planning. Additionally, the government extended control over bakeries, public eateries, market spaces, and slaughterhouses ostensibly to ensure that food items exposed for sale to the public adhered to hygienic standards. Although these measures manifestly targeted sanitation and public hygiene in various forms, they produced something else. They provided avenues through which the colonial administration could reorder public spaces, reorient African practices in domestic and public spaces, recast the habits and attitudes of the African population and manipulate their desires towards Euro-Western conceptions of what constituted..

    Quando a aula termina: a política econômica das manifestações dos sindicatos de professores na Quarta República de Gana

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    O presente artigo examina os protestos dos sindicatos de professores sob a Quarta República de Gana. Situando a análise dentro da evolução de sua economia política, eu mostro como as restrições na política econômica de Gana, bem como sua macroeconomia muitas vezes instável, influenciaram e moldaram os atos de protestos, assim como condicionou as respostas dos governos às demandas dos sindicatos dos professores
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