Ecocriticism and environmental knowledge of Asante oral traditional poetry

ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the theme of the environmental worth and the contemporary developmental relevance of traditional oral poetry. The specific subject matter is the worth of the traditional oral poetry of Asante/Ashanti (one of the groups of the Akan cultural group in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Togo in West Africa) and its relevance as a source of inspiration for the raising of environmental consciousness. The premise of the thesis is that there existed within traditional oral literature some environmental knowledge which responded to the needs of traditional society. The knowledge in this literature can be revamped and harnessed to help direct the environmental aspect of current developmental approaches. For that reason, the thesis takes as its point of departure and primary data some traditional Asante proverb-poems. These proverbpoems had the status and role of myths engendered by society to fashion and guide humans’ interaction with Nature. This assimilation between proverb-poem and society’s environmental precepts implied that society had (consciously or unconsciously) cast the proverb-poem in the role of an environmental preceptor to guide society. Beliefs about Nature and the practices thereof which are enshrined in these proverbpoems, therefore, contained the knowledge which guided the use of natural resources and hence the direction of development and sustainability in traditional Asante society. Invariably, the environmental outlook of society, its values and interests, its projections and directions, and its development, all came to be informed by the knowledge contained in this myth/proverb-poem. It is pertinent to note that the type of environmental demands required by contemporary Asante is reminiscent of the sustainability which oral literature helped traditional Asante to attain. This comparison is validated for two main reasons. The first is the fact that today development in perceived as a shift from the prioritization of the military security of states and regimes to an emphasis on seven cardinal areas which complement state and regime security. These are - Economic security, Food security, Health security, Environmental security, Personal security, Community security, and Political security. This thesis focuses on the environmental aspect. Second, development focuses on exploring local alternative approaches to the problem of environmental degradation. In this regard, the thesis argues that aspects of the manner in which cultural communities express their relationship with Nature is recoverable through a literary study of the images and belief system found in their rendition of Nature. These images, their perceptions, and the attitude they express toward Nature, offer a framework within which to evaluate possible culture-specific solutions to contemporary environmental problem. It is for the above reason that this work evaluates a selection of traditional Asante proverb-poems to find out the extent to which they served to mediate environmental consciousness and Nature conservation in traditional Asante. In order to arrive at a more reliable conclusion, this investigation first evaluates the ways in which institutions and practices such as Asante political system, the nature of their myths and taboos, their impact on their environment, their relation with colonial environmentalism, the nature and the archival function of their poetry and their entire cosmovision can be said to resemble or reflect the manner in which the Asante formulated the relationship between humans on one hand and flora, fauna, and landscape on the other. It is revealed that their predilection for co-existence with nature advocated in these literary texts largely resembled the normative values and institutional structures of traditional Asante community. Using Structuralism and Ecocriticism the work presents each persona of the various proverb-poems as opposing some prevailing attitudes to nature by critiquing, teaching, encouraging, condemning, exalting the audience to perceive nature as kin, nature as a beneficent agent to appreciate, nature as a danger to avoid, and nature as a domain to which humans are accountable. The thesis also advances the opinion that those attitudes which sustained environmental viability could be reworked and adapted to feed into the creation of a mind-sets which can enhance human perceptions about Nature today and contribute to the search for solutions to environmental degradation. In addition to the above anthropo-developmental dimension, the analysis reveals some specificities of the literary analysis of oral environmental texts of traditional societies. It equally shows the nature of the peculiar challenges faced in the environmental arena by developmental objectives. The work is, therefore, inspired by the need to contribute ideas and perceptions that can eventually feed into the debates around solutions toward the solving of environmental problems. Thus, the work seeks to do this by using literary approaches to highlight and draw on traditional knowledge to enrich the present search for indigenous ways of conceptualizing human-Nature relations and of solving current environmental problems

Identity: Globalization, culture and psychological functioning

This paper examines the influence of globalization on psychological functioning. It noted that globalization is somehow a vital step toward both a more stable world and better lives for people in it. However, human lives are increasingly being challenged and integrated into larger global networks of relationships. The forces of globalization are taxing the youth, families, and cultural systems worldwide. All social systems are contaminated by the need to borrow values, morals, skills, and competencies from the next regions or nations. The process of globalization and its attendant consequences may lead to a stripping away of culture identity. It will lead to a break down in social interaction within a local context, a vital means that used to build a great sense of cultural identity and belongingness. This is because globalization is speeding up social and cultural processes such that time and space are no longer constrain on human activities. Conditions and social interactions are now organized so as to connect presence and absent others. Then also most people in the world now develop a bicultural identity, in which part of their identity is rooted in their local culture while another part stems from an awareness of their relation to the global culture. Furthermore, there is pervasiveness of identity confusion as local cultures change in response to globalization, some young people find themselves at home in neither the local culture nor the global cultur

Prospecting And Testing Of Clay For Schools Offering Ceramics In The Sekondi- Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana

Clay, which is a natural mineral in the earth remains the major ceramic raw material since time immemorial.  With the introduction of the new Educational Reform in 1987, many second and some third cycle institutions have taken ceramics as one of the vocational subjects in Ghana.  Clay, which is the main raw material, is difficult to come by within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.  This has somehow affected the performance of institutions offering ceramics including St. John’s Senior High School, Ahantaman Senior High School and Takoradi Polytechnic, all in the Metropolis.  To find a solution to this problem, the researchers had made effort to prospect and test for varieties of clay from areas closer to the metropolis.  Literature related to the topic had been reviewed. The experimental research method was employed. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the proposed clay deposits in the selected districts.  All the general procedures and processes used in prospecting and testing for clay were followed.  For example, water of plasticity test, presence of lime test, dry shrinkage test, fired shrinkage test and porosity test.  From the findings, it was realized that these clay deposits could be very useful to schools offering ceramics in the Metropolis.  It was recommended among other things that institutions offering ceramics should patronize clay from these areas, and the district assemblies should try to construct roads to the various clay sites, so as to make them motorable to people who might need the clay. Keywords: Clay, Prospecting, Plasticity, Testing, Shrinkag

Cultural adaptation of condom use self efficacy scale in Ghana

Accurate assessment of self-reports of sexual behaviours are vital to the evaluation of HIV prevention and family planning interventions. This investigation was to determine the cross-cultural suitability of the Condom Use Self Efficacy Scale (CUSES) for Ghana. A survey using a sample of 520 aged 17 to 32 years from Ghana completed the anonymous scale. A Principal Component Analysis identified a 14 item scale with four reliable factors labelled Appropriation (Cronbach alpha=.85), Assertive (Cronbach alpha=.90), Pleasure and Intoxicant (Cronbach alpha=.83), and STDs (Cronbach alpha=.81) that altogether explained 73.72% of total variance. The scale correlated well with a measure of actual condom use (r=.73), indicating evidence of construct validity. The factor loadings were similar to the original scale but not identical suggesting relevant cultural variations. The study therefore cautioned researchers against the use of the original CUSES without validation in African settings and context

Health and well-being of homeless youth in Ghana.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2015.Background: Homeless youth have been described as being resilient, and vulnerable to poor mental and behavioural health. However, literature on factors promoting resilience of these homeless youth in an African context, especially in Ghana, is scarce. The main aim of the present study was to examine the mental and behavioural health and well-being of homeless youth and the protective factors that could be strengthened to promote their mental health and reduce risky health related behaviours. Specifically this doctoral thesis investigated: 1) factors fostering resilience among homeless youth, 2) the experiences of homeless youth in relation to their health and well-being, 3) the validation of the factor structure of Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), 4) the prevalence of health risk behaviours and status of psychological well-being, and 5) the relationship between resilience and health risk behaviours among homeless youth in Ghana. Method: An exploratory mixed method approach was adopted in which qualitative data was first collected followed by a quantitative survey. For the qualitative study a purposive sample of 16 homeless youth from the Central Business District of Accra were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. A cross-sectional study with an interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to assess the mental health variables from a relatively large sample of 227 conveniently selected homeless youth. The participants were between the ages of 9-19 years, and had lived on the street for a period of between 6 months to 8 years. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the interview transcripts in the qualitative study whilst exploratory factor analysis, One-Way ANOVA, independent samples t-tests, Chi-Square tests for independence, Pearson- moment correlation coefficient, standard multiple regression and logistic regression models were used to analyse the quantitative data. Data collection lasted for 8 and 12 weeks for the qualitative and quantitative phases of the study respectively. Results: The qualitative results showed that strong religious beliefs, engagement in meaningful activities, peer group support, adherence to cultural norms and support from community-based organizations were important factors that promote resilience among participants. The quantitative results showed that participants exhibited poor mental health with high levels of psychological distress, substance use and suicidal ideation. Clustering of health risk behaviours was found in this study among homeless youth who were using substances and engaging in unprotected sex with multiple sexual partners. Some evidence for the engagement in survival sex was also found. Overall poor psychological functioning was predicted by experiences of perceived stigmatization and discrimination, self-stigma, suicidal ideation and exposure to violence. The results also showed that perceived resilience served as a protective factor for suicidal ideation and having multiple sexual lifetime partners, suggesting that youth with higher perceived resilience were less likely to engage in health risk behaviours. Conclusion: These findings seem to suggest that homeless youth are resilient, but nevertheless are susceptible to various mental health problems, with substance use acting as a gateway for sexual risk behaviours. Development of multilevel prevention interventions are recommended to build resilience in youth through access to psychological counselling and to develop better coping strategies at the individual level; facilitate health enhancing social networks that provide homeless youth with an alternative network to that of gains in social support at the interpersonal level and to address the social determinants of poor mental health at community and societal levels

Case 1 : The Fire Under the Shed: The Cornerstone Fuelling Our Plight

In Ghana, smoke from biomass fuel cook stoves leads to acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in children under five. Akosua Agborson, a research fellow, had the opportunity to work with the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS) team at the Kintampo Health Research Centre to address this public health issue. The GRAPHS team is responsible for reducing air pollution and improving cook stoves for households in Ghana. Akosua decided to support the GRAPHS team by doing a case research study on gari processing involving biomass fuel. She focused on gari processors because Ghana is the sixth largest producer of gari (cassava grits) in the world. Akosua and the GRAPHS team interviewed gari processors, community leaders, and the district government officer in order to understand the levels of knowledge about health risks and the perceptions of air pollution attributable to biomass fuel used in the gari processing industry

Malaria vaccine deployment in Africa: focus on Ghana

The announcement by the Ghana Health Service /Ministry of Health at the beginning of May to begin the pilot implementation of the malaria vaccine – RTS,S/AS01 (Mosquirix®) – manufactured by GSK Biologicals was greeted with rumours about conspiracy theories of secretagenda to depopulate Africa through the use of vaccines and all the other stories that are often propagated by the anti vaxxers. This was not unlike the fear and panic spread throughout the country that prevented investigators from conducting clinical trials on new vaccines against the Ebola virus disease a few years ago

Gender, Land and Food Access in Ghana’s Suburban Cities: A Case of the Adenta Municipality

The disparity in land and food access in Ghana often overlooks the possibility of an underlying gender disparity. This paper explores and interrogates the disparity between land and food access with respect to gender and the evolution of this relationship over the years as a result of the settlement expansion and urban growth within the Adenta Municipality in Ghana. Adopting a mixed pairwise approach of combining spatial analytical tools, vulnerability indexing and resilient indicators, the paper examines the levels and rates of land accessibilities within the stream of modern cities. It assesses the land market system complexities within developing economies and attempts to address the potential threats of gender-land access gaps. The paper finally assigns weights of ranks to model the phenomenon and recommends trends that can facilitate predictions and early cautionary systems for effective urban land governance in Ghana. The paper concludes that though it is noticed that women engage in power structures on a daily basis, this both benefits and burdens them, depending on their socio-cultural status and other factors in terms of access to land and food