Domestic rights & duties in Southern Ghan

Goody, Jack

English

IDS OpenDocs

PART I I I 
COMPARATIVE STU DI E S
COM PA RAT 1 VE ST l IDT ES
2 r> i
INTRODUCT1 ON
JACK CTOODY*
I ho pa pe r s  o.t the co n fe ren ce  r e v e a l  a fasc.inat.ing  
s i t u a t i o n  f o r  those  i n t e r e s t e d  in  comparat ive  work,  
l i r s t l y  the re  i s  the obv ious  c o n t r a s t  between m a t r i l i n e a l  
Akan and ’ p a t r i l i n e a l ' Ewe. The p a t r i l i n e a l i t y  o f  the  
Ewe r e q u i r e s  some q u a l i f i c a t i o n  f o r  i t  appears  that  both 
sons and daughte rs  i n h e r i t  t h e i r  f a t h e r ’ s p ro p e r ty ,  
though P r o f e s s o r  de G r a f t  Johnson*s f i g u r e s  show no cases  
of a man’ s successo r  b e ing  h i s  s i s t e r  o r  daughte r .  How­
ever the Ewe do c o n s t i t u t e  a d e p a r tu re  from Bosnian's  
obse rva t ion  about homogeneous i n h e r i t a n c e  (man to  man, 
woman to woman) which predom inates  in  A f r i c a .
E a r l i e r  m a t r i l i n e a l  and p a t r i l i n e a l  p a t t e r n s  o f  
s oc ia l  o r g a n i s a t i o n  c l e a r l y  a f f e c t  contemporary behav iour  
in domestic  c o n t e x t s .  Indeed  in  c e r t a i n  ways the i n c o r ­
porat ion  o f  custom in  l e g a l  d e c i s i o n s  in the manner 
desc r ibed  by D r . Woodman may w e l l  have i n h i b i t e d  attempts  
to change the system. But the d i f f e r e n c e s  m an i fe s t  them 
in o ther  ways t o o .  I s  i t  a c c i d e n t a l  that Mrs. Jones-  
Q uartey 's  surveyshowed m a t r i l i n e a l  f a t h e r s  as be ing  l e s s  
in c l in e d  to make payments to  s ep a ra te d  w ives  than in  the 
Ewe case? The p o s s i b i l i t y  i s  t h e r e ,  r e c o g n iz e d  by the  
actors .  For Dr. Oppong p o in t s  out that  ’’husbands and 
wives were noted  . . . .  to  r e f e r  w ith  emotion to the 
e f f e c t s  o f  m a t r i l i n e a l  i n h e r i t a n c e  upon domestic  l i f e  among 
educated urban  d w e l l e r s . ” F e e l i n g s  o f  f i n a n c i a l  i n s e c u r i t y  
were f e l t  by wives  and c h i l d r e n ,  which was one reason  g iven  
for the way tha t  Akan wives  p e r s i s t e n t l y  main ta ined  t h e i r  
economic independence in  the c i t y  (though in  f a c t  not a l l  
m a t r i l i n e a l  w ives  were so a f f e c t e d  and the p a t r i l i n e a l  
wives were a l s o  in d e p e n d e n t ) .  Dr .  Oppong f i n d s  tha t  her  
data sup po r t s  the c o n c lu s io n  ( and i t  i s  s im i l a r  to  that  
X reached i n  comparing the LoDagaba and the L o W i i l i ) tha t  
m a t r i l in e a l  c o u p l e s  p r a c t i s e d  a somewhat l e s s  ’ j o i n t '  
form o f  domest ic  b u d ge t in g  in  s a v in g  and u s in g  r e so u rc e s  
than th e i r  p a t r i l i n e a l  c o u n t e r p a r t s .  This  c o n c lu s io n  
rece ives  f u r t h e r  support  from the f a c t  that  among the  
matril i n e a l  cou p le s  themse lves  * j o i n t n e s s 1 i s  i n v e r s e l y
*Dr . Goody, D i r e c t o r  o f  the Cent re  o f  A f r i c a n  S t u d i e s ,  
Cambridge U n i v e r s i t y ,  has on s e v e r a l  o c c a s io n s  been a 
V i s i t in g  P r o f e s s o r  at  the U n i v e r s i t y  o f  Ghana.
254
r e l a t e d  to the h e l p  g iven  to c l a n s f o l k .
The d i f f e r e n c e s  between m a t r i l i n e a l  and p a t r i l i n e a l  
groups  may a l s o  be r e f l e c t e d  i n  househo ld  s t r u c t u r e .  in 
h i s  survey  o f  households i n  S o u t h -e a s t e r n  Ghana, Dr. Addo 
r e p o r t s  a s i z e  o f  3 .5  in  towns and 4.8  in  the country .
27% o f  u rban  househo lds  were headed by women and these  
tended  to  be  l a r g e r  than those  headed by men (4 .1  as 
a g a in s t  3 . 3 ) .  He s u g g e s t s  tha t  these f e m a le -h ea d ed  households 
a re  l a r g e l y  m a t r i l i n e a l ,  and hence draw on a w ider  range of 
k in  .
These p a p e r s  emphasize the key r o l e  o f  p ro p e r ty  in 
r e l a t i o n  to k i n s h i p .  In h i s  c o n c lu d in g  remarks  Professor  
O tten b e rg  suggests  that  the emphasis may be an aspect  of the 
chang ing  s i t u a t i o n ,  from k in s h ip  to p r o p e r t y .  I myself  
have s t r e s s e d ,  on the o th e r  hand, the importance o f  this  
r e l a t i o n s h i p  i n  t r a d i t i o n a l  systems.  In h i s  introductory  
remarks ,  P r o f e s s o r  F o r t e s  q u e r i e s  the s t r e s s  on “property 
as a determinant  o f  descent  group s t r u c t u r e , ” and gives more 
weight  to descent  groups as  " o n - g o in g  j u r i s t i c  personalities."  
I  accept h i s  po in t  about the most i n c l u s i v e  descent groups, 
a l though  we must not unde re s t im a te  t h e i r  r o l e  as holders  
o f  r e s e r v e s  o f  land  e s s e n t i a l  i n  s h i f t i n g  c u l t i v a t i o n .  My 
p o in t  i s  tha t  the d i s t r i b u t i o n  o f  p r o p e r t y  r i g h t s  influences 
r e l a t i o n s h i p s  between c l o s e  k i n ,  e s p e c i a l l y  those f a l l in g  
w i th in  s m a l l e r  de scen t  groups ( e . g .  minimal l i n e a g e s ) .  Where 
the modes o f  c a l c u l a t i n g  i n h e r i t a n c e  and reckon ing  e l i g i b i ­
l i t y  to  descen t  g roups  a re  'h a r m o n ic 1, I speak o f  'corpo­
r a t e '  descent  g ro u p s ,  bec au se  o th e r w i s e  T f i n d  the concept 
o f  c o r p o r a t i o n  too  vague to  hand le  and p a r t l y  because,  
combined in  t h i s  way, the modes o f  i n h e r i t a n c e  and descent 
become u s e f u l  p r e d i c t i o n s  o f  i n t e r p e r s o n a l  b eh av iou r .  From 
my s ta n dp o in t  t h e -  r e l e v a n c e  o f  p r o p e r t y  in  the contemporary 
s i t u a t i o n  i s  n o th ing  new, and I fo u n d  the r u r a l  LoDagaba as 
concerned  about these  i s s u e s  as Dr .  Oppong f i n d s  the urban 
Akan .
There  i s  another  w ider  a sp e c t  o f  com para t ive  work that 
i s  r a i s e d  in  these  p a p e r s .  The im p l i e d  c o n t r a s t  between 
A f r i c a  and Europe i s  a l s o  o f  c o n s i d e r a b l e  i n t e r e s t .  Throug 
out t r a d i t i o n a l  Ghana we have the e f f e c t i v e  exc lu s io n  of the 
widow from her h u s b a n d ' s  p r o p e r t y ;  and among the matr i l inea 
Akan, the e x c l u s i o n  o f  the c h i l d r e n .  These p a r t i c u l a r  
p r i n c i p l e s  o f  customary  law  a re  u n d e rgo in g  a measure of 
r e v i s i o n  as the r e s u l t  o f  some recen t  d e c i s i o n s .  As.
Dr .  Woodman p o in t s  o u t ,  m a r r i a g e  under the  Ordinance entai 
the a p p l i c a t i o n  o f  ( e a r l i e r )  E n g l i s h  r u l e s  and indeed even
25 r>
bringsa man' s o ther  customary unions w i t h in  the scope o f  
these l e g a l  p r o v i s i o n s ,  so s t r o n g  i s  the A f r i c a n  d e s i r e  1 o 
avoid d i s c r im in a t i o n  between the wives  and o f f s p r i n g  o f  one 
man, whatever the c o n t r a c t u a l  base  o f  the union.
In a somewhat roundabout  way, t h i s  po int  i s  connected  
with that made by Dr.  Ekow D a n i e l s  when he w r i t e s :  whereas  
"in the m a r r ia g e  laws o f  the ’ Western and Eastern world*  
marriage may be s a id  to  be the b a s i s  o f  the f a m i l y , "  in 
Ghana, ’m a r r i a g e  i s  r a t h e r  an o f f s h o o t  o f  the fam i ly  
system” ( i . e .  the a b u s u a , or descen t  g r o u p ) .  This  remark 
brings us v e ry  c l o s e  to recent  attempts  to  e s t a b l i s h  
crit ical . d i f f e r e n c e s  in  the domest ic  i n s t i t u t i o n s  o f  
Africa and E u r a s i a .  I t  not o n ly  touches upon d i f f e r e n c e s  
of th e o r e t i c a l  approach as between ’ a l l i a n c e ’ and 'descent  
theorists '  (w rong ly  seen in  B uc h le r  and S e l b y ' s  r e c e n t  book,  
Kinship and S o c ia l  O r g a n i s a t i o n , as a l t e r n a t i v e  approaches  
to the same d a t a ) ; i t  i s  a l s o  o f  p ro foun d  s i g n i f i c a n c e  fo r  
the development o f  the Law and s o c i a l  s e r v i c e s  in  contempo­
rary A f r i c a .
MOTES
t. 1 have o u t l i n e d  these  .in a paper (Goody PR Idbh) .
256
REFERENCES
Buch le r  I . R .  & 1968
S e lb y  M.A.
M n s l i i p  and S o c i a l  O ra a n i s a t^  
An I n t r o d u c t i o n  to Theory 
Method. The Macmil lan Co. New 
Y o rk .
Goody J . R . 1969 I n h e r i t a n c e ,  P ro p e r ty  and
M a r r i a g e  i n  A f r i c a  and Eurasia 
S o c i o l o g y  3. 55-76.
(S)®©®
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