Ideology and Politics in the Markets of Ghana

Claire Robertson's analysis of the physical destruction of several large urban markets in southern Ghana in the period since the People's National Defence Council (PNDC) came to power makes interesting reading. Her article, as well as work by numerous other observers of Ghana, clearly demonstrates both the central role of women in urban marketing and the fact that the vast majority of such women barely earn enough to meet the daily subsistence needs of themselves and their dependents (Campbell 1981, ch. 5). How, then, has it come to pass that otherwise responsible Ghanaians - many of whom closely related to at least one trader (Robertson 1983, 472) - have come to the point of not only resenting such traders but of actively participating in physical attacks on the women, attacks which culminated in the destruction of the markets themselves? In Robertson's words, there was a substantial amount of popular support for repressive measures against traders, making the destruction of Makola more thanjust a sop thrown to satisfy the army ranks. Mobs of people, not just soldiers, attacked the Sekondi, Koforidua, and Kumasi markets. How and why do people believe in the government propaganda (472; my emphasis)? Clearly, a number of questions need to be asked about these and other increasingly violent conflicts which are occurring in Ghana: questions concerning the popular stereotype of marketwomen as hoarders and profiteers; questions about the nature and reasons for assaults against marketwomen and the urban markets; and, more importantly, questions concerning the role of political ideology in Ghana in relation to local and national politics. I attempt to address these three broad questions by sketching out a tentative approach to analysing marketwomen and their position in the political economy of Ghana. In order to develop my points with some clarity, I will use Robertson's article as a counterpoise against which to build my argument. As will be seen, however, I am in basic agreement with her conclusions concerning the women, and this shall be my starting point. I disagree with her empiricist methodology, arguing instead for a materialist theoretical framework within which to situate the

Government (linguistics · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Reading (process · Sociology · Stereotype (UML · Subsistence agriculture · Work (physics · African history and culture studies · History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

• “Feminists make too much noise!”

  Sylvia Bawa•Canadian Journal of African…•2018

  Incluir item

• Conceptualising marketplaces in Anglophone West Africa

  Open Access•L A Asante, I Helbrecht•GeoJournal•2018

  Incluir item

• Contact and identity

  Open Access•Jing Jing Liu•Journal of Community & Applied…•2010

  Incluir item

• Ghanaian Females, Rural Economy and National Stability

  Gwendolyn Mikell•African Studies Review•1986

  Incluir item

• The Death of Makola and Other Tragedies

  Carol E Robertson, Claire Robertson•Canadian Journal of African…•1983

  Incluir item

• Informal sector or petty commodity production

  Open Access•Caroline O N Moser, Caroline Moser•World Development•1978

  Incluir item

• Casual Work and Poverty in Third World Cities

  M A Tribe, Michael Tribe•African Affairs•1980

  Incluir item

• The Labouring Poor and Urban Class Formation

  Peter C W Gutkind, Carol E Robertson et al.•The International Journal of…•1979

  Incluir item