Gun Culture in Kumasi

Bibliographic Data

ID2620118
AuthorsT C Mccaskie (corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume78
Issue3
Pages433-454
Publication date2008-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3366/e0001972008000260
OpenAlexW2064044763
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited20

This article is about gun culture in Kumasi today. Gun use in Asante, and elsewhere in Ghana, has increased significantly in the last decade. In practice and in the public imagination this is associated with the rise of youth gangs and the criminalization of urban space. Much has been written about youths and violence elsewhere in Africa, but this article focuses on the neglected topic of guns themselves - their manufacture, sale, distribution, use and meanings. In Kumasi, which in Suame Magazine has the biggest indigenous metalwork and engineering complex in all of West Africa, skilled artisans now make copies of imported automatic assault rifles, like the Soviet AK-47, as well as shotguns and pistols. This development is explored in a number of ways, and most especially in terms of the relationship between guns and their local history, Kumasi youth, crime and shifting patterns of desire and consumption. It is the purpose of this article to add to the growing literature on 'violent youth' in Africa, but to do so from the viewpoint of the weapons that enable this violence

Consumption (sociology · Criminalization · Criminology · Geography · Indigenous · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Digital Games and Media · Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies

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