'Natives' and 'strangers' on the outskirts of Kumasi

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Periodical article

Title:	'Natives' and 'strangers' on the outskirts of Kumasi
Author:	Berry, Sara
Year:	2006
Periodical:	Ghana Studies
Volume:	9
Pages:	25-59
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	social change urbanization economic inequality chieftaincy landownership dwellings 1990-1999
Abstract:	The author compares changing patterns of land access and social difference on the cocoa-farming frontiers of the mid-20th century and the periurban frontiers of the late 20th and early 21st. In both cases, thousands of Ghanaians migrated to the frontiers in question. Asokore-Mampon, a village on the outskirts of Kumasi, Ghana, took part in both. Asokore-Mampon has also felt the effects of globalization between 1993 and 2002, a period in which growth and inequality have gone hand in hand. Differences in incomes and living standards have become apparent, both in the size and quality of older houses compared with those newly built with remittances from abroad, and in the varied fortunes of their occupants, who are discursively referred to as 'natives' and 'strangers'. But the author notes that the politics of reform and democratization have been complex, with a renewed emphasis on 'custom', not only as cultural heritage, but also as a source of social and political legitimacy. Traditional authorities have tregained legitimacy and influence, while some have also emerged as entrepreneurs. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]