Nähe und Distanz: Freundschaften bei nordghanaischen Migranten in Accra/Tema

Barbara Meier

Africa Spectrum, 2004, vol. 39, issue 1, 41-62

Abstract: The paper deals with friendship relationships among migrant groups from Northern Ghana in Accra/Tema. The author examines the rural home area as well as the urban setting of the various migrant groups from the Upper East Region in Ghana (Tallensi, Frafra, Kusase, and Bulsa) to provide the conceptual framework of the commonly shared ideal of friendship that, according to many proverbs, is sharply contrasted to kinship relations. One of the focal questions shall be whether migrants make use of the concept of friendship as a means of social integration into the urban environment. From a theoretical point of view it is the perspective of migration as a transitory period in migrants' biographies which explains the deeply felt vulnerability in the strange urban context. Thus, migration may be viewed as a rite de passage constituted by the various phases of leaving home, settling in, returning and settling back in. The actual sojourn in town may be interpreted as phase of liminality which calls for careful actions and an eventual return to the respective places of origin, even if only as a firm intention. The migrant groups from the Upper East Region have found a new corporate identity in view of their marginalised status vis à vis other dominant groups in the South of Ghana. However, in addition to the common identity as Northerners, friendship and joking relationships have evolved between certain ethnic groups thus providing an interesting field for the study of friendship relations between groups. Some of the material to be presented hints at a gender-specific practice of friendship relationships in view of the quality, intensity, and amount of time invested. Thus, female migrants seem to prefer to be part of a larger social network rather than maintaining intimate relationships with individuals. Another friendship related incidence that has been modified over time and in the urban situation, is the institutionalised platonic relationship between a married woman and another man which requires specific behavioural patterns that are generally felt to be outmoded.

Date: 2004
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