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- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies
Description
Africa is misrepresented and mis-imaged in the western media. Because of this, notions and beliefs about atrocities that take place on the continent lack context, leaving people to think that Africa is a place of misery, darkness and despair; a monolithic land where evil resides. The image of Africa as the "heart of darkness" was conjured following the Joseph Conrad novel and the idea of Africa as the "Dark Continent" still pervades Western thought. This is an inadequate understanding of Africa, and lacks the context to comprehend why many of the atrocities in Africa occur. I will explore two atrocities in Africa, the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and child slavery on Lake Volta in Ghana. I believe that both these examples reflect how the label of evil is insufficient to describe the circumstances around each atrocity. In order to understand such events we must understand the part that colonialism and poverty play in the disruption of pan-African culture. The "evils" of these two phenomenon, are in many cases the result of the Western world's past involvement in Africa and are remnants and extensions of the disruption caused.
ContributorsBork, Paul (Author) / Simmons, William P (Thesis advisor) / Erfani, Julie (Committee member) / Anokye, Duku A (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Historical study of Congo and Ghana during the period of decolonization with context of colonialism. The ideas of Neo-Colonialism and Pan-Africanism are explained and contrasted. Neo-Colonialism is a criticism of the coercive activities of former colonizing countries in former colonies. Pan-Africanism is the idea that all African people should be united to combat oppression and prejudice. These two forces directly clashed during decolonization with the United States playing the part of a Neo-Colonial power. The U.S., through organizations such as the C.I.A., attempted to destroy Pan-African ideas in both the Congo under Patrice Lumumba and Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah.
ContributorsKnight, Keith Willis (Author) / El Hamel, Chouki (Thesis director) / Mirvis, Stanley (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human- rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth.
~ Kofi Annan, Seventh United Nations Secretary-General
The Ghanaian culture is deeply entrenched with patriarchal beliefs and ideologies. Male supremacy is widespread throughout all spheres of life. Patriarchy ideologies in Ghana ascribe the qualities of a good wife and constrain the possibilities for girls and women. Furthermore, the doctrines of patriarchy in Ghana contribute to the state of violence. There are various forms of violence faced by Ghanaian women such as domestic violence, social violence, psychological violence, physical violence, economic violence, and sexual abuse. Women are not empowered to be independent with the capacity to defend their human rights. Men occupy most of the leadership positions hence making the critical decisions further propagating patriarchy.
Additionally, the attitudes by women accepting the patriarchal culture as the norm justify men to continue the bad habits that discriminate against women. The prevalence of violence is high with one in every three women experiencing some form of violence in Ghana. The Ghanaian Government has made significant strides in fighting violence by enacting the domestic violence act of 2007. The bill has created a platform through which victims of abuse can access justice. This paper will argue that violence against women and girls in Ghana is deeply ingrained in the culture that it has become normalized and for changes to be made, Ghana needs to look at a radical shift in attitudes towards men and women in terms of dismantling the patriarchal ideologies.
Keywords: Ghanaian Government, Ghana, violence, patriarchal ideology.
~ Kofi Annan, Seventh United Nations Secretary-General
The Ghanaian culture is deeply entrenched with patriarchal beliefs and ideologies. Male supremacy is widespread throughout all spheres of life. Patriarchy ideologies in Ghana ascribe the qualities of a good wife and constrain the possibilities for girls and women. Furthermore, the doctrines of patriarchy in Ghana contribute to the state of violence. There are various forms of violence faced by Ghanaian women such as domestic violence, social violence, psychological violence, physical violence, economic violence, and sexual abuse. Women are not empowered to be independent with the capacity to defend their human rights. Men occupy most of the leadership positions hence making the critical decisions further propagating patriarchy.
Additionally, the attitudes by women accepting the patriarchal culture as the norm justify men to continue the bad habits that discriminate against women. The prevalence of violence is high with one in every three women experiencing some form of violence in Ghana. The Ghanaian Government has made significant strides in fighting violence by enacting the domestic violence act of 2007. The bill has created a platform through which victims of abuse can access justice. This paper will argue that violence against women and girls in Ghana is deeply ingrained in the culture that it has become normalized and for changes to be made, Ghana needs to look at a radical shift in attitudes towards men and women in terms of dismantling the patriarchal ideologies.
Keywords: Ghanaian Government, Ghana, violence, patriarchal ideology.
ContributorsAmpadu-Siaw, Keziah (Author) / King, Kristy (Thesis director) / Frick, Kimberly (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This work explores the underlying dynamics of democracies in the context of underdevelopment, arguing that when society has not attained a substantial degree of economic independence from the state, it undermines democratic quality and stability. Economic underdevelopment and political oppression are mutually reinforcing, and both are rooted in the structure of the agriculture sector, the distribution of land, and the rural societies that emerge around this order. These systems produce persistent power imbalances that militate toward their continuance, encourage dependency, and foster the development of neopatrimonialism and corruption in the government, thereby weakening key pillars of democracy such as accountability and representativeness. Through historical analysis of a single case study, this dissertation demonstrates that while this is partly a result of actor choices at key points in time, it is highly influenced by structural constraints embedded in earlier time periods. I find that Ghana’s historical development from the colonial era to present day closely follows this trajectory.
ContributorsEllis, Alicia N (Author) / Thies, Cameron (Thesis advisor) / Warner, Carolyn (Committee member) / Thomson, Henry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Many global development initiatives focus on improving access to safe and affordable water. Governments and infrastructure in rapidly urbanizing cities struggle to meet the increased demand for water, especially in peri-urban and informal settlements of sub-Saharan Africa. The private sector, in the form of small water enterprises (SWEs), plays an increasing role in satisfying demand for water, but their greater effects have seldom been investigated. This research explores how SWEs affect access to household water in a peri-urban settlement of Accra, Ghana and investigates their social, economic, and environmental impacts in the community. This research also examines how SWEs influence security and sustainability goals within the framing concepts of the US Army’s Stability doctrine and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The methods employed in this study were interviews, observation, and review of existing literature and case studies. Results of this qualitative analysis reveal that while SWEs increase and diversify local access to clean water, provide economic opportunities and jobs—especially to women—they also present environmental and health concerns when unregulated and unaddressed by educators, city officials, and community leaders. Further, in cases where municipal governments cannot provide safe and consistent access to clean water in the given location, results show that SWEs enterprises can work in cohesion with both the SDGs and the US Army stability goals. Moving forward, city officials, development programs, and US Army stability doctrine should consider supporting SWEs to increase water access and improve other developmental outcomes, while working to avoid potentially negative environmental and health outcomes.
ContributorsMallue, Natalie (Author) / White, Dave D. (Thesis advisor) / Allenby, Brad (Committee member) / Richmond, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019