Between respect and reciprocity: managing old age in rural Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21504/sajg.v6i2.116Abstract
Two principles underlie the attitude towards elderly people and their care in the Akan culture of Ghana: respect and reciprocity. The author argues that these principles are often in conflict with one another. Elderly people are entitled to respect because of their advanced age but they may not deserve it in terms of reciprocity. The ambivalence in the Akan attitude towards elderly people should be seen in the light of the contradiction. A culture of pretending provides young and old with the means to solve this contradiction. Outward respect is showered upon the elderly, both by younger generations and the elderly themselves, but adequate care may be withheld. A "fitting" funeral is the approved design for finishing off this uneasy condition gracefully. This article is based on anthropological research in a rural town in the southern part of Ghana.References
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Yankah, K. 1989. The proverb in the context of Akan rhetoric. A theory of proverb praxis. Bern: Peter Lang.
Yankah, K. 1995. Speaking for the chief Okyeame and the politics of Akan royal oratory. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Brown, C.K. 1995. Aging and family care in Ghana. A study in caring relationships. Cape Coast: University of Cape Coast, Centre for Development Studies. Research Report Series No 26.
Burke, K. 1957. The philosophy of literary form. New York: Vintage Books.
Christaller, J.G. 1933. Dictionary of the Asante and Fante language called Tshi (Twi). Basel: Basel Evangelical Missionary Society.
Rattray, R.S. 1916. Akan-Ashanti proverbs. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Rattray, R.S. 1923. Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sarpong, P .K. 1974. Ghana in retrospect. Some aspects of Ghanaian culture. Tema: Ghana Publishing.
Sarpong, P .K. 1983. Ageing and tradition. In: Opare-Abetia, J. (Ed.) Ageing and social change: a Ghanaian perspective. Legon: Institute of Adult Education, pp. 13-20.
Stucki, B.R. 1995. Managing the social clock: the negotiation of elderhood among rural Asante of Ghana. Ph.D. thesis. Evanston, III.: Northwestern University.
Van der Geest, S. 1995. Old people and funerals in a rural Ghanaian community: ambiguities in family care. Southern African Journal of Gerontology, 4(2): 33-40.
Van der Geest, S. n.d.a. Money and respect: the changing value of old age in rural Ghana. Forthcoming in Africa.
Van der Geest, S. n.d.b. Opanyin: the elder in the Akan culture of Ghana. In review.
Weiner, A.B. 1996. Reciprocity. In: Levinson, D. & Ember, M. (Eds) Encyclopedia of cultural anthropology. New York: Henry Holt, pp. 1060-1068.
Yankah, K. 1989. The proverb in the context of Akan rhetoric. A theory of proverb praxis. Bern: Peter Lang.
Yankah, K. 1995. Speaking for the chief Okyeame and the politics of Akan royal oratory. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
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1997-10-01
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