While obesity is now recognized as a major health concern in Ghana, the major drivers, causal factors, and their spatial variation remain unclear. Nutritional changes and lack of physical activity are frequently blamed but the underlying factors, particularly cultural values and practices, remain understudied. Using hot spot analysis and spatial autocorrelation, this research investigates the spatial patterns of obesity in Ghana and the explanatory factors. We also use focus group discussions to examine the primary cultural factors underlying these patterns. The results show that wealth, high education, and urban residence are the best positive predictors of obesity, while poverty, low education, and rural residence are the best (negative) predictors of obesity. Consequently, improving the socioeconomic status, for example, through higher levels of education and urbanization may increase obesity rates. Furthermore, the cultural preference for fat body as the ideal body size drives individual aspiration for weight gain which can lead to obesity. Thus, reducing obesity rates in Ghana is impossible without addressing the underlying cultural values.

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Indigenous dance music in Ghana serves peculiar roles in the lives of its practitioners from birth to death. This dissertation explores the role of the Kete dance of the Asante people as an Afrocentric agency of meaning-making. As a dance-music form, Kete is one of the most popular dances in Ghana and a major cultural attraction in the diaspora. Apart from ethnomusicological explorations of its music, not much has been done with regard to its movement element. I theorize Kete as a social construction that promotes and sustains culture through gestures. A performance of Kete at a particular context like a funeral can expose indigenous gender disparities, socio-cultural class structure, and embodied agencies for indigenous knowledge propagation. Through a qualitative research methodology including first-person methods of autoethnography and practical experiences, I examine my own experience and understanding of Kete as a practitioner since childhood and the experiences of selected participants in Ghana and the United States. The research also has an advocacy purpose through its affiliation with Afrocentricity. As a reflection of intelligent social structuring where dancers communicate through gestures, I explore the transition of Kete from the Manhyia palace in Kumasi (Traditional Category) to the Ghana Dance Ensemble (Academic and then Professional Category) in the University of Ghana from 1963 and explore the impact of neo-traditional structures on its proliferation today. Specifically, I explore the agency of the Kete dancer as centered within Kumasi and Accra, to ascertain to what extent this embodied knowledge can be explored through first-person methods to understand the structures of its proliferation and anticipated future developments. / Dance

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The growing demand for our most valuable resources; land, energy, and water, due to population growth and increased living standards, put the security of these resources at risk. The complexity of climate change, with the interdependencies between the aforementioned resources and potential feedback loops, makes the issue even more inextricable. This makes an integrated sectorial approach and sensible resource management crucial for decision making and policy development. To address these issues, a study of the agriculture sector of Ghana has been performed, by using GAEZ outputs in the OSeMOSYS framework. This enables the assessment to be done with multiple regions, in comparison to national data only. The results of this study show that coordination of agricultural practices on a national level, for the different regions, does not only reduce the necessary land use significantly, it also enables a growing demand to be met, and resources to be used more efficiently. It also provides guidance on where financial investments for irrigation and increased input levels are best placed. Finally, the results from this study highlight the importance of intersectoral assessments for policy developing. It should be stated that the integration with a climate, energy and water model, is essential to reach the full potential of this model. / En växande världsbefolkning och en ökad levnadsstandard resulterar i en allt större efterfrågan på våra mest värdefulla resurser nämligen: land, energi och vatten. Vilket i sin tur resulterar i att tillgången till dessa resurser hotas. Komplexiteten associerad med klimatförändringar på grund av sammanlänkningen mellan dessa resurser och de potentiell återkopplings-effekterna, gör det hela än mer svåröverskådligt. Detta betonar vikten av gränsöverskridande tillvägagångssätt och effektiv resurs-hantering, vid utformande av policy. För att adressera detta, har en studie av Ghanas jordbrukssektor utförts, med hjälp av data från GAEZ som sedermera legat till grund för inputs i OSeMOSYS. Detta har i möjliggjort att analysen kunde utföras på fler regioner än bara en nationell nivå. Resultaten av denna studie visar dels att nationell koordinering av jordbrukssektorn, resulterar i både att jordbruksarealen kan reduceras avsevärt, det medför även att landet har möjlighet att tillgodose en växande efterfrågan och effektivisera resursanvändningen. Dessutom ger den underlag för optimala investerings-allokeringar, avseende bevattningssystem och insats. Slutligen understryker resultaten från denna studien betydelsen av beslutsunderlag baserade på gränsöverbryggande studier. För framtida studier, bör denna jordbruksmodell integreras med klimat-, energi och vattenmodell för att nå bästa möjliga resultat.

Research on the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) often notes the potential benefits for users to revise, reuse, and remix OER to localize it for specific learners. However, a gap in the literature exists in terms of research that explores how this localization occurs in practice. This is a significant gap given the current flow of OER from higher-income countries in the Global North to lower-income countries in the Global South (King et al., 2018). This study explores how OER from one area of the world is localized when it is used in a different cultural context. As part of a larger ed-tech project in Ghana, I piloted a human rights manual that I helped develop and interviewed six facilitators of that course to see how they tailored the course to their students in Ghana. The goal was to understand their experience, their decisions, and their challenges and to explore the practice of localization and the challenges and affordances related to that practice. Findings indicated complex encounters with decontextualized content and a variety of localization practices. Participants expressed feelings of ill-fit and cultural tensions in navigating between the human rights content in the OER manual and local cultural practices. They also experienced challenges with technology due to low bandwidth and hardware problems, as well as language problems given Ghana's history of colonial rule. Native speakers of Twi are less proficient reading Twi than their national language, English. As facilitators worked to overcome these challenges, they were most likely to informally localize content in intuitive ways during the class based on students' needs. Informal, in-the-moment practices included translating content into Twi, persisting through technological challenges, using local stories and pictures, localizing through discussion, and teaching responsively. While none of the participants were initially aware of OER and its unique permissions, as they became aware of OER, discussion around localization included these themes: 1. the burdensome process of localization 2. need for support 3. need for flexible formatting to allow editing 4. technological barriers 5. the practice of remaking the lessons into tailored slide presentations. These findings have implications for designers of OER and their awareness of real mismatches and otherness created by decontextualized content. There are also suggestions for ways to apply findings and design intentionally with space for localization. More research on the practice of OER localization would refine our understanding of how OER is localized and what barriers and affordances exist to this practice.

Background: The burden of breast cancer may contribute to elevated psychological distress. Conversely, distress may negatively impact the development, recurrence and diagnosis of cancer as it compromises the immune system and adherence to treatment, creating a vicious cycle. With the breast cancer fatality rate significantly higher in Sub-Saharan African women than in women living in higher income countries, further research is needed to limit the devastating impact of chronic diseases on this population. Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine if Ghanaian breast cancer patients were more susceptible to higher psychological distress and lower quality of life than healthy Ghanaian women and how their lived experiences affect their mental health. Method: Sixty-four breast cancer patients and 64 healthy participants were recruited to complete the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and World Health Organization Quality of life-BREF scale. The life experiences of women living with breast cancer were assessed through semi-structured interviews. Results: Breast cancer patients had higher psychological distress than the healthy women and also scored lower on the quality of life domains of physical health, psychological well-being and environment. The lived experiences of the breast cancer patients followed a similar journey from suspicion of ill-health to difficulty navigating the health system, feeling the effects of breast cancer and lastly, regaining confidence. Breast cancer had affected the women’s daily activities, health, female identity, roles and responsibilities. However, financial, emotional and social support, together with individual coping mechanisms such as religion and physical exercise, mitigated the impact of the breast disease. Conclusion: Patient centered care approaches could ease the psychological distress of breast cancer patients. Finally, future research should investigate methods of improving the women’s psychological well-being, physical health and environment as it may positively impact the prognosis of Ghanaian breast cancer patients. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)