In Double Exile: A Memoir examines the life of a family of Ghanaian immigrants and their journeys of acculturation, and the impact of the father's spiraling mental health issues on his family. Through the eyes of their daughter, this thesis briefly explores their lives on the right side of the Atlantic, as medical professionals, and then focuses on the life of their daughter born in America on the left side of the Atlantic. As novelist Georges Simenon has said, "I am at home everywhere, and nowhere. I am never a stranger and I never quite belong." This memoir explores this tension between alienation and connection, as a second-generation immigrant grows up navigating between various cultures: to dominant American culture, evangelical Christian/Southern culture, African-American culture, and Ghanaian culture. In an attempt to understand the present, this thesis is a sankofa journey back into the author's history. Spanning over four decades, the memoir uncovers various exilic configurations: exiled from family, from ethnic heritage, from home, and from one's self.

No description available.

No description available.

Studies of Ghanaians who have immigrated to the United States indicate that both economic and emotional support continue to be provided to non-migrant families in Ghana. However support to “family relatives” has been studied generally, without specifying age. Thus, relationships between immigrants and their elderly relatives, particularly those who may be frail and vulnerable, have not been the focus of previous research. In addition, it is necessary to examine the dynamics that shape attitudes towards elderly people, and which in turn influence eldercare patterns among Ghanaian immigrants. Based on the literature, the researcher identified four factors relevant to international long-distance eldercare: (1) support caregivers receive (or previously received) from elderly relatives, (2) filial obligation towards elderly relatives, (3) perceived vulnerability of the elderly people in Ghana, and (4) vulnerabilities that make immigrants unable to provide eldercare. The main objective of this study was to examine the extent to which these four factors shape the provision of eldercare by Ghanaian immigrants in the United States to their elderly relatives in Ghana. To achieve this objective, a convenience sample of 124 Ghanaian immigrants who resided in a large metropolitan area in the southern United States was surveyed. Study results reveal that the dominant type of eldercare provided was emotional care, but special circumstances in elderly people’s lives, such as serious financial problems may significantly increase their chances of receiving financial support. For caregivers, their levels of income significantly determined the level of financial support provided to their elderly relatives and how often they visited them. It was also found that there are always some siblings left in Ghana to take care of the physical needs of elderly parents in the absence of those who have migrated. Elderly people having multiple migrant adult children or relatives were more likely to receive financial support from multiple sources. Factors contributing to immigrants supporting elders in Ghana included feelings of high obligation toward elderly relatives, readiness to show love and appreciation for elderly relatives, and acceptance of eldercare as a moral obligation for all adult children. Overall, there was evidence to conclude that most immigrants provided care to their elderly relatives and that most were influenced by the social and cultural tenets that underlie elder caregiving in Ghanaian society. Implications of the study for social work research include the importance of further exploration of factors that might result in reduction in the care immigrants provide to their non-migrant elderly relatives, and replication of the current study with the view of explaining the inability of both elderly relatives’ and immigrants’ vulnerabilities to predict level of care. Given the possible psychological distress associated with caregiving and its effect on immigrants’ time and financial resources, social work practitioners need to be sensitive to the financial and emotional aspects of long distance caregiving by providing services to caregivers who may need them. Policy implications include maximizing remittances by reducing transaction cost and using remittance as leverage for financial grants for family investments.

Although scholars and Christian leaders have indicated that there is marked separation between morality and spirituality in the Christian praxis of many Africans and that the African worldview, which African Christians still hold is responsible for this separation, there has not been a detailed study of the issue. The aim of the research is to offer an explanation, of a paradox in Ghanaian society where there is enthusiastic Christian spirituality that is separated from social morality, so that a deeper integration of the Christian and Akan traditional moral schemes can be proposed.My research focuses on Pentecostals in Ghana whose appropriation of the African worldview into Christian praxis has generally been considered as a positive response to African religiosity. By the use of a practical theological method of correlation whereby the Christian truth is represented by the moral theology of John Wesley and brought in dialogue with the Akan traditional moral scheme, this research offers reasons for and proposes a solution to the lack of social morality in Ghanaian Pentecostalism. It uses the virtue theory as a heuristic tool for the analysis of morality in a way that provides explanation for the situation and guides an integration of the two moral schemes at a deeper level. The examination of the two moral schemes has been guided by the elements of character, a central theme of the virtue theory. It has been shown that the ‘Deliverance Theology’ of Ghanaian Pentecostals involves significant misrepresentation of the Akan traditional scheme, and that this situation causes many Christians to focus on religion as a means for the supply of existential needs rather than the transformation of inner dispositions for moral character formation. This research shows that reinterpreting the Akan view of humanity and integrating it with the Wesleyan account of the Christian truth, transforms the ‘Deliverance Theology’ by portraying the Christian life as a pneumatological characterology. The moral responsibility that this entails will ensure that African Pentecostals understand social morality as an essential outcome of their Christian spirituality.

Il contesto contemporaneo pare attraversato da una grande sfida umana, che chiama in causa ognuno di noi ad interrogarsi circa il significato di educare nel tempo della pluralità. L’epoca attuale è caratterizzata dal fenomeno migratorio, dalla presenza stabile di cittadini di origine straniera residenti nel territorio italiano e da una globalizzazione della persona umana. È in questo contesto che il presente lavoro prende in esame, nel quadro della ricerca qualitativa qui condotta, le narrazioni di storie di vita di genitori di origine ghanese residenti nella provincia di Bergamo e Brescia al fine di problematizzare alcune categorie pedagogiche legate al ruolo genitoriale. Ne emerge uno spaccato interessante che mostra l’importanza per questi genitori di mantenere un legame con la terra di origine, la necessità di aprirsi al contesto in cui vivono e la sfida nel rapporto con i figli nati e/o cresciuti nel paese di residenza. La ricerca ha dimostrato come la pedagogia, accogliendo questi vissuti, sia in grado di promuovere riflessioni e spazi di interesse in cui le differenze reciproche sono occasione di crescita comune, nella molteplicità delle culture. / The contemporary context seems to be marked by a great human challenge which calls each of us into question about the meaning of educating in this time of plurality. The time we live in is characterized by the migration phenomenon , the stable presence of citizens of foreign origin living in the Italian territory and by a globalization of the human person. The present work has examined, within the framework of qualitative research and the current social context, the life stories of Ghanaian-born parents living in the province of Bergamo and Brescia. This was carried out in an attempt to problematize multiple pedagogical categories related to the parenting function. The result is an interesting cross- section that shows the importance for these parents to maintain a bond with the country of origin, the need to open up to the context in which they live, and the challenge found in the relationship with their children born and/or raised in their country of residence. The research has shown how pedagogy, by accepting these experiences, is able to promote reflections and spaces of interest in which mutual differences are an opportunity for common growth within the multiplicity of cultures.

Gender is one of the central organizing principles around which social and corporate innovation revolves. The multinational Ghanaian mining is dominated by men and masculinity cultures. To gain an adequate understanding of this phenomenon, it is prudent to explore its gendered nature. This thesis reflects consciously upon the pre-entry, organizational and sociocultural barriers affecting the effective participation of women in mine jobs. And beyond the barriers, it examines what changes have occurred, occasioning a shift in gender dynamics, leading to an increasing number of women participation in the industry? The current thesis adopts a case study method, deploying a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches; administered questionnaires, conducted individual interviews, observations, archival documents, and focus group discussions with respondents in four mining companies and a mining and technology university in Ghana. The AMOS–based structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the quantitative data, while thematic and discourse analysis was employed in analyzing the qualitative narratives of the respondents. Results of the thesis point to the social construction of gender in science, engineering and technology education as a pre-entry barrier. Also, a complex web of male-dominance, gender bias, role models and mentorship constraints, coupled with unfriendly family work policies were noted organizational barriers. In furtherance, common prejudices, perceptions and stereotyped notions of gender roles in the mines constituted noted sociocultural factors constraining effective participation of women in mine work. However beyond the pre-entry, organizational and sociocultural barriers, the current thesis intuits a phenomenon of a ‘women’s revolution’ in the mines, witnessing collective efforts from Women in Mining Ghana as well as the mine workers’ organizations and allied institutions adopting gender strategic measures, such as the ‘ore solidarity,’ gender mainstreaming in admission programmes as well as gender-driven mining initiatives aimed at re-engineering or striking a shift in gender dynamics in the mine jobs of Ghana. Consequently, the classic and continuous male-dominance in Ghanaian mines constitute a considerable concern for mine work organizational development, with practical implications for the mining industry, employment, and  labor relation practices as well as public policy in Ghana. Therefore, affirmative action is recommended for gender deconstruction and promotion of gender democracy. Indeed this move for inclusivity will engender poverty eradication work towards achieving organizational modernization, their global competitiveness and an assurance for gender-driven social innovative mining.

The main motivation for the development of various strategies to represent written text in a concise way among mobile phone users all over the world is the need to communicate full messages in abridged forms in order to save time, energy and money. These alternative forms of words and phrases are especially employed by the youth. In this paper, the innovative adaptation of global SMS texting trends in the form of intricate abbreviation and contraction of words and phrases in Kiswahili in Tanzania is examined and compared with trends in SMS texting language in English in Ghana. Using empirical data made up of SMS texts from students of the University of Dar es Salaam and University of Ghana, localized as well as convergent and divergent trends and the socio-pragmatic motivations of the phenomena are analysed and discussed.

The early 1800s witnessed the exodus of former slaves from Brazil to Africa. A number of slaves migrated after gaining manumission. Others were deported after they were accused of committing various “crimes” and after slave rebellions. These returnees established various communities and identities along the coastline of West Africa, but Historians often limit the scope to communities that developed in Benin, Togo and Nigeria. My dissertation fills in this gap by highlighting the obscured history of the Tabom people—the descendants of Afro-Brazilian returnees in Ghana. The study examines the history of the Tabom people to show the various ways they are constructing their identities and how their leaders are forging ties with the Brazilian government, the Ghanaian government, and institutions such as UNESCO. The main goal of the Tabom people is to preserve their history, to underscore the significance of sites of memories, and to restore various historical monuments within their communities for tourism. The economic consciousness contributed to the restoration of the “Brazil House” in Accra which was opened for tourism on November 15, 2007, after a year of repairs through the support of the Brazilian Embassy and various institutions in Ghana. This watershed moment not only marked an important historical event and the birth of tourism within the Tabom community, but epitomized decades of attempts to showcase the history of the Afro-Brazilian community which has been obscured in Ghanaian school curriculum and African diaspora history. My central thesis is that the initiatives by the Tabom people are not only influenced by economic interests, but also by the need to express the “dual” identities that underlie what it means to the “Ghanaian-Brazilian.” The efforts by the Tabom leaders to project their dual heritage, led to the visit by Brazilian President Luiz Inácios Lula da Silva “Lula” in April 2005, who also graciously supported the restoration of the “Brazil House.” Through these interactions Lula extended an invitation to the Tabom chief and members of the community to visit Brazil for the first time. This dissertation posits that Lula’s invitation highlight notions that the African Diaspora is an unending journey. / text

Not available / text