Getting Married and the Making of Manhoods in a Ghanaian Zongo

Emil Dauncey 3750701 Getting Married and the Making of Manhoods in a Ghanaian Zongo. by Emil Dauncey. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. School of International Development Studies, University of East Anglia. January 2016 © This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis, nor any information derived there from, may be published without the author’s prior, written consent. 1 Emil Dauncey 3750701 Abstract. This thesis is about getting married and the making of manhoods in Sabon Zongo; a Muslim, Hausa enclave in Accra. I elaborate the normative rights and responsibilities of men within idealised relations of consumption, production and exchange, and how they are implicated in accepted and valued notions of manhood. Men achieve and articulate socially accepted and valued, productive and responsible manhoods through marriage by establishing a household of dependents. Irrespective of actual productive activities, women, children and unmarried 'youth' are said to be incapable of meeting their own consumption needs, and so dependent on male household heads, who produce and provide on their behalf. These dependencies are said to justify the status, prestige and authority of married men. Whilst marriage matters to men because it brings about an improvement in how they are socially evaluated, it is seldom easily achieved. Unmarried men must subordinate themselves to the authority of senior men, whose support is necessary if their marital aspirations are to be realised. Thus it is control over reproduction, rather than production and productive resources, which underpins male authority. However, idealised accounts of manhood, and the marital process through which it is achieved, often contradict what actually happens in practice. I explore men’s efforts to reconcile tensions between ideals and actualities. I examine marital pathways as sites of representation, in which men seek to influence the social evaluations made of them by others. I draw on Goffman (1956, 1974, 1980) and De Certeau (1984) to examine how men go about curating and choreographing the marital process, in particular the exchange of marriage goods, and how they seek to manage information for impression management. I show how a convincing performance requires the cooperation of others, including one’s notional dependents. This reveals a paradox of dependency; in that such cooperation is not only difficult for men to secure, but may involve compromises that call their very manhoods in to question. 2 Emil Dauncey 3750701 Acknowledgements “Do not whine and be complex-ridden, because it is annoying” Umberto Eco (2015 p.184) At various junctures throughout this PhD process, my supervisors have had cause to advise me that “the owl of Minerva flies at dusk”. As I write these acknowledgements, it is Eco’s words quoted above that hover on the horizon. Foremost amongst the many who have tolerated my complexes and endured my whining are my supervisors, Professor Cecile Jackson and Dr Catherine Locke. I am incredibly fortunate to have benefitted from their supervision. Their intellect, energy and enthusiasm have been fuel for the good times, but it is perhaps their unwavering patience and willingness to scrape me off the ground in the bad for which I am most grateful. Thanks must also go to all at the School of International Development Studies at the University of East Anglia, where this PhD was undertaken. I am grateful for having benefitted from the guidance and support of the faculty, students and staff there, not least my fellow PhD students Will Monteith, Graeme Tolley, Daniel Wroe, Ines Ferreira and Lucy Baker. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr Colette Harris and Dr Adam Manvell for the ideas and insights they provided at various stages of this journey. A debt of gratitude is also due to Professor Deborah Pellow. This thesis owes a great deal to her own work in Sabon Zongo. I would also like to thank Professor Andrea Cornwall and Dr Ben Jones, who I was fortunate enough to have as examiners. Though the sun sets on my thesis, I carry their comments with me as I embark on a new journey. Thanks must also go to my Mum. Her academic journey has been a source of inspiration. I am grateful for her intellectual and emotional support. Thanks are also due to my Dad. He has suffered my doubts, anxieties and frustrations more than anyone and yet his kindness and generosity have remained unflinching. Thanks are extended to the branches of the Dauncey and Mehta households in Brighton and Havant and to my aunt Marjorie in Norfolk. For their friendship I would like to thank, Greg McGoon, Zenia Kish, Aiden Luce, Paul Stanbridge, Rebecca Short, Tommy Reid, Clare Nugent, Charlotte Turner, Mei Lin Wong, Tristan Roche, Helen Stonely, Aiden Luce, Tom (Pablo) Dalby, Joe Hill, John and Helen Parker, Jose and Laura McGill, Luke and Hollie Sanger, Betsy and Roo. In Ghana, thanks are due to Nansata Yakubu, John Ginsburg, Muhsin Baako, Nadia Bako, Poncho Hamisu, Helen Morrisey, Alhaji Yusuf, Helen Teague, Jack Sanger and Jika. Above all, I wish to thank the people of Sabon Zongo. This thesis has only been possible by virtue of their hospitality. I thank them for letting me into their lives, their kindness, patience and friendship. Finally, I wish to thank the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC), which provided the funding for this work. 3 Emil Dauncey 3750701 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... 4 GLOSSARY OF HAUSA TERMS ........................................................................ 9 CHAPTER ONE: THE PUZZLE ......................................................................... 11 1.1 INTRODUCTION: ’MUTUMIN KIRKII’ – THE CONCEPT OF THE GOOD MAN IN HAUSA11 1.2 A MAID IN MANHATTAN AT OAKVILLE TOWN HALL ........................................... 14 1.3 EDUTAINMENT ............................................................................................. 16 1.4 NORMATIVE ASPIRATIONS ............................................................................. 18 1.5 THE DRAMATURGICAL SELF: IMAGINING SELVES AND OTHERS ......................... 21 1.6 WHEN THE HEART IS HUNGRY: MARRIAGE AND THE DESIRE FOR MANHOOD ..... 25 1.7 PERFORMANCE ANXIETIES ............................................................................ 30 1.8 CONCLUSION: THE ANALYSIS TO FOLLOW ...................................................... 33 CHAPTER TWO: WALKING IN ZONGO ........................................................... 38 2.1 LOCATING ZONGO ........................................................................................ 38 2.2 ORIGINS OF ZONGO...................................................................................... 39 2.3 LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: SOCIAL-SPATIAL ORGANISATION ............................... 42 2.4 MAKING ENDS MEET ................................................................................... 54 2.5 ISLAM IN ZONGO .......................................................................................... 56 2.6 ‘ZONGWANCI’: THE CONVERGENCE OF ISLAM AND HAUSA. .............................. 59 The Hausa in Precolonial Ghana.................................................................. 62 The Hausa in Accra ...................................................................................... 63 Being Hausa in Sabon Zongo ...................................................................... 66 2.7 THE HIGH TABLE AT SALLAH REMIX: FORMAL POLITICAL AUTHORITY IN ZONGO..73 2.8 LANDLORDS AND LODGERS ........................................................................... 83 2.9 DEPARTURES............................................................................................... 90 2.10 ARRIVAL .................................................................................................... 92 2.11 GETTING TO KNOW PEOPLE ........................................................................ 94 2.12 SETTING UP BASE ...................................................................................... 97 4 Emil Dauncey 3750701 2.13 TRYING TO LEARN A LANGUAGE ................................................................ 100 2.14 OPPORTUNITY COSTS: THE ROLE OF RECIPROCITY IN FIELDWORK .............. 102 2.15 HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND DISAPPOINT PEOPLE: INSIGHTS ACHIEVED FROM FAILURE .......................................................................................................... 105 CHAPTER THREE: THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE ..................................... 106 3.1 ALLIANCE OR DESCENT? STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM AND MARRIAGE......... 106 3.2 ACCOUNTING FOR WOMEN ......................................................................... 108 3.3 MULTIPLE IDENTITIES AND INTERSECTIONALITY ............................................. 112 3.4 LOCATING AGENCY .................................................................................... 113 3.5 MEN, MASCULINITIES AND MARRIAGE .......................................................... 116 3.6 CONCLUSION: THE COCK THAT CROWS; OR WHAT DO IDEALS ACTUALLY DO? 124 CHAPTER FOUR: TRANSITIONS FROM YOUTH ........................................

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