Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses CAHSS Theses and Dissertations and Dissertations 1-1-2015 Threads and Stitches of Peace- Understanding What Makes Ghana an Oasis of Peace? Hippolyt Akow Saamwan Pul Nova Southeastern University, [email protected] This document is a product of extensive research conducted at the Nova Southeastern University College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. For more information on research and degree programs at the NSU College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, please click here. Follow this and additional works at: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dcar_etd Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, African Studies Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Economic Policy Commons, Economics Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Infrastructure Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Political Science Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Religion Commons, Social Welfare Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Hippolyt Akow Saamwan Pul. 2015. Threads and Stitches of Peace- Understanding What Makes Ghana an Oasis of Peace?. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. (23) http://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_dcar_etd/23. This Dissertation is brought to you by the CAHSS Theses and Dissertations at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Threads and Stitches of Peace– Understanding What Makes Ghana an Oasis of Peace? By Hippolyt Akow Saamwan Pul A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Nova Southeastern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Nova Southeastern University 2015 Copyright © by Hippolyt Akow Saamwan Pul May, 2015 Dedication To my Grandfather, Norbert Guribie, who taught me the joy and dignity of hard work, dedication, and gave me the gift of multi-tasking. Without all of the above, I would have walked the single lane of life without the courage and motivation to take on more than one thing at a time. To my mother whose sacrifices of self and unquestionable devotion to us, your children, gave life beyond expectations to my siblings and me. Where many a young widow would have jumped off the boat, you stuck through the storm just so you could give us a hope and a life that you never had. The glory is yours. Uncle Philip of blessed memory, you had faith in me and sponsored my education from the secondary school to my first degree level. You did what many would have turned away from. The honor of this work is yours. To my wife Florence, and children Victor, Annette, Albert and Reuben, you anchored me in life and served as the compass for my journey in life. Acknowledgments “The cow does not say thank you to the pasture or the salt lick.” This Dagara proverb, my native tongue, translates at two levels. The first, the common one, says the cow feels it cannot and should not be expressing gratitude to the pasture or the salt lick each time she visits because she knows she will definitely come back, again, and again, for the same nourishment. How many times, then, can she say she is grateful? The second rendition of the proverb says the cow’s stance is that, even if this visit to the pasture or the salt lick were a one-time affair, she is nonetheless so deeply grateful for the nourishment so freely given that she cannot really express her gratitude in words. Silence and the interiorized gratitude is more expressive of her appreciation than any amount of words can ever express. I have seriously considered borrowing the wisdom of the cow and keeping mute on this page because there are so many people to thank for their generosity of time and knowledge shared that it might be better not to attempt saying thank you; lest I fail to do so profoundly enough. Worst still, I fear the risk of omitting to reach out to all the numerous people whose front and/or back stage support has made my venturing into academia after such a long sojourn in the world of work so fulfilling. But a log does not become a crocodile, no matter how long it stays in the water. Hence, no matter how much I wish to be a cow, human I am, and unto humans I must return. Therefore, the words of thanks, no matter how inadequate they are, must I offer. My decision to venture back into academia would not have been possible without the support of family and colleagues at work who had faith in me and offered their unwavering support as I took on the task. To Florence, my wife, I would probably go with the wisdom of the cow and not attempt to express my gratitude for your love and support. Victor, Annette, Albert, and Reuben, you were already used to having me as an absentee dad, as work kept me out of the house for much of the time over the last 25 years. In the last four years, you have had to further tolerate my unavailability even when I was home, as I locked myself up with books, headphones, and other academic accoutrements that made me unapproachable. Thank you for the love and support. Your own strides in your studies gave me the energy to trudge after you. To all members of my extended family, young and old alike, without your prayers and support, I may have dropped the ball along the line. Your cheers worked. In particular, but for the hospitality and mail delivery services that Dr. Valerian Nakaar and his wife, Laetitia Nakaar offered from the US side, this venture would have gone nowhere. Not only did you open up your home to me when I was in the United States, you religiously received and re-mailed every single book I required for my course work to me. Many are my supervisors and colleagues at work who prodded me onto this path and sustained me with their words of encouragement. To William (Bill) Rastetter, you did not only enthusiastically support my decision to take on this challenge; you created the opportunities and supported me to make the dream happen. Your initial leadership paved the way for your successors, Jean Maire Adrian, David Orth-Moore, and Paul Townsend, to stay the course and encouraged me along. Rev. Fr. William Headley (CSSPs), you mentored my interests in postgraduate studies in peacebuilding, and created the opportunities for me when you could. I am forever grateful for being there for me since we first worked together on peace in Ghana in 1997. Many on the faculty and administrative body of the Department of Conflict Analysis and Resolution of Nova Southeastern University have been very influential in shaping my thinking and direction since I enrolled in the PhD Program of the Department in January 2010. I am grateful to all. In particular, am eternally grateful to Dr. Muvingi who, as Chair of my Dissertation Committee, nudged and goaded me on when fatigue and work schedules nibbled away motivation and will power; especially when the preliminary stages of the field work for the dissertation research were taking longer than I anticipated. I am most grateful for your faith in me and all the guidance I received. To Dr. Robin Cooper and Dr. Elena Bastidas, you both agreed to serve on my Dissertation Committee, even though I did not get to take courses with you at DCAR. Nonetheless you found value in my research topic and had enough faith in my commitment not to disappoint you to accept to be on the Committee. Thank you for your trust and support. I committed to protecting the identities of the 1,460 individuals across Ghana whose views and voices, as research interviewees, created the pool of reflections and ideas for this dissertation. I shall respect my promise to you. Nonetheless, each of you must know that if this piece of work has any value to society, it is because you had faith in it to participate in interviews. In a country that is either overzealous or overly cynical about its state of peace, answering a series of questions on why Ghana is peaceful is probably not the most interesting conversation you would like to have. Yet, you gave off your time and your ideas to inform the outcome of this research. You spoke, but I take full responsibility for how your views have been represented in this dissertation research. Thank you. Collecting data from 50 Polling Areas that constituted the study sites across the country for the quantitative component of this study is daunting enough. Having to grapple with different local languages; navigate different terrains to get to sometimes difficult to reach study sites; managing cultural nuances related protocols for gaining entry into and acceptance in the study sites; as well as, getting access to and gaining the confidence of the interviewees, are all part of the multiple layers of challenges, for carrying out the field work. In a country where most communities are already fatigued from similar research assignments from state and nonstate actors and institutions, some handholding was essential to gain admittance into the selected study sites and the participation of the interviewees. To Ms. Irene Angbing of the University for Development Studies, Tamale, and Andrew Asamoah of Catholic Relief Services, I am very grateful to you for separately introducing to me the students and field agents from different parts of the country who guided me into the communities and facilitated access to respondents for the survey interviewees.