The Drum Wars The Clash of Religious Groups in a Cosmopolitan City
Main Article Content
Keywords
Religious conflict, Religion and Sound, Protracted Social Conflict, Conflict in Africa
Abstract
Ghana has been lauded for its democratic credentials and stability since its successful implementation of multi-party democracy in 1992. In recent times, this image of stability has come under threat because of a conflict between the Ga traditionalists and some Pentecostal-Charismatic churches. Every year, the Ga Traditional Council impose a 30- day universal ban on drumming and all forms of noisemaking, in preparation for the Homowo, festival. On the one hand, the Ga traditionalists justify the noise ban as a timehonoured tradition and a constitutional right. On the other hand, Pentecostal- Charismatic churches generally refused to comply with the ban claiming it is an infringement on their right to freedom of worship. While both groups legitimise their claims with the national constitution, the disagreement between these two groups assumed violent proportions since 1998. The annual clashes have resulted in injuries to people and destruction to church property. Drawing on existing literature and ethnographic fieldwork in Accra and using Azar’s (1990) Protracted Social Conflict theory, the focus of this paper is to understand why this conflict has persisted despite attempts by various agents to resolve it. I argue that there are several underlying factors that converge to protract this conflict.
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References
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Langer, Arnim, and Ukoha Ukiwo. 2008. "Ethnicity, Religion and the State in Ghana and Nigeria: Perceptions from the Street." In Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Societies, by Frances Stewart. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 205-226. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582729_10
Meyer, Birgit. 2013. "Material Mediations and Religious Practices of World-Making." In Religion across Media: From Early Antiquity to Late Modernity, by Knut Lundby. New York: Peter Lang: 1-19.
Meyer, Birgit. 2015. "Picturing the Invisible: Visual Culture and the Study of Religion." Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion 27: 333-360.https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341357
Niebuhr, Helmut Richard. 2001. Christ and Culture. New York: Collins Harper.
Ozanne, Paul. 1965. "Ladoku: An Early Town near Prampram." Ghana Notes and Queries 7: 6-7.
Ozanne, Paul. 1962. "Notes on the Early Historic Archaeology of Accra." Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 6 : 51-70 .https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.1962.11735659
Quarcoopome, Samuel S. 1992. "Urbanization, Land Alienation, and Politics in Accra." Research Review 8 (I): 40-54.
Quashigah, E. 1999 . "Legislating Religious Liberty: The Ghanaian Experience." Brigham Young University Law Review 2: 589-607.
Ramsbotham, O, T Woodhouse, and H Miall. 2011. Contemporary Conflict Resolution. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Ramsbotham, Oliver. 2005. "The Analysis of Protracted Social Conflict: A Tribute to Edward Azar." Review of International Studies 31 (1): 109-126. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210505006327
Sackeyfio, Naaborko. 2012. "The Politics of Land and Urban Space in Colonial Accra." History in Africa 39: 293-329.https://doi.org/10.1353/hia.2012.0005
Stewart, Frances. 2008. "Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: An Introduction and Some Hypotheses." In Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Societies, by Frances Stewart. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan: 3-24.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582729_1
Tsikata, D, and W Seini. 2004. "Identities, Inequalities and Conflicts in Ghana." CRISE Working Papers 5: 1-51.
Udeani, Chibueze. 2007. Inculturation as Dialogue: Igbo Culture and the Message of Christ. Amsterdam: Rodopi BV.https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401204606
Van Dijk, Rijk. 2001. "Contesting Silence: The Ban on Drumming and Musical Politics of Pentecostalism in Ghana." Ghana Studies Series 4: 31-64. https://doi.org/10.3368/gs.4.1.31
Zartman, William I. 2008. Negotiation and Conflict Management: Essays on Theory and Practice. Oxford: Routledge.https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203945254
Arnson, Cynthia, and Zartman William I. 2005. Rethinking the Economics of War: The intersection of Need, Creed and Greed. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Johns Hopkins University Press.
Asamoah-Gyadu, J Kwabena. 2009. "African Traditional Religion, Pentecostalism and the Clash of Spiritualities in Ghana." In Fundamentalism and the Media, by Stewart Hoover and Nadia Kaneva. London/New York: Continuum International Publishing: 161-178.
Asante, Richard. 2011. "Ethnicity, Religion and Conflict in Ghana: The Roots of Ga Nativism." Ghana Studies 14: 81-131.https://doi.org/10.3368/gs.14.1.81
Attuquayefio, Philip. 2012. "Culture, Religion and Land: The Conflict over the Ga Ban on Drumming and Noise-making." In Peacemaking in Ghana: Lessons learnt, Options for Future, by Linda Darkwa, Philip Attuquayefio and Afua Yakohene. Accra: Imagine: 17-53.
Azar, Edward. 1990. The Management of Protracted Social Conflicts: Theory and Cases. Aldershot: Dartmouth.
Azar, Edward. 1985. "Protracted International Conflicts: Ten Propositions." International Interactions 12 (1): 50-70.https://doi.org/10.1080/03050628508434647
Azar, Edward. 1991. The Analysis and Management of Protracted Social Conflicts. Vol. 2, in The Psychodynamics of International Relationships, by J Volkan, J Montville and D Julius. Lexington: DC Heath: 93-120.
Boafo-Arthur, Kwame. 1999. "Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS) in Ghana: Interrogating NDC's Implementation." West Africa Review 1 (1): 1-25.
Boafo-Arthur, Kwame. 1999. "Ghana's Politics of International Economic Relations under the PNDC, 1982-1992." African Study Monographs 20 (2): 73-98.
Brown, Graham K, and Arnim Langer. 2010. "Conceptualizing and Measuring Ethnicity." Oxford Development Studies 38 (4): 411-436.https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2010.525629
Brown, Graham K, and Arnim Langer. 2010. "Horizontal inequalities and conflict: A critical review and research agenda." Conflict, Security & Development 10 (1): 27-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678800903553837
Cavanaugh, William T. 2009. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385045.001.0001
Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 2004. "Greed and Grievance in Civil War." Oxford Economic Papers 56: 563-595.https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpf064
Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 1998. "On the Economic Causes of Civil War." Oxford Economic Papers 50 : 563-573.https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/50.4.563
Collier, Paul, and Anke Hoeffler. 2002. "On the Incidence of Civil War in Africa." Journal of Conflict Resolution 46 (1): 13-28.https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002702046001002
Collier, Paul, Anke Hoeffler, and Dominic Rohner. 2009. "Beyond Greed and Grievance: Feasibility of Civil War." Oxford Economic Papers 61 (1): 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpn029
De Witte, Marleen. 2008. "Accra's Sounds and Sacred Spaces." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 32 (3): 690-709.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2008.00805.x
De Witte, Marleen. 2016. "Encountering Religion through Accra's Urban Soundscape." In Encountering the City: Urban Encounters from Accra to New York, by Jonathan Darling and Helen Wilson. London and New York: Routledge: 133-150.https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315579467-8
Durkheim, Emile. 1995. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Translated by K.E Fields. New York: The Free Press.
Fearon, James D, and David D Laitin. 1996. "Explaining Interethnic Cooperation." The American Political Science Review 90 (4): 715-735.https://doi.org/10.2307/2945838
Field, M.J. 1937. Religion and Medicine of the Ga People. London: Oxford University Press.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.
Ghana Statistical Council. 2012. 2010 Population and Housing Census. Accra : Sakoa Press.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. 2nd. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kanbur, Ravi. 2002. "Aid, Conditionality and Debt in Africa." In Foreign Aid and Development: Lessons Learnt and Direction for the Future, by Finn Tarp and Peter Hjertholm. London: Routledge: 318-328.
Langer, Arnim, and Ukoha Ukiwo. 2008. "Ethnicity, Religion and the State in Ghana and Nigeria: Perceptions from the Street." In Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Societies, by Frances Stewart. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan: 205-226. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582729_10
Meyer, Birgit. 2013. "Material Mediations and Religious Practices of World-Making." In Religion across Media: From Early Antiquity to Late Modernity, by Knut Lundby. New York: Peter Lang: 1-19.
Meyer, Birgit. 2015. "Picturing the Invisible: Visual Culture and the Study of Religion." Methods and Theory in the Study of Religion 27: 333-360.https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341357
Niebuhr, Helmut Richard. 2001. Christ and Culture. New York: Collins Harper.
Ozanne, Paul. 1965. "Ladoku: An Early Town near Prampram." Ghana Notes and Queries 7: 6-7.
Ozanne, Paul. 1962. "Notes on the Early Historic Archaeology of Accra." Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 6 : 51-70 .https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.1962.11735659
Quarcoopome, Samuel S. 1992. "Urbanization, Land Alienation, and Politics in Accra." Research Review 8 (I): 40-54.
Quashigah, E. 1999 . "Legislating Religious Liberty: The Ghanaian Experience." Brigham Young University Law Review 2: 589-607.
Ramsbotham, O, T Woodhouse, and H Miall. 2011. Contemporary Conflict Resolution. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Ramsbotham, Oliver. 2005. "The Analysis of Protracted Social Conflict: A Tribute to Edward Azar." Review of International Studies 31 (1): 109-126. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210505006327
Sackeyfio, Naaborko. 2012. "The Politics of Land and Urban Space in Colonial Accra." History in Africa 39: 293-329.https://doi.org/10.1353/hia.2012.0005
Stewart, Frances. 2008. "Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: An Introduction and Some Hypotheses." In Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Societies, by Frances Stewart. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan: 3-24.https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582729_1
Tsikata, D, and W Seini. 2004. "Identities, Inequalities and Conflicts in Ghana." CRISE Working Papers 5: 1-51.
Udeani, Chibueze. 2007. Inculturation as Dialogue: Igbo Culture and the Message of Christ. Amsterdam: Rodopi BV.https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401204606
Van Dijk, Rijk. 2001. "Contesting Silence: The Ban on Drumming and Musical Politics of Pentecostalism in Ghana." Ghana Studies Series 4: 31-64. https://doi.org/10.3368/gs.4.1.31
Zartman, William I. 2008. Negotiation and Conflict Management: Essays on Theory and Practice. Oxford: Routledge.https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203945254
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Sep 30, 2024
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The Drum Wars: The Clash of Religious Groups in a Cosmopolitan City. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 3(1), 21-35. https://doi.org/10.36615/dkv03422
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How to Cite
The Drum Wars: The Clash of Religious Groups in a Cosmopolitan City. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 3(1), 21-35. https://doi.org/10.36615/dkv03422