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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Yebisa Wo Fie
— growing old and building a house in the Akan culture of Ghana | | Author(s) | Sjaak van der Geest |
| Journal title | Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, vol 13, no 4, 1998 |
| Pages | pp 333-359 |
| Keywords | Housing [elderly] ; Living patterns ; Rural areas ; Anthropological studies ; Ghana. |
| Annotation | "House" (ofie) in the Akan culture of Ghana is the most common metonym for people living together. Mefie (my house) means "my family". A house is someone's identity, it is a sign of security and happiness. A house is the concretisation of social relations and the sentiments accompanying them. A house, not least of all, is a status symbol. Building a house is building a powerful symbol. A house is something to which people attach some of the most powerful virtues of their culture: respect, love, memory, "home" and beauty. In this article, building a house is seen as one of the most important achievements in a person's life. It provides older people with respect and security. The article is based on anthropological research in the rural Ghanaian town of Kwahu-Tafo. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990826271 A |
| Classmark | KE: K7: RL: 3FA: 7MS |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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