VARYING EFFECT OF FERTILITY DETERMINANTS AMONG MIGRANT AND INDIGENOUS FEMALES IN THE TRANSITIONAL AGRO-ECOLOGICAL ZONE OF GHANA

The transitional agro‐ecological zone of Ghana, located between the richly endowed south and the impoverished north, has attracted seasonal and permanent farm migrants, mainly from northern Ghana, who now live side by side with the indigenous people. While migrants have higher numbers of Muslims, indigenous people are mainly Christians. Although the majority of the migrants live in migrant quarters with less favourable socio‐economic conditions, they are more successful farmers and therefore wealthier. The objectives are to examine the varying effect of fertility determinants among migrants and indigenous females. This paper uses data collected in 2002 among 194 females aged 15 to 49 years. Multiple regression models are used to assess fertility determinants. Results show that although migrant households were wealthier, migrant females were more traditional. They had more children living in foster care, and a lower proportion of them approved of men participating in household activities. In addition, they were less well educated, recorded higher infant mortality, gave birth earlier and used less contraception. Furthermore, while a female's migration status is statistically significant so far as non‐proximate determinants of fertility are concerned, the same variable is not significant with respect to proximate determinants. In addition, a married female migrant would on average have almost one more child compared to her indigenous counterpart, and migrant females who had experienced the loss of a child would on average have 2.5 more children compared to their indigenous counterparts. Finally, more affluent migrant females have 0.08 fewer children compared to their indigenous counterpart.     

Notse's ancient kingship: some archaeological and art-historical considerations

This essay discusses the relevance of archaeology and art in the contemporary politics of an African community. It focuses primarily on Notse, a town in the Republic of Togo, whose centuries-old walls have now become the object of a major festival, theAgbogboza. Successors to a relatively young chiefship, invented by the German administration a century ago, have in the last 30 years championed a new ideology aimed at reinventing a lost kingdom. Ironically, it was the harsh measures imposed by the town's ancient monarchy that led to its demise. Notse's sacral kingship still retains its distinctive validating emblems. Yet the most visible testimony to its past misrule, the wall monument, now provides the unifying symbol for disparate Ewe people who see the town as their cradle.

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Résumé Cet article discute de l'importance de l'archéologie et de l'art dans la politique contemporaine d'une communauté africaine. Il se concentre avant tout sur Notse, ville de la république du Togo, dont les murailles centenaires sont maintenant devenues l'objet d'un festival important, l'Agbogboza. Les successeurs d'une chefferie relativement récente, inventée par l'administration allemande il y a un siècle, ont au cours de ces 30 dernière années été les champions d'une nouvelle idéologie ayant pour object de réinventer un royaume perdu. Par ironie, ce sont les mesures sévères imposées par l'ancienne monarchie de la ville qui ont mené à sa disparition. Le royaume sacral de Notse conserve encore ses emblèmes distinctifs. Et pourtant, le témoignage le plus visible de son mauvais gouvernement passé, le monument mural, constitue maintenant le symbole unifiant des peuples éwés disparates, qui considèrent la ville comme leur berceau.