Principal Investigator and Author:

Brenda F. McGadney-Douglass, Ph.D., MSW,
Associate Professor

Recipient of:
University Research Award Fellowship Program

Africa has the misfortune of having the greatest number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) in the world; the latter being much greater in number due to an explosion of conflicts in the 1990s.  Ghana, known as a peaceful country in sub-Saharan-Africa, is no exception.  Inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic disturbances have featured mostly in the Northern Region of Ghana for decades, including 2002, which required military intervention.  The extent of damage from the conflicts leaving population displacement is devastating causing serious threat to regional peace and security, social and economic development, and the community, especially women and children. 

In 1994, the most severe multi-ethnic conflict commenced in Northern Ghana since independence was obtained in 1957 with several groups fighting against each other; primarily a minority group, the Konkombas, against several ethnic groups comprising the majority.  The war commenced over conflicts due to land ownership, chieftaincy, and representation.  The outcome of this war was tremendous internal displacement, and loss of life, property, and social and economic development.  Peacekeepers, civilians, opinion leaders, and stakeholders did not want a war such as this to occur again in Ghana.  Thus, in 1999, in response to a need to document indigenous knowledge from locals in Northern Ghana involved in the conflict, primarily chiefs, IDPs, NGOs, and policy makers, social work faculty at the University of Ghana begin to lay the groundwork.  Ultimately, in 2002, data would be collected which would allow them to develop a specialized course on conflict resolution and peace keeping strategies utilized by local persons and/or groups involved in the conflict. 

Dr. McGadney-Douglass's field research team and the internally displaced women after the data collection interview session.

Brenda F. McGadney-Douglass spent the summer of 2005 collecting data during a field-study at the University of Ghana, speaking with the people of the local community devastated by internal conflicts of inter-community violence. She spent time listening to the stories and the hardships of the Ghanaian people, learning of the suffering, loss and struggle for peace, survival and fairness.

The main purpose of her research was to to document indigenous knowledge about multi-ethnic conflict in Northern Ghana by representing a balanced perspective from chiefs, NGOs, stakeholders, & the internally displaced women. Also to develop training and curriculum materials on indigenous methods in order to maintain and contain violent ethnic conflicts. This information is to help aid peacekeepers and social work and policy students at The University of Ghana. Dr. McGadney-Douglass wishes to present findings from her research on majority group combatants or Internally Displaced Konkomba Women from the 1994 Guinea Fowl War in Northern Ghana.

The story:

Dr. McGadney-Douglass traveled to Ghana, not to stay in the lavish resorts that lined the cities, attracting wealthy tourist and businessmen, but to venture into the towns and landscapes seemingly forgotten by the middle and upper class of the once peaceful country. Dr. McGadney-Douglass went “into the trenches” in order to find the unheard voices, and listen to the powerful and painful stories of the internally displaced peoples (IDP), still unable to return to their homes, their lives, and any state of normalcy since the Guinea Fowl conflict of 1994. 

The Guinea Fowl War was a tremendous upset for the quiet people of Northern Ghana. It stemmed from the pressure that had been building for many years between the majority and minority groups that shared the land. A certain amount of back story is required to fully understand the conflict: The minority group in Ghana, the Konkomba,  though they have lived for many generations on the land, are still considered foreigners by the majority group that control the land. The Konkomba are not allowed to own land, appoint a chief, and must work for the chieftains of the majority group by thatching roofs, brewing a special brew called Pito (pictured below), and giving up a percentage of their crops, game and earnings.

Pito Brew. The Konkombas are forced to make this drink for the chiefs. They are not allowed to have their own chieftains, and they resent the slave-like treatment from the majority leaders.
Though the war was instigated due to a dispute over the purchase of a Guinea fowl (a delicious bird that has great value in the Ghanaian culture and society), the real turmoil stems from much deeper and more political causes. Mainly, the Konkomba’s (minority) strife to gain equal rights and freedoms in their own country. Religion, education, freedom, and equality are the fundamental causes for the Guinea Fowl War. Beneath the surface of the loss of face and struggle for power between the two men, who, in 1994 vied for the same essential bird, festered a ticking time bomb of the frustration and injustice of prejudice and segregation between them.	The Guinea Fowl: A ceremonious and expensive bird.
The bloodbath that followed left people from both sides running in fear. It tore families apart, children were lost, husbands and sons murdered and those who did escape to the South, suffer their losses greatly to this very day. Those who escaped the Northern battlefield did so with nothing more than their lives and the clothes on their backs. The conflict has not been resolved, it is simply in the dormant stages of grief. Black smiths still work overtime, crafting guns and weapons, for a once peaceful nation enduring the harsh aftermath of civil war.
Dr. McGadney-Douglass experienced the hardship first hand, as she went bravely into the poorest societies, seeking out the voices not yet to be heard. In 2002, the Dagombas and the Nanumbas, representing majority ethnic groups of internally displaced women in Northern Ghana were interviewed by a research team headed by Drs. McGadney-Douglass and Nana Araba Apt, principal investigator. The majority women have represented the voices of war. In Dr. McGadney-Douglass’s study, both sides were given an equal chance to tell their stories. She faced the difficult task of remaining emotionally and politically detached and unbiased while talking with the two very different groups of people. Different only in opinion and position, for as she discovered, and as she reports in her research, both sides bear the pains of great loss and disconnection.

Agbogbloshie Market: A marketplace built on a landfill. Many internally displaced peoples live here and in similar slums. The living conditions are terrible.

The internally displaced women shared their stories, mourned their losses and explained their current way of life. Moreover, they expressed their concerns and beliefs. The women from the minority group spoke of freedom, equality and injustice whereas the women representing the majority group, the Nanumba, grieved simply over the terrible realization of “people killing each other”.

Dr. McGadney-Douglass had to receive permission from the Konkomba clan-leader in order to conduct her research.

Dr. McGadney-Douglass and Judith Asibi Tarko explain the interview process and purpose to the internally displaced Konkomba women.

Judith Asibi Tarko speaks with an internally displaced Konkomba woman while the clan-leader watches in the background.

The women told their stories of loss and of fear. They shared their current living situations and their struggles of survival. They also expressed their concerns for the future, their hopes for their children and their people. Dr. McGadney-Douglass surveyed them on their opinion on the war, why it was necessary, why it needed to end, and how further conflict could be avoided.

For many women, the stories were painful and emotional. It was hard to verbalize the pains of loss and the persecution of being a minority and the difficulty of being considered foreigners in their own country. Here a Konkomba woman struggles to tell her story, still suffering the hardships of the aftermath of war. This woman was the oldest of the group.

The women who participated in the study were compensated for their work. The interview took an entire day and food and drinks were provided. Each woman was given the equivalent of 20 USD; it would take most of them over a month to earn that much money.

"Thank you! Now I will be able to buy meat for my children!" The women appreciated the payment for their participation. The money would help their families greatly in this time of need.

Women and children often sleep on the floor of small sheds when they don't earn enough money to return home for the day. In the background of this photo are bags of belongings stacked on shelves.

Dr. McGadney-Douglass listening and taking notes for her research. It was difficult not to get involved with the emotional struggles the women spoke of.

The internally displaced women from the Dagombas and the Nanumbas (the majority group) had similar stories of terror and woe, however they lacked the understanding of the necessity of the conflict. They did not see the discrimination or feel the effects of being an outcast in their own country. The simply wanted the killing and the terror to end.

Dr. McGadney-Douglass in the House of Chiefs in Northern Ghana.

During her visit to Ghana, Dr. McGadney-Douglass saw first hand, the difficult life the internally displaced people now led, harvesting and selling yams in the hopes of making a single dollar per day and usually not achieving that quota. Crushing Shea nuts, a back-breaking job, to extract the oils used in expensive western beauty products. These women make next to nothing in their toils, and though college in Ghana is free, primary school costs more money than most can afford. Many internally displaced people involved in the 1994 conflict in the north have become squatters or sometimes squeeze 8-16 people into 2 room homes.

An internally displaced woman crushes Shea nuts the old fashioned way. It is hard work and it pays very little. The nuts are crushed in order to extract the oils, or milk as it is sometimes called, from the nuts.

The Shea butter made from the oils extracted from shea nuts by the women of Ghana is sent to be made into home products for western consumers. Soaps, lotions, perfumes, creams and other toiletries advertise that they contain Shea butter. These products are able to sell for more due to the shea butter within. The women who spend their days extracting the oil from the nuts often are paid less than the equivalent of one dollar per day.

An alternative occupation for the internally displaced women is selling yams, or tubes, in the marketplace. As one can see from the picture here, the market is full of yam vendors and the competition to sell can be too high. Many women hope only to make the equivalent of one dollar per day and many do not achieve this goal.

Women from the majority group displaced in southern Ghana are sometimes hired as kayayee, or head porters, to transport baskets of yams to and from the market place balanced on their heads. The minority group hires these women who are also destitute and left without homes or money. Some say the minority group are "Feeding their enemies children".

This is not Dr. Brenda McGadney-Douglass’s first trip to Ghana. She and her husband, Dr. Richard Douglass, a Fulbright scholar, traveled to the sub-Saharan country in 1999 to study and interview families with children suffering from "Kwashiorkor" which is severe protein malnourishment, and again in 2001-2002 to visit hospitals, orphanages and homes with groups of students to study the processes and to learn how the country was dealing with the problems at hand. Dr. McGadney-Douglass feels that Ghana’s people and students deserve more learning materials that outline their own conflicts and strife. With proper documentation, the reasoning behind the war can be studied and understood. With knowledge comes the power to overcome adversity and achieve equality and freedom and acceptance. The Ghanaian people need to have their own ideas and people documented in curricular materials so the new generation may learn from history books actually portraying the history of their own land and time.

Over 20,000 people are currently internally displaced in Ghana, a fraction in the continent. Africa is home to more than 50%, or 13 million, of the world's internal displaced persons. The United Nations (UN) offers no protection or help for people displaced within the borders of their own country. They are not refugees and therefore receive little to no support.

As Dr. McGadney-Douglass pointed out in her brown bag lecture at the Eberly Center for Women on February 24th, 2006, the conflict in Ghana is not so far from America as people may wish to believe. Victims of hurricane Katrina are internally displaced all across the continental United States--approximately one million people. The people have been pushed from their homes and forced to leave with very little to show for their past lives. Children are still missing and lives have been taken in one tragic event. “The people of Katrina could really dialog with the internally displaced people of Ghana.” Dr. McGadney-Douglass Douglass stated at her presentation.  

Dr. Brenda McGadney-Douglass took the first brave and necessary steps into the territory otherwise unexplored by research. Perhaps she has ignited the will and the knowledge to shake free of the prejudice and segregation among the Ghanaian people, who are more alike than they believed themselves to be. Hats off to Dr. McGadney-Douglass and her amazing and eye-opening research. She is a pioneer of freedom, of rights, and of peace and an inspiration to women and men everywhere.

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This page was modified on March 11, 2008 .