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Women at Work: Some Changes in Family Structure in Amedzofe-Avatime, Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Lynne Brydon
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Extract

This paper examines some recent developments in family and residential group structure in the village of Amedzofe-Avatime. The village is one of a group of seven which, with their surrounding farmlands, constitute the Avatime traditional area in the Volta Region of Ghana. The study of Amedzofe (and Avatime) family structure is singled out here as of interest for two reasons. In the first place, a study of current (1977) Avatime family structure indicates that new forms are emerging of patterns of child rearing. Esther Goody's work on both traditional and more recent patterns of fostering in Ghana is particularly relevant here (E. N. and J. R. Goody 1967; Goody 1970; 1975). Secondly such a study provides empirical evidence that Goode's (1963) pattern of change in family structure showing the increasing influence of ‘modernisation’, while it may be pertinent in the long term, is not being realised among Avatime. What is happening, rather, is a drift away from a stable conjugal pattern. Here I am concerned mainly with the first point. As it is elucidated, it will become clear that the incidence of Goode's nuclear family based units is not increasing in modern rural Avatime. A detailed examination of the structure and composition of residential groups and their significance for a modern society is forthcoming.

Résumé

FEMMES AU TRAVAIL: TRANSFORMATION DES STRUCTURES FAMILIALES CHEZ LES AMEDZOFE-AVATIME AU GHANA

Les Avatime constituent un des groupes qui habitent la zone est du Ghana et ont été classés par Westermann et Bryan comme ‘Togo Remnant’. Ilsont connu la colonisation tout d'abord avec les Allemands puis aprés la premiére guerre mondiale avec les Anglais. Une mission et des écoles furent implantées en 1890. Depuis le début du siécle, les Avatime quittent les regions qu'ils occupent traditionnellement pour chercher du travail. Les premiers migrants étaient des artisans et des enseignants formés dans les missions ainsi que des exploitants de plantations de noix de coco ayant acheté des terres dansla région de Buem.

On s'attache ici à souligner les changements relatifs à un aspect de la structure familiale, à savoir la prise en charge des enfants pendant toute la période depuis 1890. Cette prise en charge sous sa forme traditionnelle et moderne a déjà fait l'objet de travaux de E. Goody (Gonja et zone sud du Ghana). La prise en charge traditionnelle était très atténuée chez les Avatime, mais au cours des récentes années, un nombre considérable d'individus ont été pris en charge (soit comme apprentis, soit pour aider aux travaux domestiques). Cependant, cette forme d'apprentissage est beaucoup moins répandue de nos jours et la prise en charge a évolué versun schéma qui rappelle celui que l'on trouve aux Antilles.

L'auteur rattache cette évolution aux transformations touchant le statut des femmes Avatime et leur rôle en tant que migrants. Cette nouvelle forme de priseen charge (les enfants sont renvoyés au village pour y être élevés par les meres des migrants) représente une solution au dilemme de la femme Avatime qui est à la fois femme adulte (c'est à dire génitrice) et qui en même temps travaille loin de son foyer.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 1979 , pp. 97 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1979

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References

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