(Dis)continuities in Scale, Scope and Complexities of the Space Economy: the Shopping Mall Experience in Ghana

Malls, modernity and consumption: Shopping malls as new projectors of modernity in Accra, Ghana

“…Second, malls contain various merchandize and brands which are deeply rooted in global networks. In Oteng-Ababio and Arthur’s (2015) study, they found that foreign shops in AM, controlling about 81% of retail space, are from North America, Europe, Asia and continental Africa while local/Ghanaian shops control 19%. Finally, Accra’s malls have been funded through international capital: AM, through UK’s Actis and WHM through South Africa’s Atterbury.…”

“…Further, malls grant both the low-income and middle-income a common point of convergence. Indeed, mall patrons include cross-cultural groups (Oteng-Ababio and Arthur, 2015).…”

“…This is important in a city with inadequate recreational facilities for the middle class and young people. While Hobden (2015) and Oteng-Ababio and Arthur (2015) corroborate this, the perspective of a middleclass family (Kate and Patrick) gives further credence: When we were growing up, you had your cousins and everybody around to play with, so you don't really value this kind of playground… But now you are hiding in your apartments. No further kids… So, when kids come out like that, in this modern world, this is the best you can find.…”

“…Since mall development in Ghana is only recent (Oteng-Ababio and Arthur, 2015), there is no study on how malls shape modernity, although one study (Murillo, 2012) explores the development of Accra’s 1957 Kingsway Department Store as a postcolonial project of modernity, focussing on ‘how Ghanaian [s]… understood and appropriated modernity and modernization between 1950 and 1970’ (ibid:370). This study adds to the literature on how malls, modernity and consumption interact and coevolve, from SSA context.…”