New Spaces in Accra: transnational houses

Abstract

Accra has been Ghana's primate city since the British moved their administrative headquarters there in 1877. The city took shape under British site planning and like many colonial cities, it developed a spatial layout that distinguished different neighborhoods, such as the old core, the European section, and the Muslim zongo or stranger area. Accra's Sabon Zongo (”new zongo”) was founded in the first decade of the 20th century, as a refuge for migrant Hausa who had been living in the original zongo in the city's core. House ownership continues to confer status in the community but there is little room left for building. Hausa transmigrants from Sabon Zongo have been going abroad and remitting money back home, largely to build homes in the new peri‐urban margins of Accra. This paper focuses upon the latter phenomenon – the new styles of houses they are building, the process this involves, and how these styles may accommodate worldview, lifestyle and behaviors different from those with which these men were raised in Sabon Zongo. [transmigration, housing, Ghana]

The burgers’ paradox: Migration and the transnationalization of social inequality in southern Ghana

“…In this context, scholars were concerned with the impact of migrant activities on families in Ghana (Manuh, 2003;Mazzucato et al, 2006;Mazzucato, 2007;Coe, 2011), the development of the country (Owusu, 2000;Van Hear, 2002;Henry and Mohan, 2003;Asiedu, 2005;Manuh, 2005;Mohan, 2006;Mazzucato et al, 2008), and migration-related changes in specific regions of Ghana (Kabki et al, 2004). Status-related activities were studied especially in the framework of transnational house-building (Diko and Tipple, 1992;Pellow, 2003) and family rituals (De Witte, 2001;Mazzucato et al, 2006). However, it was not only the gains in status in the sending country that were addressed but also the less favourable situation of many migrants in the receiving areas.…”

Love for the Land: Remittances and Care in a Nicaraguan Transnational Community

“…At the same time, sending communities have become linked to the global economy through economic restructuring and capitalist expansion as well as migration, which "has also inadvertently redefined local definitions of wealth and status" (Pribilsky 2007, 11). House construction itself may represent an individual and status-building endeavor (Melly 2010;Pellow 2003;Thomas 1998). Thus, at the community and national levels, remittances are the subject of debates over solidarity, national development, and belonging.…”

“…Families in Achuapa proudly point out improvements "made"-that is, paid for-by relatives abroad. In this way, houses very visibly represent transnational connections as well as dreams and hopes for the future (Melly 2010;Pellow 2003).…”

Circulating Practices: Migration and Translocal Development in Washington D.C. and Cochabamba, Bolivia

“…In this formulation, individuals and groups can claim new rights and expand understandings of belonging through mobilization, legal action, and everyday practices [23]. In this article, I highlight the ways in which Bolivian migrants seek to belong to the Valle Alto through the construction of "transnational houses" [24] and collective remittance projects. I also assess the sustainability of migrant-led development.…”

“…This physical and imagined connection to the United States through houses and other structures suggests that migration can reflect and introduce new inequalities, even as migrants living abroad spend little time in the village [51]. At the same time, returning migrants from Argentina and the United States are increasingly likely to construct what Pellow has called "transnational houses" [24] in the city of Cochabamba, raising the possibility that migrants may never come back full time to the Valle Alto even if they do return to Bolivia.…”