Ghana

Why Ghana Flooded 3.5% of it’s Land

Lake Volta, the largest reservoir in the world, covers over 3% of the Ghana’s land. This video does a great job explaining the economic and political rationale that led the newly independent country of Ghana to sacrifice such a large portion of their territory (Super quick answer—to get electricity to fuel their economy and become the world’s leading aluminum producer). This hits on a variety of geographic themes: human and environmental interactions, modifications to the landscape, economic development, neocolonialism, migration through displacement, globalization, etc.

Tags: Africa, development, Ghana.

June 14, 2022 0

Ghanaian coffins

“Amid calls for a three-day weekend in Ghana to allow residents to attend more funeral parties (with the emphasis on party), here’s a look at some of the country’s famous customized coffins.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Cultural practices surrounding death are designed to honor the departed and are deeply situated in the local customs. Some people from a different cultural setting might find the cultural practices of Mexico’s Day of the Dead startling.

Questions to Ponder: Do you this as having elements of popular culture or folk culture? Would these coffins ‘work’ in other places? Why or why not? What other cultural traits and attitudes need to be in places for this to be cultural acceptable?

Tags: cultural norms, folk culture, culture, Ghana, Africa.

November 30, 2015 0

The Electronic Afterlife

“E-Waste is a growing problem in our consumer-based society. The geography of e-waste is an ‘out of sight out of mind’ problem that we rarely think about but need to due to the ecological impacts of our collective consumption.” http://wp.me/P2dv5Z-1LT

Tags: pollution, sustainability, environment, resources, Ghana, Africa.

Source: vimeo.com

November 7, 2015 0

The Geography of E-Waste

The world is increasingly going hi-tech. Many people in our high consumption society want the latest and the greatest; last year’s much anticipated laptops and cell phones are miles behind the newest models that are coming out. So what happens with the old models? Even thrift stores are politely not accepting them as donations. Even some workable machines that were highly valuable 10 years ago are now functionally trash in our society. We can’t put it to the curb to end up in the landfill because of the lead, mercury, and other hazardous materials that can leak into the environment. This type of trash is what we call e-waste. The geography of e-waste is an ‘out of sight out of mind’ problem that we rarely think about but need to due to the ecological impacts of our collective consumption.

Tags: pollution, sustainability, environment, resources, Ghana, Africa.

Source: geographyeducation.org

October 22, 2015 0

Ezekiel Ansah: A Ziggy Path to the NFL

Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah’s journey to the NFL, beginning as a walk-on to the Brigham Young University football team from Accra, Ghana, who had never played foot…

Seth Dixon, Ph.D.‘s insight:

Ezekiel loved playing soccer and never played American football until he was in his 20’s; that is NOT a typical path to the NFL. Ziggy’s life represents the geography of opportunity. If he had grown up in the United States, a boy with his physical abilities would have been funneled into football leagues at an early age. If he lived his whole life in Africa, he would never become a millionaire (probably not anyway). However, global diffusion of religious ideas brought LDS missionaries to his home in Ghana; enhanced migrational opportunities took him to Utah and all of these geographic factors (combined with his personal skills and ambition) helped him the fifth overall selection in the NFL Draft and a member of the Detroit Lions.

It makes be wonder if the greatest physical talent for a sport always gets the opportunity. I’m sure some kids in tropical countries have the physical tools to be fantastic hockey players, but without access to participation at an early age because of the cultural preferences of the area (although with hockey you could argue it’s also climatically determined), they are geographically constrained to a different set of possibilities for their lives. Read here for more on Ziggy.

See on www.youtube.com