Book
Onions are my husband: survival and accumulation by West African market women
University of Chicago Press • Chicago • Published In 1994 • Pages:
By: Clark, Gracia.
Abstract
This is an excellent study of Ghana's largest open-air market and its regional trading networks. Asante women constitute the largest block of traders in the market. Clark examines the relationships among retailers, wholesalers, and traders within the different commodity groups. She analyzes the structure and power of the market, including the importance of informal commodity groups with regard to the distribution and pricing of commodities and dispute resolution. Clark shows how market relationships are based on gender, ethnic, and class identities. She also examines how familial and matrilineal ties influence access to labor and capital and determine a trader's level of participation in the market. Clark recounts the economic crisis instigated by the Rawlings socialist government, which bulldozed the market down and confiscated goods in a misguided attempt to control prices and availability of goods. Instead the flow of commodities dried up, creating dangerous food shortages in cities.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2000
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Western Africa
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnographer
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ;1999
- Field Date
- 1978-1990
- Coverage Date
- 1910-1990
- Coverage Place
- Ashanti; Kumasi, Ghana
- Notes
- Gracia Clark
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-453) and index
- LCCN
- 94001907
- LCSH
- Akan (African people)