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ID: 181246

Multiplicity and simultaneity in ethnographic research: Exploring the use of drones in Ghana / Adotey, Edem

Adotey, Edem	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

This research note explores the ethical and methodological implications of using drones for ethnographic research at events that involve simultaneous activities and/or large crowds and large spaces. Based on the methodological challenges of collecting visual data using cameras in the case of royal funerals in Ghana, this note argues that the aerial viewpoint provided by drones could transform visual data collection by capturing sophisticated views of multiple events happening at the same time. However, it also identifies ethical and methodological challenges of using drones and argues that it could obscure the understanding of sociocultural complexities. This research note contributes to our understanding of visual methodologies by highlighting how drone technology extends and complicates current understandings and debates on the use of photographs and films in ethnography.

Key Words

Ghana ; Ethnographic Research ; Use of drones ; Multiplicity and Simultaneity

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ID: 170522

Parallel or dependent? The state, chieftaincy and institutions of governance in Ghana / Adotey, Edem

Adotey, Edem	Journal Article
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In recent policy frameworks, traditional authorities have been (re)assigned roles of directly representing civil society and local communities as key actors in development, leading to questions about the relationship between the chieftaincy institution and the state in governance. Using the example of a chieftaincy dispute between the Sokpoe and Tefle, a Tongu-Ewe people of Ghana, at the heart of which are claims to paramountcy status, this article argues that chieftaincy and the state are not always parallel institutions of governance that derive their legitimacy from different sources. Struggles over chieftaincy hierarchies have become struggles for the preferential recognition by and access to the state conveyed by membership in the Houses of Chiefs. In effect, the chieftaincy institution may be both parallel to and dependent on the state. The article draws attention to the importance of hierarchy in explaining state-chieftaincy relationships because an understanding of the nuances of legitimacy in chieftaincy will enrich how chiefs are engaged as key actors in development.

Key Words

Governance in Ghana

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