In this article I have tried to analyze indigenous logic and practices of land inheritance in Akyem Abuakwa, one of the most intensive cocoa producing areas in the Republic of Ghana. Most of literatures on kinship and political economy in African societies have insisted on the transformation of a society from a lineage-based kinship and inheritance system into a new order based on filiation and elementary family due to modernization and penetration of the market economy. However, practices of cocoa-farmers of land tenure and inheritance in Southern Ghana show unique variations and sophistication of indigenous kinship and inheritance systems. For example, among patrilineal societies, migrant farmers from Abiriw of the Akuapim ridge prefer the basic patrilineal inheritance system, which contributes to strengthen social network between distant kin people. While Krobo farmers who are migrants from the Eastern Region prefer fair division of land between male legitimate children of a deceased. Among matrilineal societies of migrant farmers from Akropong of the Akuapim ridge, both negotiation and tension exist between matrilineal and patrifiliational inheritance rule. While matrilineal Akyem farmers, who are natives and dominant landowners in Akyem Abuakwa, have strong preference of matrilineal inheritance system. Why are there such variations? They cannot be explained in terms of a unilineal development from a traditional to a modern form of kinship and inheritance. In this article, I analyze inheritance systems of patrilineal and matrilineal societies in order to clarify characteristic and logic of each system. Then I examine various inheritance rules practiced by farmers who belong to different societies, focusing on division of land, power relation between lineage members, and political and historical background in this area.

日本アフリカ学会

2004-03

Japanese(jpn)

journal article

VoR

0065-4140

AN0001203X

アフリカ研究

64

3

18

010a Journal Articles　=　雑誌掲載論文

https://hdl.handle.net/10086/15797