Onions are my husband : survival and accumulation by West African market women / Gracia Clark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark, Gracia.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women merchants--Ghana--Kumasi.

Women merchants.

Markets--Ghana--Kumasi.

Markets.

Women, Ashanti--Ghana--Kumasi--Economic conditions.

Women, Ashanti.

Kumasi (Ghana)--Commerce.

Kumasi (Ghana).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (510 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the most comprehensive analysis to date of the world of open air marketplaces of West Africa, Gracia Clark studies the market women of Kumasi, Ghana, in order to understand the key social forces that generate, maintain, and continually reshape the shifting market dynamics. Probably the largest of its kind in West Africa, the Kumasi Central Market houses women whose positions vary from hawkers of meals and cheap manufactured goods to powerful wholesalers, who control the flow of important staples. Drawing on more than four years of field research, during which she worked alongside several influential market "Queens", Clark explains the economic, political, gender, and ethnic complexities involved in the operation of the marketplace and examines the resourcefulness of the market women in surviving the various hazards they routinely encounter, from coups d'etat to persistent sabotage of their positions from within.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Preface

1. Stepping into the Market

2. The Regional Web

3. Persistent Transformation

4. Buying and Selling

5. Control of Resources

6. "We Know Ourselves"

7. Queens of Negotiation

8. Multiple Identities

9. Home and Husband

10. The Market under Attack

11. Surviving the Peace

Appendix: Survey Methodology

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-453) and index.

ISBN:

9786612538711

9781282538719

1282538713

9780226107769

0226107760

OCLC:

609856876