Muslim Marriages in Accra, Ghana: A Perspective on Minority/Majority Relations, Gender, and Social Mobility

Abstract

Muslims in Ghana form a significant minority of nearly eighteen percent of the total population of over twenty-five million people. Out of this number exists a small minority of Shi’i Muslims among the dominant Sunni group. This article considers marriage practices between the minority Shi’i and majority Sunni groups with relevance to gender and social mobility. Relying on field data gathered between 2014 and 2020 through interviews, informal conversations as well as the usage of an informant, the article demonstrates how the minority situates itself in relation to the majority group with respect to marriage as a social practice. The article argues that the minority negotiates its space within the context of the majority with respect to continuing and sustaining some traditions while placing some other practices into a contextual perspective. Furthermore, the article contends that mobility takes place in the lives of both men and women; however, Muslim men have some advantage over Muslim women.