INDIVIDUAL  RESEARCH REPORTS

40.

Recent visitors to north-west  Ghana,  including  Mrs.  Humphreys
and Mrs.  Goody,  have given most interesting accounts of the  present-
day use of cowries  in that area,  where the  present value  is between  10 and 20
to the  penny,  far above  the nineteenth-century  figures.  The value  seems to
be maintained by the continued use of cowries  in marriage payments.

More 

information about cowries will  be greatly  welcomed.

Marion Johnson

RESEARCH INTO  THE  FOSTERING OF  CHILDREN

BY KIN  IN  NORTHERN AND  SOUTHERN  GHANA

Over  the  past two years  I have been engaged  in a  three-fold

study of the  traditional  fostering of children  in Ghana.  During  part of this
time  I was a  Research  Fellow of the  Institute  of African  Studies whose
active  support has taken many forms.  Two grants from the funds of the Child
Development  Research Unit of the  Department  of Education,  Legon,  and a
grant-in-aid  from the Wenner-Gren  Foundation  for Anthropological  Research
have made  it  possible to spend several months  in the  field and to employ
skilled assistants without whose help this type of work  is impossible.

Previous studies in Central  Gonja,  in the  Northern  Region,  had

showed how  important and frequent was the sending of children  to be raised
and trained by relatives of one or the other  parent.  The  research on
fostering  has been aimed at  exploring  three  central  questions.  (1)  How
common  is kinship  fostering  in  Gonja,  and  in the  rest of  Ghana?  Who
fosters whose children  and under what conditions?  (2)  Within  a given
society,  Gonja,  what are  the functions of fostering  for the  individuals
concerned,  and how does it  affect  the social organization  as a whole?  Is
fostering an  isolated phenomenon or  is it  related  to other  institutions
(marriage,kin  groups,  residence  patterns,  etc.)  and  if so how?  (3)  What

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INDIVIDUAL  RESEARCH REPORTS

is the effect  of  fostering on the child,  both  in  childhood,  and on his
adult  life?  Are  fostered children different  in their behaviour or outlook
from those  reared by  their own parents? 
common belief  that  fostering  improves the  character and creates a strong
personality  ?

Is there any evidence  for the

Six months were spent  in  1964  in  Kpembe,  Eastern Gonja,  in a
study aimed at question 3.  Three samples were  taken; boarding school
boys,fostered children and non-fostered children,  and observations and
tests carried out.  The  latter  included sentence completion schedules and
responses to a series of TAT pictures.  Another sample was selected of
adults judged  "successful" in terms of positions achieved  in either  the
traditional  system or  in more modem terms.  These men were  interviewed  •
both about their attitudes to fostering and their own childhood experiences.
Information was collected  from all  subject  about the  rearing of all  of  their
full  siblings.

In May  and June  1965 short surveys were carried out  in two communities,
one Ewe and one  Fanti,  in Southern Ghana.  The purpose of these was two-fold;
to discover  whether kinship fostering was unique  to Northern  Ghana and to
test a  form which was developed for collecting  standardized  information about
rate and type of fostering for comparative  purposes. 
It was found that about
30%of  the  children  in each sample had been fostered; only  one sibling group
in four had no member who had been fostered.  Only  a very  preliminary
analysis has been made of this material,  but  it  is clear  that fostering  is not
limited  to  Gonja.

From July  through November of  1965 further work was carried out  in
the north,  in Bole,  western  Gonja.  The  intensive  study of fostered children
of the  previous years was not repeated.  Rather  I was concerned to get
systematic  data on the  interrelations between  fostering,  kind of marriage made,
stability of marriage,  and residence.  For this purpose a  random sample of
every  tenth compound was selected (after  first mapping and identifying  the
compounds).  All  the women in each of these compounds were  interviewed

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INDIVIDUAL  RESEARCH REPORTS

42.

about their own and their siblings up-brining, and marriages, and about
their children's  rearing histories.  With this material  it should be able
to trace fostering ties through three generations and to discover the
effect of the variables noted above.  An additional  40% interviews
were obtained from Daboya in Central Gonja.  The sample of  "successful"
men was repeated in Bole.

Almost none of this data has yet been analysed, but taken

together with observations and more general material  it should provide
the basis for answering the three questions raised in planning the study.

Esther Goody

MUSICALITY AND MUSICIANSHIP  IN
NORTH-WESTERN  GHANA

This report  is based on three surveys made during the months of
July, 19631 April,  1964 and February,  1965,  in the Northern and Upper
Regions of Ghana.  It deals with some aspects of xylophone traditions of
the Dagaba, the  Lobi and the Brifor-Wilii,  three language groups  living
in widely over-lapping territories  in the north-west of Ghana.

In this area the accomplishment of the xylophone player reveals
uncommon depth of musical ity and musicianship.  By musical ity  I mean
a musical intelligence sharpened and broadened by wide experience  in
music; I use the term musicianship to cover the kind of accomplishment
which comes with  intensive training and practice.

The work of three of those interviewed and seen at work  clearly

depicts these qualities.  The Tizza Na (The Chief of Tizza village), who
was also a great hunter of elephants, began to play the xylophone at the

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