ountains (especially the Sene-Gambia region) … The Fulanis have never been known or recognized as part of the ethnicities constituting the Ghanaian citizenry’37 (emphasis added).
Discursive commentaries such as the one above use primordial identities to justify claims that Fulani are a non-indigenous ethnic group in Ghana and have no share in Ghanaian citizenship. These discourses are equally present at the local level where community members and youth groups have questioned claims of Fulani being Ghanaian citizens and the right to reside in communities and have access to land and use of resources.
Exclusion of Fulani pastoralists as seen in local and state policies
Negative stereotypes, prejudices and discriminations against Fulani pastoralists are usually made due to their being non-citizens and invariably have no rights as citizens in Ghana. However, this goes beyond their non-citizenship status. Stereotypes, prejudices and discriminations have been subtly built up over the years.38 Fulani had been servants and cattle herdsmen for other ethnic groups. Historically, Fulani presence in present day Ghana was to rear and herd cattle. Two of the three reasons for their arrival in Ghana given by Tonah (2005) involve cattle: the expansion of the cattle trade and the establishment and development of native farms. These factors attracted many Fulani herders who, in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, were suffering from the Sahelian droughts. Although they have had contacts with the local people before colonialism, their permanent settlement in Ghana was motivated mainly by the entrustment of cattle by local people.
After many Fulani herders had arrived in Ghana, cattle were entrusted to them by major ethnic groups like the Dagomba, Mamprusi and Gonja, mainly because of Fulani skill in herding and caring for cattle. These relations developed into patron-client relationships (see also Hickey 2007; Turner 1999). Many of the herds belonged to aristocratic and rich people. Even up to now, cattle are entrusted to Fulani who remain liable to their ‘master’. In Gushiegu for instance, a cattle owner may give a Fulani herder land to build and farm but can evict him therefrom if he ‘disobeys’ him, the master. Recent demands for herding labour attract herders. Ghanaian cattle owners look for ‘skilled’ Fulani labour to herd their cattle because of the lack of herding labour within Ghana where Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) makes it compulsory for every child to go to school and also because of many Ghanaians’ lack of interest in such herding jobs.
In social categorization theory, prejudices and stereotypes become fixed and with time develop socially and cognitively in society (Dovidio et al. 2010). Beliefs and ideas about Fulani have been built over time and passed on from generation to generation. For instance, the perception that Fulani are violent and are not willing to adapt to modern life has long been held and is a commonplace in local community discourse. These mindset views have led individuals to develop prejudices, defined as ‘negative attitudes towards the entire group’ and thus have led to them being socially and cognitively categorized in the society (see also Bonilla-Silva 1997). Prejudicial attitudes may induce individuals to real actions, exclusion or discrimination against minorities (Bonilla-Silva 1997). In light of the data presented here, it can be assumed that the attitudes towards the Fulani in Ghana have in fact contributed to their subtle exclusion from society. Some communities, for instance, explicitly refuse to accommodate Fulani because of their image as violent, armed robbers and destructive. Eriksen (2010) therefore states that stereotypes can justify privileges and differences in access to a society’s resources; negative stereotypes in particular can be used to deny other groups’ access to resources.
The attitudes discussed above, although not overt official state policy, are implicitly and subtly embedded in local and national policies and lead to Fulani pastoralists’ exclusions in many spheres o