ethnically-based stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination within Ghanaian society. They are treated as ‘non-citizens’, ‘aliens’ and ‘foreigners’. The Fulani (Fulbe)1 are mainly nomadic and semi-sedentary pastoralists whose occupation is herding cattle. Most often, they cannot claim ownership of the land and natural resources they use as herders. Various Fulani groups inhabit the savannah-Sahel region of West Africa, especially in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Senegal, Guinea, Mauretania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire (Turner et al. 2011; Oppong 2002). Apart from herding, there are huge numbers of Fulani engaged in business, trade, manufacture, religious learning and politics. Their population is estimated at 18 million. Nomadic Fulani are often ‘minority groups’, both in terms of power and population in countries where they have come to stay and where their settlements are spatially separated from those of the autochthon population.
The ‘Fulani’ are not one of the recognized ethnic groups2 in Ghana, despite contact with the Ghanaian populace for over a century. With the exception of a few censuses that purposely included and counted Fulani as part of the population of Ghana, their numbers are not known and they are deliberately not registered in the national census. In national elections, second- and third-generation Fulani pastoralists are not allowed to vote, unless locally dominant political parties see them as enhancing their electoral chances. In the National Identification Exercise which was meant to compile a national database and identity cards for both citizen and non-citizens resident in Ghana, Fulani pastoralists were either refused to be registered in some areas or made to pay money by registration officials.3
Thus, at the national and community levels, Fulani pastoralists are excluded from socio-political participation and access to resources. Ghanaian citizenship and immigration policies have tended to put Fulani pastoralists in a negative light. Fulani per the 1992 Republic of Ghana (1992) even if born in Ghana but having no parent or grandparent born in Ghana before 1957, are explicitly excluded from Ghanaian citizenship except through marriage or naturalization after long stays. There have been state policies of Fulani pastoralists’ expulsion from Ghana termed ‘Operation Cow Leg’ which has been carried out several times. Besides, local community policies of Fulani pastoralists’ evictions, their limited access to land leases and their conflicts with local farmers have prompted community evictions and attacks as well as state/government interventions. These infringements and the production of stereotypes and prejudices they entailed have affected the relationship between local communities and Fulani pastoralists. Stereotypes and prejudices of Fulani pastoralists go beyond just discourses of them being non-citizens, but are rather based on cognitive social biases and categorization. In examining the stereotypes and prejudices vis-à-vis the Fulani in Ghana, particularly the pastoral Fulani, this paper argues that these attitudes towards Fulani pastoralists in Ghana have become an important part of national and local community policies and discourses, help to exclude the pastoralists and to structure pastoralist-community relations.
Study area and methods
The study is qualitative in nature and based on ethnographic research that included participant observation, interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and the collection of media reports and news. The study group comprised purposefully sampled Fulani residents in Ghana, local farmers, Fulani pastoralists (including migrant herders, sedentary herders and cattle owners), local community residents, traditional chiefs, community leaders and government officials. They made up a total of 254 respondents. Our approach thus allowed us to look at stereotypes, prejudices and practices of exclusion as presented in the narrative of immediate actors as well as in Ghanaian media discourse.
Our analysis of Ghanaian media reports involved print, electronic and onli