ttacking people on highways and killing innocent citizens are hiding at these ghettos, hence the need to chase them out…’12 (emphasis added).
Simply identifying other armed robbers as Ghanaians and clearly naming Fulani armed robbers by their ethnic group name clearly illustrates ethnic labelling and the social categorization put on all Fulani by Ghanaians (through media discourses). In some instances, robbers disguise themselves as Fulani supposedly speaking and dressing like Fulani because these armed robbers know the public stereotype of Fulani as armed robbers. This cognitive categorization of individual Fulani engaged in armed robbers is used to classify the entire Fulani ethnic group as armed robbers.
Fulani pastoralists as rapists
Most of these claims about Fulani pastoralists raping women are difficult to prove as neither the police have evidence of it nor are any formal complaints from victims made to the police. In an FGD with a group of young men whether they had evidence that Fulani herders are rapists, one of them stated that ‘we heard it happened somewhere and not here …’. Accordingly, one of them stated that the difficulty in proving the issue of rape stems from the fact that many women in Ghana do not report or talk of rape cases for fear of stigma from the society and family members alike. Fulani pastoralists equally argue that their tradition and customs do not accept sexual contact with women who are not legally married to them. Instructively, this stereotype appears to incite hatred towards Fulani herders.
Fulani pastoralists as uncivilized, primitive and dirty people
Fulani and other ethnic groups in Ghana are divided by a number of cultural differences in the spheres of social and political organization, economic organization, food, dressing and general lifestyle. For many people in Ghana, Fulani are just pastoralists involved in raising herds of cattle. However, the Fulani include a wide array of people who are businessmen, traders, settled farmers, educated officials and politicians.16 As a result of these cultural differences, Fulani pastoralists’ lifestyle is interpreted as primitive and uncivilized. Due to little appreciation and understanding of the rationale and importance of nomadic pastoralism by large sections of the population, this livelihood strategy is rather seen as an outdated tradition and lacking potential for modernization (Tonah 2000). Thus, there is a social categorization of Fulani as a homogenous group as well as an interpretation of their pastoral lifestyle as primitive and tantamount to uncivilized behaviour.
‘Fulani are uneducated, uncivilized and never attend school nor take their children to school’17
‘Once a Fulani passes by you, the scent of his/her perfume, soap or pomade is milk’18
‘You can never trust a Fulani and be friends with him. He will betray you’19
‘Fulani are very destructive like monkeys. They destroy farms within a matter of seconds’20
‘Fulani have no town or land of their own. I am not sure of where they came from. But all we know is that they live in the bush’21
‘These are people (Fulani) always live in the bush with their animals. So their behaviour is much influenced by the animals. They think and behave like their cattle’22
‘These guys (Fulani) are very filthy. The droppings from their cattle and their milk bring flies all over the place.’23
There is emphasis on the fact that droppings from their cattle make the environment dirty and their method of milk processing attract flies resulting in infectious diseases such as cholera. Fulani pastoralists are also seen as very destructive of the environment. They are accused of polluting water bodies, burning bushes and cutting trees to feed their cattle. Others tag them with resource depletion and the destruction of some species of flora such as the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa)24 and thatch grasses (Hyparrhenia involucrata Stapf) for roofing houses. (It has to be noted here, though, that bush burning and other environmental destruction are not only done by the herders. Local farmers after harvesting set t