“We put together a Zongo here”: contemporary Ghanaian migrations and urban appropriations (2014-2020)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the recent migratory flows of Ghanaians who moved from Zongos, ethnicreligious settlements in the region of Ghana, to the city of Criciúma, in the southern region of Brazil, between 2014 and 2020. The intention is to understand the migratory dynamics forged in the historical context of displacement of these individuals and the way they rebuild their ethnic identities in transit, based on the idea of  an “itinerary culture”. The hypothesis defended is that the way these migrants interact with the city – forming tensioned spaces suitable for Ghanaians who previously lived in Zongos, thus, faithful to Islam and speakers of the Hausa language, and for non-Zongorian Ghanaians, especially belonging to the Axanti ethnic group – represents an extension of the of social and historical tensions related to the place of origin, Ghana. In this sense, the article intends to point out how, during displacement, Zongorian Ghanaians of different ethnicities and the Axanti Ghanaians reinforce and redefine their identities, reproducing, in transit, social dynamics of spatial and cultural separation in the host society - in the case studied, Criciúma.