An Ethnographic Focus on Family Dynamics in Ghana, West Africa versus the United States

The purpose of this study to explore and describe the family dynamics in Ghana, West Africa in comparison to those of African Americans in the United States of America. Analyzing these culture sharing patterns is especially important in the context of the historically black institution of higher learning, where African and American cultures intersect. Both groups, Africans in Africa and African-Americans in the U.S., will benefit from this research because this will bridge gaps in knowledge, making us a citizen of the world. I was able to travel to Ghana and immerse myself into their culture and for that short period of time, I was able to observe the differences in family dynamics in America versus those in Ghana. My research explores family dynamics in three sectors: Daily life, education, marriage/childbearing. Many components make these three overarching sectors. Both Ghana and America are countries going through changes with a diverse population that provides different perspectives and opportunities for the exchange of new ideas that can stimulate innovation and creativity (VanAlstine, Cox, & Roden, 2015). Research has been conducted to investigate the educational system in both America and Ghana and the different levels in which one can obtain a degree/certificate. Studies also explore the extent to which families in both Ghana and America value education. Marriage practices also differ in Ghana versus the United States and have changed many times over centuries. This study is important in that it explores these differences based on the lived experiences of the participants who are a part of each culture. In order to collect data, three focus groups were conducted among college students in both Ghana and the United States. Students who attended The University of Ghana, The University of Cape Coast, and students of the Atlanta University Center shared their lived experiences and their family dynamics. There were a total of 13 interview questions in order to explore daily life, education, roles/hierarchy, occupation, and marriage. All questions asked were open-ended, allowing the participants to discuss their experiences in detail. For example, “Describe the roles of men and women in your family” is a question that received extensive responses due to the fact that is was more subjective than objective. Atlas Ti revealed the following themes that arose from the analysis—meals, leisure activities, the value of education, attitudes toward premarital childbearing, and family roles among others. Validation strategies used are rich thick descriptions, reflexivity, and member checking. Understanding the daily lives and contexts of individuals in Ghana and in the U.S. has not been conducted systematically to date, and such an exploration is expected to help build a bridge of understanding and respect between the related cultures in addition to using best practices that will benefit the cultures mutually. Volume 9 Issue 1 (2020) Research Article ISSN: 2167-1907 www.JOFSR.org


Introduction
Research has been conducted to investigate the educational system in both America and Ghana and the different levels in which one can obtain a degree/certificate. Studies also explore the extent to which families in both Ghana and America value education. Marriage practices also differ in Ghana versus the United States and have changed many times over centuries. This study is important in that it explores these differences based on the lived experiences of the participants who are a part of each culture. In order to collect data, three focus groups were conducted among college students in both Ghana and the United States. Students who attended The University of Ghana, The University of Cape Coast, and students of the Atlanta University Center shared their lived experiences and their family dynamics.
There were a total of 13 interview questions in order to explore daily life, education, roles/hierarchy, occupation, and marriage. All questions asked were open-ended, allowing the participants to discuss their experiences in detail. For example, "Describe the roles of men and women in your family" is a question that received extensive responses due to the fact that is was more subjective than objective. Atlas Ti revealed the following themes that arose from the analysis-meals, leisure activities, the value of education, attitudes toward premarital childbearing, and family roles among others. Validation strategies used are rich thick descriptions, reflexivity, and member checking. Understanding the daily lives and contexts of individuals in Ghana and in the U.S. has not been conducted systematically to date, and such an exploration is expected to help build a bridge of understanding and respect between the related cultures in addition to using best practices that will benefit the cultures mutually.
We do not currently know about the in-depth family dynamics in the American and African cultures.
Analyzing these patterns will assist us in better understanding in what ways they are related or contrast. This is especially important in the context of the historically black institution of higher learning, where African and American cultures intersect. Both groups, Africans in Africa and African-Americans in the U.S., will benefit from this research because this will bridge gaps in knowledge, making us a citizen of the world. My research explores family dynamics in five sectors: Daily life, education, roles/hierarchy, occupation, and marriage/childbearing. Such exploration has not been conducted yet.

Literature Review
There has been some research on the daily lives of people in Ghana as well as the U.S. (Adu-Agyem & Osei-Poky, 2012;Hammond, 2016;Boateng & Maier, 2019;Nsowah-Nuamah, Teal, 2012). For example, Adu-Agyem and Osei-Poky (2012) stated, "in Ghana, inadequate standardized human and material resources, poor management and supervision, lack of funding and poor conditions of service for employees of the educational system culminate in low productivity." In the United States, there are gaps in the educational system as well as achievement for Black students.
Educational outcomes for minority children are much more a function of their unequal access to key educational resources, including skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are a function of the race (Hammond, 2016).
Minority students are given less resources and are given teachers that may or may not be experts in the area they are teaching. Traditional social values, such as respect for elders and the veneration of dead ancestors, are generally more evident among the rural than the urban population (Boateng & Maier, 2019). Rural areas lean on more on basic values 73% of households are single-mother lead. In the country of Ghana, earnings increase rapidly with education and the more advanced the degree, the higher the income for that family or individual (Nsowah-Nuamah, Teal, 2012). This is also apparent in the United States, where, the more advanced the degree level, the higher the income of the household.
Understanding the daily lives and contexts of individuals in Ghana and in the U.S. has not been conducted systematically to date, and such an exploration will help build a bridge of understanding and respect between the related cultures in addition to using best practices that will benefit the cultures mutually.

Daily Life in Ghana
There are contrasts in urban and rural areas when it comes to dressing and dietary patterns, with the urban occupants being particularly more Westernized and sophisticated (Boateng, Fage, Davies, & Maier, 2019).

Meals
Reflecting on the country's agricultural wealth and varied historical connections, most of their meals include fufu and other starchy foods such as ass cassava, yams, or plantains. Kenke is also an ingredient used in making these dishes.

Leisure
After Ghana became independent in 1957, President Kwame Nkrumah encouraged the development of sports in order to generate recognition and representation internationally (Fage et. al., 2019). Backed by the support of the government in the 1960s, there were giant strides in the development of athletics, especially boxing, track & field, and futbol (soccer).

Gender roles
The gender gaps that exist in education, income, poverty, access to health and wealth, inheritance, and household decision-making has been reported widely in Ghana and in Africa (Bosak, Eagly, Diekman, & Sczesny, 2017). These gaps most negatively impact Ghanaian women. Both boys and girls learn to distinguish male and female roles by watching the elders around them (Ampofo, 2001). These elders are close to them, some parents/grandparents. Ampofo

Meals
In American culture, food that is consumed on a daily basis originates from various ethnic backgrounds. Most American food comes from animals (beef, turkey, fish, chicken, etc.) Like Ghanainan culture, some foods are grown in gardens or on farms (vegetables, grains, etc.) At the turn of the 20th century, the majority of Americans ate most of their meals at home, prepared from foods both grown at home and purchased from local stores. Now, there are many fast-food chains that make meals more accessible and also appear to be cheaper than local grocery stores.

Gender roles
Women in the United States have made significant strides toward closing the gaps that have kept them from achieving equality with men (Horowitz, Parker, & Stepler, 2017). This is seen in educational achievement and also in the workplace. In Western cultures, women are perceived to be the more nurturing gender therefore, women were expected to in nurturing roles. These roles included tending to her family in the home full-time without having to go to work outside of the home. Traditionally, many Western societies have believed that women are more nurturing than men.
Men, on the other hand, are presumed by traditional views of gender roles to be leaders, which is similar to the Ghanaian culture (Blackstone, 2003).

Education in Ghana
The present education in Ghana runs through Basic school education up to Tertiary education. The

Educational values
Ghanaian training is focused on giving an all-encompassing and quality way of education by creating well-balanced individuals with the essential learning, abilities, qualities, and aptitudes with the end goal of self-acknowledgment and for the financial advancement and political transformation of the nation. According to Adu--Agyem & Osei-Poku (2012), in order to accomplish this, the individual is taught ought to be mentally, intellectually, psychologically developed so as to contribute towards national improvement and adjust to changes and different developments within the nation and beyond positively.

Educational values
Citizens recognize the value of education, particularly during times of economic turmoil, which creates an environment rampant with job insecurity. In a survey conducted by New America, fully three-quarters of the 1,600 respondents said it's easier to be successful with a degree than without one, in a finding that generally transcended the race of respondents. Yet 51 percent believe that plenty of well-paying jobs do not require going to college, despite solid evidence to the contrary (Fain, 2017). Education correlates unequivocally with the most significant social and financial results, for example, monetary achievement, wellbeing, family security, and social connections (Hout, 2012).

Marriage in Ghana
A study was conducted by three students (2015) explored the extent to which marriage is associated with subjective well-being in Ghana. One of the findings from this study is that being married has a negative impact on well-being among Ghanaians, although the association is not statistically very strong (Addai, Opoku-Agyeman, & Amanfu, 2015). This may be due to the prevailing cultural and socioeconomic contexts in poor countries, where well-being is predominantly predicted by economic factors. Another pertinent finding is that being married has a detrimental effect on happiness among females in Ghana. This finding suggests that the quality of marriage and traditional gender roles are essential in shaping wellbeing in Ghana -an important finding that demands further scrutiny (2015).

Childbearing
The Ashanti consider pregnancy to be a vulnerable time when risk increases that women may be affected by witchcraft and develop 'sunsumyare', a spiritual sickness that manifests itself as physical (Posega, 2014). Preparation for positive birth outcomes includes biomedical, ethnomedical and faith-based interventions (Farnes, Beckstrand, & Callister, 2011). Motherhood is a primary role for Ghanaian women. The authors went on to explain that proven fertility is essential: "If you are not married, and you don't give birth, nobody cares. But if you are married and you don't give birth, the family of the man will not compromises with you" (Farnes, Beckstrand, & Callister, 2010).

Marriage in America
The idea of marriage in the United States has changed many times over many centuries. Historian Nancy Cott argues that, since colonial times, Americans have viewed marriage as the bedrock of healthy families and communities, and vital to the functioning of democracy itself (Hull & Ortyl, 2010). A study on early marriage conducted by Uecker and Stokes (2008) found that although much attention has been paid to the increasing age at first marriage in the United States, many Americans continue to marry at young ages. Many young people marry before their 23rd birthday.

Methodology
This study was conducted using a qualitative design: an ethnographic approach. This approach explored the cultural sharing patterns in family dynamics in both Ghana and the USA. To answer the research question, 11-13 questions were asked during each focus group (see Appendix A). The responses from the focus groups in different countries were then compared and coded using Atlas Ti 8.0. Two focus groups were conducted in rural and urban cities in Ghana, while two focus groups were conducted in America. As the researcher, I was interested in studying the family dynamics in both countries in order to draw a comparison in the customs and beliefs of individuals and cultures.
Various strategies were used to maintain the trustworthiness of the data such as following up with participants about their responses (member checking) and also noting their responses (rich thick descriptions).

Sample and Procedure
The focus group participants in Accra, Ghana included undergraduate students, faculty professors, and residents of Ghana. The bulk of the participants were students. Purposive sampling was used to gain participants and the inclusionary criteria was that each particpants had to be a member of that country (America or Ghana). In the rural part of Ghana, the participants were graduate students ranging from ages 22-30 years. The focus groups in America were conducted on a historically black college campus. All participants identified as African-American undergraduate students and ranged from the ages of 18-24. Participants were encouraged to share their experiences in daily life, education, occupation, role, and marriage within their families. The focus groups were conducted in private classrooms inside of academic buildings to ensure maximum privacy and confidentiality. Prior to conducting the focus group, permission was granted by the Clark Atlanta University's Institutional Review Board and each focus group participant was asked to complete a consent form that outlined the procedures and rules of the focus group. Involvement in the study was completely voluntary and the participants were notified that they could leave the group at any time. Each focus group was audio recorded, and the duration ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. As an incentive for participating, participants in America received extra credit from their psychology professors. In Ghana, participants received gift bags that included a monetary gift as well as apparel.

Data Analysis
In order to effectively analyze the data collected in each focus group, Atlas Ti was used to formulate codes that did arise from the responses of the participants. These codes were then used to create themes that helped answer the

Themes: America
Attitudes towards educational attainment The participants in the focus group were asked to describe how much value is put on receiving an education in their

families. A comparison was drawn from the responses of both the focus groups in Ghana and the focus groups in
America. The majority of the participants in America would be considered 1st-year college students meaning that prior to them attending college, no one in their immediate families had received post-secondary education. There are apparent differences in the responses from both countries. Below are some responses from participants from the focus group conducted in America.

Household dominance
The participants in the focus group were asked to describe the dynamics in their households in terms of who holds the most power and makes the majority of the decisions. One participant shared a response that differed from the rest. Her sibling serves as head of the household, rather than a parent. Participant #1: "I take care of my nieces during the day. We don't eat a lot at all because we have been homeless a lot.
We have learned to survive off of very little, so there is not much food in the house."

Themes: Ghana
Attitudes towards educational attainment Participants described education as being a priority in their families. Obtaining higher degrees ensures that one will receive a career that pays well.

Ranking of occupations
Jobs were explicitly listed from Ghanaian participants. Higher-paying jobs are more respected than those that do not offer high salaries.

Least respected
Below are examples of the occupations that were respected: • Parkers • Cleaners • Teachers (lower level) • "Anyone who goes against the grain"

Discussion/Comparison
The purpose of this study is to explore and describe the family dynamics in Ghana, West Africa in comparison to those of African Americans in the United States of America. Analyzing these patterns is imperative when exploring the context of the historically black institution of higher learning, where African and American cultures intersect.
When comparing attitudes towards education attainment, the responses from participants in America differed significantly from those in Ghana. In America, receiving a post-secondary education is optional rather than forced.
Parents of many of the participants either dropped out of school, never attended school, or did not receive a postsecondary degree. The responses differed from the literature because Americans put such an emphasis on education because it leads to career attainment. These patterns differ from the responses received in Ghana because there is a strong emphasis on education. If anyone in the immediate family had attended college, it is imperative that the participant follows the example and does the same. Responses varied among the participants when asked to discuss the dominant figure in their home. Some shared that their fathers are the dominant figure, while others share that their mothers make the majority of the decision within the home. One individual who participated in the focus group in America admitted that neither one of her parents plays a dominant role in the home, her sister does. Daily family life was similar among the participants in both countries when it came to running errands and meals, however, isolation was a topic brought up during the focus group like occurred in America. Attitudes toward marriage and childbearing were more relaxed than in American families than they are in Ghana. Marriage in Ghana and scared and traditionally, having a child before marriage is frowned upon. Perceptions of marriage in America are overall negative because the consensus is that marriage is just an agreement or business of some sort and not as important. In turn, having a child before marriage does not go against the values of their families. As long as a person is able to provide for that child, marriage is not mandatory. Lastly, jobs that are respected in both countries are those in which more money is accumulated (doctors, lawyers, business owners, etc.) however, the least respected jobs differ in some ways.
In Ghana, jobs that require manual labor are not valued, but according to a participant in America, manual labor jobs are respected because they require hard work. Overall, there were a lot of interesting similarities and differences in family dynamics in both countries. Rich-thick descriptions were recorded while conducting the focus groups which allowed me to explore and analyze the experiences form each and every participant in detail. This study can be used as a guide to draw a comparison between other countries besides Ghana and the United States. Understanding the daily lives and contexts of individuals in Ghana and in the U.S. has not been conducted systematically to date, and such an exploration is expected to help build a bridge of understanding and respect between the related cultures in addition to using best practices that will benefit the cultures mutually. Analyzing these culture sharing patterns is especially important in the context of the historically black institution of higher learning, where African and American cultures intersect. Both groups, Africans in Africa and African Americans in the U.S., will benefit from this research because this will bridge gaps in knowledge, making us a citizen of the world.