The Gods, Spirits And Magical Powers At War: Reflections On The Psychological Dimension Of The Nawuri-Gonja Conflict, Northern Ghana

Abstract

In 1991 and 1992, the Nawuri and the Gonja clashed over allodial rights in lands in the Nawuri area of the present-day Kpandai District in the Northern Region of Ghana. The conflict was cataclysmic, and throughout its conduct, there were psychological dimensions. In all the events before the conflict and throughout the phases of the conflict, metaphysical and superstitious resources were utilized and became the fulcrum in the conduct of the conflict. As the conflict occurred in the part of Ghana where superstition and belief in spiritual powers was an integral part of people’s psychology, the Nawuri and the Gonja naturally provided space for the gods, spirits, and magical powers in the conduct of the conflict. With an ingrained philosophy that empiricism is controlled by metaphysical forces, the Nawuri and the Gonja mixed superstition in every aspect of the conflict. This paper examined the extent to which superstitious beliefs played a catalytical psychological role in the Nawuri-Gonja conflict. It analyzed the space provided for spiritual forces – the gods, spirits, and magical powers – and the extent to which these psychological factors determined the course of the conflict. The paper argued that it is impossible to reconstruct a cogent narrative of the conflict – both in terms of its conduct and the scale – without recourse to the psychological factors.