African personhood, Humanism, and critical Sankofaism: the case of male suicide in Ghana

Kong, Camillia (2020) African personhood, Humanism, and critical Sankofaism: the case of male suicide in Ghana. In: Stoyanov, D. and Fulford, K. and Mills, C. and Stanghellini, G. and Van Staden, W. and Wong, M. (eds.) International Perspectives in Values-Based Mental Health Practice. Springer Nature, pp. 85-93. ISBN 9783030478513.

Abstract

Suicide in Ghana is criminalised and those who survive suicide attempts are subject to significant social condemnation. Paradoxically, studies show that male suicide is often driven by individuals’ strong sense of responsibility to meet social norms and expectations around gender as well as the internalisation of societal views that death would be preferable to shame and disgrace. This contradiction prompts a critical re-examination of the communitarian tradition of African personhood which posits an intimate link between the individual attainment of socially affirmed roles and the status of personhood. Through an analysis of the Akan concept of critical sankofaism I suggest that African approaches to suicide may draw upon important adaptive, critical resources internal to African cultural values, thus highlighting the progressive potential of the African tradition. I show specifically how male gender norms and societal responses to suicide attempts distort core humanistic values at the heart of African communitarian personhood.

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