Blood ritual: An indigenous approach to peacemaking among the Bimoba people of northern Ghana

Abstract

This study examined blood ritual as an indigenous peacemaking strategy among the Bimoba people of northern Ghana. Descriptive qualitative research methods were used together with in-depth face-to-face interviews with eight elders of the community. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed with NVivo 12 software. The findings reveal that the blood ritual approach is participatory, focuses on re-establishing relationships and emanates from the culture of the Bimoba people. It also involves the use of rituals and seeks the interest of the entire Bimoba community. The study concludes that the strategy shares commonalities with several indigenous peacemaking approaches in Africa and has the potential of facilitating sustainable resolutions of communal conflicts such as the Bimoba chieftaincy conflict. However, similar to other approaches, the blood ritual does not ensure gender equality in peacebuilding as the role of women is reduced to simply being observers. A major limitation of this study is its reliance on only the perspectives of the elders of the community without recourse to the voices of people who appear before the ritual processes, to appreciate how they feel about the blood ritual with respect to their hope and expectation when they appear before the process for solace and solution. Also, the voice of young people, women and other vulnerable groups are not reflected in the blood ritual approach.