The rise and fall of 'nugormesese' in a West African community: issues in institution building and social capital viability in Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	The rise and fall of 'nugormesese' in a West African community: issues in institution building and social capital viability in Africa
Author:	Fred-Mensah, Ben K.
Year:	2007
Periodical:	Research Review (ISSN 0855-4412)
Volume:	23
Issue:	2
Pages:	23-41
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Ghana West Africa
Subjects:	customs conflict resolution land conflicts Ewe sociology Social capital (Sociology)
Abstract:	'Nugormesese' is an Ewe word meaning 'understanding'. The present author conceptualizes 'nugormesese' as an institutional framework which, by functioning as an environment of trust, facilitated binary interactions among the farming people in the community under research, viz. the Buem-Kator area, on the Ghana side of the Ghana-Togo border area. He shows that, as time went by and the mutual benefits which sustained these relationships steadily dissipated, 'nugormesese' came under stress. Constituting an integral part of the indigenous institutional environment that coordinated land transactions between the host community and migrant land users, the breakdown in the mediatory capacity of 'nugormesese' thus raises the question of institutional revitalization in the area, to which a reform of the land tenure system is central. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract, edited]