'Biribiara wo ne mmere' (Everything has its time): exploring changing perceptions of transportation on film from the colonial Gold Coast to contemporary Ghana

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Periodical article

Title:	'Biribiara wo ne mmere' (Everything has its time): exploring changing perceptions of transportation on film from the colonial Gold Coast to contemporary Ghana
Author:	Okraku, Therese Kennelly
Year:	2016
Periodical:	Africa Today (ISSN 1527-1978)
Volume:	62
Issue:	4
Pages:	45-64
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	public transport automobiles drivers images
External link:	https://muse.jhu.edu/article/620265
Abstract:	Public perceptions and cinematic portrayals of passenger transportation vehicles and their drivers in Ghana have undergone a massive transformation on film in the past fifty years. Colonial films depicted these vehicles as a symbol of modernity and drivers as cosmopolitan men, but contemporary Ghanaian popular culture portrays these vehicles and their drivers through a negative lens. This article uses ethnographic and archival data to explain why this shift occurred and its effects on the contemporary tro-tro industry. Portrayals of these vehicles have shifted because of a combination of historical, geographical, and social factors, including historical change, urbanization, proximity to corruption, the spread of HIV/AIDS, differences in rural settings, socioeconomic status, and perceptions of safety. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]