A Phenomenological Study of Sexuality among the People of Tutu Akuapem-Ghana: Implications for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)
Issue: Vol.2 No.7 July 2021 Article 1 pp. 61-74
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2021271 | Published online 22nd July 2021.
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Issues about human sexuality have generated serious discussion in both public and academic discourses. In Ghana, the recent frightening figures of teenage pregnancy and diverse reactions to homosexuality, gay, bisexual, and transgender in news outlets have heightened the exigency of sexuality deliberations among religious, political, human rights activists, and social commentators. Amid the controversies and difficulties surrounding sexuality matters, the question is how do Africans maintain their ‘Africanness’ in search of expanded understandings and pedagogies of sexuality? Which indigenous conventions and rites must be interrogated to have the 21stcentury African child well informed and equipped to deal with his/ her sexuality? Using the phenomenological approach, the researchers sought to examine indigenous sexuality rites and norms of the people of Tutu Akuapem Community in the Eastern region of Ghana, focusing on puberty and marriage rites of passage. The study argues for a carefully thought-out compromise between custodians of indigenous values of sexuality and modern theorists and activists for new(er) ways of conceiving, expressing, and teaching sexuality. It recommends that the content of the newly designed curriculum of sexuality education in our schools must be adapted to reflect African worldviews, values, and customs of sexuality.
Keywords: Sexuality, Gender, Phenomenology, Comprehensive Sex Education, Rite of passage
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Solomon Kwame Gyamerah is a PhD student at the Department of Arts Education, University of Cape Coast. He holds a B.Ed, Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Philosophy degrees from the University of Education,Winneba – Mampong Ashanti Campus, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon Accra and the University of Ghana, respectively. He is the Principal of the Methodist College of Education, Akyem Asene-Aboabo, Oda Eastern Region – Ghana. He is also an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Ghana and currently the minister-in-charge of Bethel Society – Akim Aboabo of the Oda Diocese.
Maxwell Kojo Tsibu is a PhD candidate at the Department of Religion and Human Values. He holds B.Ed. and Master of Philosophy degrees from the same Department at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). He is a Tutor at the Methodist College of Education, Akyem Asene-Aboabo, Oda- Eastern Region – Ghana.
Gyamerah, S.K & Tsibu, M.K. “A Phenomenological Study of Sexuality among the People of Tutu Akuapem-Ghana: Implications for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 2, no.7 (2021): 61-74 https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2021271
© 2021 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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