" ‘Sakawa’: A moral critique of corruption in Ghana"

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This lecture discusses “Sakawa,” illegal practices that combine Internet fraud and secret ritual practices at shrines. More specifically, it poses the questions of when it appears as a moral problem and what it is doing in these various contexts. The analysis will focus on two cases discussed: (1) Sakawa as a form of economic survival amongst Ghanaian men that sometimes involves aspiring entrepreneurs giving away either sexual vitality or human life in exchange for quick wealth; (2) the Ghanaian government as a “Sakawa government,” a metaphor that expresses a critique of the country’s politicians and charismatic pastors, who are described as corrupt and immoral. Bringing these two examples into comparison, I argue that Sakawa provides an ethical framework that raises questions about corruption, from what is at stake in getting rich too quickly or through illicit means, to how the redistribution of wealth is central to correcting an existing imbalance in a neoliberal economy.