Present-time witches: media and the intersecting discourses of age, gender and mental health in Ghana

Abstract

In this chapter, the representation of older women with mental health problems in Ghanaian society is discussed. The focus is on the figure of a witch and the ways it is employed in everyday social and media discourses and the material consequences it produces.Technological advancement has enabled people to access information from different local and international sources. In Ghana, the past two decades have witnessed significant improvements in media access and usage. This presents concerns for the accurate and realistic representation of all sections of the population. At the same time, the Ghanaian population has been very active in creating and using media as yet another means of communication. While younger women appear in the media a lot, the same cannot be said for older women. Further, issues regarding mental health are largely silenced and this concerns people of all genders and ages. There is, however, one exception when mental health, old age and women are openly talked about in social spaces: in most instances, when older women have mental health problems, they are referred to as witches. The image of a witch is a joint creation of various sociocultural practices, religious beliefs, media and social norms.