Life after dark in Kwahu Tafo, Ghana

The author reflects on four nocturnal topics he observed during his research in Kwahu-Tafo, a rural Ghanaian town: witchcraft, sex, human waste removal and sleeping. Yet little of his fieldwork was in fact nocturnal. He also asked school students to write about their views of life after dark in their town. From these reflections, the night in Kwahu-Tafo is revealed as both the ‘enemy’ of the day - a realm for activities that were not allowed or possible during the day - and as the day’s indispensable companion. The night solves the moral dilemmas of the day. The night provides the coulisses of the day.