A Bird, a Crocodile, and the 21st Century Cowrie Shell: Analyzing Ghana’s Currency Change

Ghana’s currency was redenominated in 2007. The current study explored this transition as an example of change occurring in a cultural context. This was achieved using interviews as a window into the experiences of a sample of 40 Ghanaians who daily live in the aftermath of this change. These findings indicate that the old currency continues to play a very important role in post-redenomination Ghana. Though no longer physically present, the old currency remains an integral part of the daily financial discourse. While participants gave several reasons for this tendency, the “Sankofa—Denkyem” (retrospective adaptability) effect is introduced as a cultural framework that adequately explains the results of this study.