Land And Contestations Over Autochthony And Local Citizenship In Agrarian Ghana
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Date
2022
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Publisher
Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy
Abstract
This article examines the reimagination of communities in an industrial
cassava frontier of Ghana in the wake of a contested land grab supported
by state and community institutions. Qualitative and survey data were
used to construct the existing social relations in the communities through
the lens of earlier processes of agrarian change that have transformed
the social base of the communities. It is argued that the expansion of
capitalist production systems into agrarian areas results in local citizenship
contestations centered on land and redefinition and reclassification of
people and their access to land. The multiple claims and contestations
that arose from the land grab and the political reactions from below
are highlighted. It is further argued that differentiated dispossession and
class differences determine the strategies used by affected people. While
some farmers demonstrated agency by holding on to a “little pie” to
enjoy greater community social cohesion, others draw from their
local citizenship status, although contested, fought the land grab.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
social relations, land grab, local citizenship