On Monday January 9th, Netty Carey (MA student, Anthropology) gave a presentation to the Social Change and Development in Africa Working Group. Her talk, titled, “‘We are in the air’. Land Claims and Liminal Space on Ghana’s Volta Delta”, discussed the interactions between an Italian-Ghanaian company, Trasacco, and the local community as plans are underway to construct a high-class tourist resort and boat marina on the west side of the Volta River estuary. The research presented was based on 6 weeks of ethnographic fieldwork Carey carried out in Ghana in June and July of 2016.
If constructed, the Trasacco resort project will result in the forceful relocation of over a hundred residences. Historically, the community has faced volatile pressures on land by the encroaching sea, which has resulted in residences lost to the sea or moved-inland on at least three different occasions. The dwellings to be demolished and reconstructed elsewhere have been marked by painted yellow numbers. As Carey describes, these numbers have color, presence, and agency as they serve as a warning (a yellow card, as many locals describe it) about the possible pending relocation measures. The numbers, located on structures on one side of the community, paint over the class differences among the households they mark, but many fear those differences will be reinforced by the relocation. Themes of ownership and political patronage are paramount in this issue, particularly because it was the chief who went around with the Trasacco officials to paint the residences (and shrines!) which would need to be moved. That the chief is the custodian of the land who has promised to protect the interests of the community makes many community members view his involvement in the Trasacco deal as a prominent betrayal. As tribal claims, chieftaincy authority, class differences, the power of rumors, and international versus domestic authority interact, Carey’s research offers a close-up view of what tourism development can mean for vulnerable communities in picturesque landscapes.