TALK: In the Shadow of Akosombo:
Long-Term Livelihood
Strategies in the Context of Environ-mental Change and
State Neglect in Ghana
Dzodzi Tsikata (University of Ghana)
Tuesday, November 14 / 6:00 PM
South Hall 4631A
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The Large Dams constructed in Africa during the 1960s
were emblematic of the dominant modernization paradigms
in the development discourses. Through the acquisition
of cheap energy, industrialization and development would
be realized. The Dams themselves became symbols of nationhood
and technological achievement. The Akosombo Dam, constructed
over the Volta River in Ghana and commissioned in 1966,
was one such project. Forty years on, the dreams of industrialization
have not been realized and the energy questions remain
as urgent as ever. One aspect of this story is the problem
of dam affected communities. The few existing studies
of populations affected by Large Dams are usually about
physically displaced and resettled communities. This
paper is based on a study of the long-term environmental
and socioeconomic impacts of the Akosombo and Kpong Dams,
and the livelihood responses of downstream communities.
It discusses the contribution of factors such as the
environmental restructuring of the Lower Volta, the exodus
of its most economically active population to the Volta
Lake, the state’s neglect of affected communities
and social relations of class, gender and kinship, to
livelihood trajectories and outcomes.
Dzodzi Tsikata is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute
of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research, University
of Ghana.
Sponsored by the IHC’s African Studies RFG, Hull
Chair in Women’s Studies and the History Department
