This paper examines – through a case study of anti-mining activism in Ghana’s Upper West Region - what impact engagement with transnational advocacy networks has on the lived experience of the communities, activists and organisations that they support.
Paper long abstract
International support networks often replicate the unequal power dynamics that characterise North-South relations. These power dynamics, in turn, impact the lives of local communities engaged in environmental resistance.
This paper explores this topic through a case study, researched in northern Ghana: there, members of a Dagaabe community near the border with Burkina Faso are resisting the proposed development of a gold mine, supported by a locally-based, internationally-supported organisation. This paper examines how these international relationships influenced the forms that this resistance took, and explores the disjuncts between locally relevant and internationally salient approaches to environmental activism.