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Paper short abstract:

A group of mangrove rice farmers in Guinea-Bissau was provided with funding for the construction of a dam to protect their rice fields from the sea. The construction was participated by European researchers. We discuss the politics of hiding used to navigate interfaces of difference.

Paper long abstract:

Rice producing villages in Guinea-Bissau depend on dams that protect mangrove rice fields from tides. The construction of these dams is labour and knowledge intensive. In a village, a group of farmers was provided with funding for the construction of a dam to recover rice production. Both the construction and funding management was participated by European researchers. Based on that engagement, this communication looks closely at the meanings and politics of hiding used to manage interfaces of difference. First, researchers decided to hide the name of the person who individually funded the construction of the dam, and the funding was formally delivered through an association. The group of farmers managing the fund decided to hide the existence of funding from the rest of the village. Researchers asked the funding and its spendings to be presented to the village once the dam was finished. When presenting the funding, a farmer decided to attribute the responsibility of selecting the group of farmers responsible for the funding to the researchers. A farmer wondered why white researchers hid themselves from being included in the constructing of the dam when telling the story of the construction. These calculations of hiding identities, used by both European researchers and African farmers, speak both to postcolonial notions of representation and to the ethics of redistribution, respectively. Hiding was crucial to different aspects of succeeding in the construction of the dam but it is in tension with the premises of responsible research and development.