Paper short abstract:

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.