Abstract
Drawing on community empowerment literature, this chapter charts how slum dwellers in the Old Fadama informal settlement in central Accra, Ghana, sought ways to empower themselves and resist forced evictions. Whilst the theory of community empowerment is powerful, the chapter demonstrates the difficulties in putting it into practice. In Old Fadama’s case, the state had no intention of legally recognizing its status or providing public assurances that slum dwellers’ properties would not be demolished. The deadlock between the state and the slum community was finally broken when the state undertook large-scale slum clearance with no consultation or strategic planning where those displaced would be resettled. When those with power are unwilling to admit citizens into their final decision-making, community empowerment efforts to assert slum dweller’s rights to stay are effectively thwarted.
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Morrison, N. (2017). Struggling for the Right to Be Recognized: The Informal Settlement of Old Fadama, Accra, Ghana. In: Brickell, K., Fernández Arrigoitia, M., Vasudevan, A. (eds) Geographies of Forced Eviction. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51127-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51127-0_2
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