This talk is on the power of colonial boundary demarcations in transforming land governance in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Ben will share how conversations on history concerning power, actors and law is defining land governance institutions. He uses data from the archives to explain the evolution of colonial map making and the integration of native authorities in the colonial administration manifested in the social, political, and cultural lives of the commons. Ben will offer a perspective on how colonial map making and boundary demarcations are used as a nationalist discourse that ensconce a social and cultural sphere, and depict a territorialism of physical, legal and social landscapes to separate the commons from land, both in form and substance.

BIO: Benjamin Ajabuin (he/him) is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria. His research interests are centered more broadly on land tenure, global food systems and natural resource governance. He is particularly researching how global sustainability practices impact smallholder cocoa farmers' food security, livelihoods and environmental management decisions in Ghana.

ZOOM LINK: https://zoom.us/j/99822782507