Between the Sea and the Lagoon: An Eco-Social History of the Anlo of Southeastern Ghana: C. 1850 to Recent Times

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"This study offers a 'social interpretation of environmental process' for the coastal lowlands of southeastern Ghana." "The Anlo-Ewe, sometimes hailed as the quintessential sea fisherman of the West African coast, are a previously non-maritime people who developed a maritime tradition. Since the mid-seventeenth century they have attempted to domesticate the lagoons and the sea through the exploitation of salt and fish, the use of waterways as trade routes, and the struggle to obtain security from lagoon flooding and sea erosion." As a fishing community the Anlo yet have a strong attachment to their land. In the twentieth century persistent coastal erosion has brought a collapse of the balance between nature and culture, compounded by progressive marginalization in the late-colonial and post-colonial political economy of Ghana. The Anlo have sought spiritual explanations for environmental disaster, at the same time that they have responded politically by developing broader cultural and ecological ties with Ewe-speaking peoples along the coast.

FROM THE CRITICS

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