Download Climate change and trajectories of blame in Northern

Climate change and trajectories of
blame in Northern Ghana
Dr. Irit Eguavoen. Social Anthropology/ African Studies
“The floods are not caused by
natural things only, also
spiritual. Sometimes the flood is
like a curse to us for our sins, for
what we have been doing.
Women sleep anyhow with
men. Men are sleeping anyhow
with women.”
“We used not to sell land.
We used to give it for free
of charge […] But
nowadays, we sell land
which is s serious crime.
This is why we get no more
food from the land.”
“I have not seen any
change. There is still
rain. We are still
sowing. The change is
within the individual.
Anytime it rains. It is
still the same water. I
have not seen any
changes.“
“Yes, the grandchildren will
see change more than us. We
are even better. Years are
coming if your child sees you
sick, they will even beat you
so you can die early. […] It
will never go back to the
olden days. It is the youth
who have changed things.
But the world itself has not
changed.”
“Nowadays, the heavy wind that
is always blowing is our shrine
[tingaane] who is looking for
water. Simply because we don’t
do the right sacrifices. […] The
shrines are helpmates of God. So
God always sends them to come
and help us. And if we fail to do
the right thing, they will also
leave us. Development […] is
good but our social life is bad.
We need to go back to our
ceremonies. So that the weather
will also change in a good way
for us, especially rain.”
English translations
from Nankani transcriptions, 2012
www.wascal.org
1. INTRODUCTION
The study contributes to the cultural
interpretative anthropology of climate change.
About 40.000 Nankani speakers live in Northern
Ghana. They share many social and cultural
traits with their neighbours. There is no Nankani
word for ´climate change´ but two expressions
that are often used instead:
saŋa teeri - changes in the weather
korom korom teeri - olden days changed
(change of the surrounding/ environment)
But climate does not equal weather. And the
Nankani notion of environmental change
includes the weather, people, plants, animals,
landscape and infrastructure, as well as the
spiritual world. Asking people about changes in
their surrounding automatically made them
think about the connection between natural
and spiritual phenomena, as well as the human
role in mediating between the two.
2. UNOFFICAL RISK
Some climate-related risk (with regard to food,
shelter, health and human security) is officially
recognized by governments and aid agencies,
while other risk seems unattended. This social
and ´supernatural´ risk is often neglected officially
(such as betrayal by friends and relatives, loss of
respect, sorcery, punishment by ancestral spirits
or God) These risk factors are usually explained
with moral transgression (bad behaviour) and
impurity. Blame is therefore an integral part of
mental models to explain causal relations.
Unofficial risk contributes to cognitive processes
of constructing meaning around observations of
social and environmental change.
Weather discourses reflect typical mental models
of causal relationships (often a combination of
cultural and scientific models). Many respondents
considered unofficial risk in their decisions and
activities.
3. NANKANI CULTURAL MODEL
tiŋmaalego - ´blessing of the land´
= never-ending process of repair &
maintenance
also: ´development´, better
infrastructure, education, modernity
tiŋsa´aŋo - ´destruction of the land´
= stagnation, pollution, breaking apart
due to norm breaking
Nankani distinguish between two bipolar social
forces tiŋmaalego (positive for the community)
and tiŋsa´aŋo (negative for the community).
These forces were also used to explain climate
variability. Bad behaviour leading to the
`destruction of the land´ was frequently quoted as
cause for the lack of rains and strong wind.
4. TRAJECTORIES OF BLAME
Scientific models of blame
 Global/ local environmental pollution
 Local resources management practices
 Priorities for other livelihood activities (outside
agriculture)
Cultural models of blame
 Disrespect/ disobedience (especially by youth)
 Not acting in a united way/ individual interests instead
 Annoying ancestral spirits, scaring them away, neglect of
traditions
5. CONCLUSION
 Most blame is assigned to culprits inside the
village (local scale of blame, little global
contextualisation)
 Cultural models/ trajectories of blame
dominated
 Unofficial risks were prioritised, especially by
elderly
 Local outcomes of climate variability on
agriculture were considered relevant, global
warming was not.
REFERENCE
Eguavoen, I. 2013. Climate change and trajectories of blame in Northern
Ghana. Anthropological Notebooks 19(1), 5-24. (open access)
Contact: [email protected]