School of Social and Political Science

Description

The Centre of African Studies is delighted to welcome you to come and hear about the following new book, followed by Q&A with the author:

In the wake of the 2016 national elections in Ghana, the issue of cross-border voting triggered a nation-wide debate. But who exactly constitutes the electorate? Who is a national, who is a foreigner, and how are these distinctions identified in the Ghana-Togo borderlands? This study analyses how political belonging is constructed and how it interacts with the nation-state in the region, especially where communities lie across borders, or at another level than the nation-state. Based on archival research, interviews, oral tradition and newspaper analysis, Nathalie Raunet discusses a pattern based on legitimating narratives of indigeneity at local, regional and transnational scales. In doing so, this study offers a new interpretation of the relationship between the Ewe-speaking people (located across the south of the Ghana-Togo border), the Ghanaian and Togolese Republics, and their colonial predecessor states. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, Nathalie Raunet connects the history of the region with contemporary power struggles and issues of belonging and citizenship since the turn of the twentieth century.

Keynote speaker: Dr Nathalie Raunet

Nathalie Raunet is an interdisciplinary scholar in African Studies focusing on West African history, anthropology and politics. My research interests include belonging, citizenship, authoritarianism, transnationalism and borders. My work focuses more specifically on the making and unmaking of belonging and citizenship in the Ghana-Togo borderlands, cross-border voting and elections, and transnational authoritarianism.