Project Details
Projekt
Between hometown and transnational connections: The small town of Larteh in Ghana
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Katja Werthmann
Subject Area
Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
African, American and Oceania Studies
African, American and Oceania Studies
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548312187
This project proposes to conceive of small towns in the Global South as parts of rurban assemblages which are characterised by the co-presence of urban and rural elements. Small towns have administrative and economic functions as rurban nodes in regional networks. They feature urban lifestyles in areas otherwise characterised by agricultural land use. They are significant places for the reproduction of socio-cultural identities in the context of ethnic and religious heterogeneity, of spatial and social connectivities, and of locally rooted political institutions in the context of postcolonial nation-states. The project uses the small town of Larteh in the Eastern Region of Ghana as a case study for exploring livelihood transformations since the 1960s, lifestyles, institutions of local governance, forms of self-organisation and connectivities on different scales. The town is part of a rurban assemblage that encompasses the contiguous urbanised area from Accra city to the boundaries of the Greater Accra Region and other small towns in the Akwapim hills. The project asks whether there are specifically rurban outcomes of place-specific endowments that can be observed in Larteh and whether we can identify typically rurban livelihoods, lifestyles, institutions and connectivities. We hypothesise that Larteh’s capacity to reproduce the ecological and social conditions of its rurban existence is based on the maintenance of relations between the local inhabitants and people who have moved away, and on the creation of ties with foreigners who have an interest in resources located in Larteh. We analyse how these links have emerged, how they contribute to ideas and practices of rurbanity, and assess what potentials for sustainability can be determined.
DFG Programme
Research Units
