Mittwoch, 22. Oktober 2025, 17:00 - 18:30 iCal
Wednesday Seminar (Humphrey Asamoah Agyekum)
Internal Security Operations and Illegal Gold Mining in Ghana: Operations Vanguard and Halt II
Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Übungsraum
Universitätsstraße 7, NIG, 4. Stock, 1010 Wien
Antrittsvorlesung, Public Lecture, Vortrag
In this presentation, I present data from my fieldwork on Ghana’s military response to illegal gold mining, locally known as galamsey (bastardization of gather and sell). Gold mining is an important preoccupation in Ghana. In recent years, galamsey has been at the frontline of state intervention due to its environmental consequences. In the southern and central parts of the country, where illegal mining is most prevalent, the landscape is scattered with craters and piles of excavated soil, but also polluted waterbodies. This environmental damage, and especially images of polluted waterbodies, triggered a public outcry and fears around future access to clean water. The securitization of environmental damage served as a platform for the state to launch its militarized response, specifically by declaring galamsey a national security threat. In this talk, I examine the government’s choice for a militarized response from Ghanaian soldiers’ perspective on internal security operations Vanguard and Halt II. I discuss internal debates around this choice within the Ghana Armed Forces, the implications for civil military relations, and finally, potential abuses and unintended consequences of these internal security operations.
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Veranstalter
Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Kontakt
Hanna Vietze
Institut für Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
+431427749565
hanna.vietze@univie.ac.at
Erstellt am Mittwoch, 24. September 2025, 14:05
Letzte Änderung am Dienstag, 30. September 2025, 09:36