Abstract
<p>Among emerging studies of the global political economy and ecology of electronic waste (or e-waste), few directly explore the already complex waste trades and materialities in relation to the general political ecology of water, flood control, dredging, and neoliberal ecological restoration. Even fewer focus on how this political-ecological challenge is unfolding in a West African context where ocean-based e-waste trades have played a dominant role. This article engages this particular domain of blue economic critique by focusing on Ghana in general and what we shall call "blue political ecologies of e-waste" in particular. The article focuses on e-waste politics unfolding in and around the Korle Lagoon in Accra, Ghana. The Korle Lagoon is an urban marine space of intensive land use, toxic waste disposal, social life, and urban ecological restoration. Amidst heavy contamination, there are attempts to rehabilitate the lagoon through the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project, an ecological science and restoration project focused on the Lagoon and its river system in the metropolitan area of Accra. It showcases the neoliberal complexities of ecological restoration. Importantly, situated in a multi-use marine environment, the project also highlights, we argue, a political ecological moment that is both about things 'blue', like water quality concerns, but also about other things non-blue such as contestation over land and housing, 'green' international NGO intervention on e-waste risk mitigation, and desires for new urban ecologies. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted between 2015 and 2018, this article contributes to blue political-ecological research and critique in Africa by asking: how do e-waste politics leak into discussions of the blue economy along the Korle Lagoon in Ghana? What are the promises and prospects of a blue political ecology of e-waste in general, and in Africa in particular?</p><strong>Key Words</strong>: Political ecology, Ghana, e-waste, lagoon contamination, ecological restoration
Highlights
One of the most exciting and promising dimensions of political ecology as a field of theory and practice is its continued fascination with relational and boundary thinking in diverse contexts, made up of assemblages of infrastructure, knowledge, narrative, and power
We find that within this broader political ecological struggle, lagoon restoration stands in direct conflict with the economies of waste that have developed along the lagoon
While a multi-sited ethnography of e-waste focused squarely on West African port economies and transoceanic shipping would be a fantastic route to take in advancing a blue political ecology theory of e-waste, we have instead drawn on our shared ethnographic experiences to make sense of Ghana's e-waste environmental politics through the lens of lagoon contamination and neoliberal management
Summary
One of the most exciting and promising dimensions of political ecology as a field of theory and practice is its continued fascination with relational and boundary thinking in diverse contexts, made up of assemblages of infrastructure, knowledge, narrative, and power This focus is a concern of emerging discard studies in general and those exploring global trades and socio-environmental politics of electronic waste (or e-waste) in particular.. In the spirit of Sheila Jasanoff, we recognize that any proposed theoretical term—from the blue economy to blue political ecology—"is worth little unless it fits into the circumstances of the world, casting light on corners that need illumination" (Jasanoff 2015:24) For this reason, we find it important to highlight from the outset the dominant narratives and images of e-waste in Ghana that we seek to go beyond and rethink by accounting for the complex toxic watery landscape within which the e-waste economy in Accra, Ghana is situated. We shall argue that in this stage of Ghana's neoliberalization, we need such a theoretical perspective to understand how e-waste trades, flows, and politics illuminate the critical place of water and hydropolitics in Ghana's ongoing struggle to negotiate the intersecting problems of urban regeneration, e-waste management, scrap-metal extraction, and lagoon ecological restoration
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