Flexible Politics of Belonging: Diaspora Mobilisation in Ghana

This article analyses how the Ghanaian state has been involved in diaspora mobilisation since independence, including both the so-called African and Ghanaian diasporas. It presents two overall arguments. Firstly, the article shows that Ghanaian diaspora mobilisation draws upon the legacy of mid-century political Pan-Africanism, though with a neoliberal focus from the 1990s. From the 2000s, this legacy merges with the global trend of diaspora-development policies and their emphasis on contributions to national development, both in relation to African and Ghanaian diaspora mobilisation. Secondly, the article argues that while the various diaspora mobilisation efforts have resulted in limited policy changes and rights, they have value as political spectacles where the state demonstrates its interest in diaspora groups. Likewise, they are expressions of bio-politics and constitute opportunities for the state to assert its sovereignty. Finally, the article claims that diaspora mobilisation efforts constitute flexible and ambivalent politics of belonging, based on an inherent tension between long-distance autochthony claims and the state's focus on (mainly) economic resource mobilisation.