Building for the Future? Investment, Land Reform and the Contingencies of Ownership in Contemporary Ghana

SummaryCase studies of individual investments in tree crops and houses illustrate recent changes in social and economic differentiation among families and communities in Asante Region, Ghana, and their implications for recent debates over state-led land reform versus community-led land reform. Seeking efficiency, neoliberal land reforms transfer land from state to private ownership, as well as tenure reforms designed to strengthen owners’ rights. By treating communities as owners, reforms benefit the poor as well as the well-to-do. In Ghana and other West African countries, privatization may also work in the opposite direction—reinforcing inequalities within communities, and encouraging claims to land based on origin and indigeneity.