A Dam for Africa

A Dam for Africa PDF Author: Stephan F. Miescher
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253059984
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
Since its construction in the early 1960s, the hydroelectric Akosombo Dam across the Volta River has exemplified the possibilities and challenges of development in Ghana. Drawing upon a wealth of sources, A Dam for Africa investigates contrasting stories about how this dam has transformed a West African nation, while providing a model for other African countries. The massive Akosombo Dam is the keystone of the Volta River Project that includes a large manmade lake 250 miles long, the VALCO aluminum smelter, new cities and towns, a deep-sea harbor, and an electrical grid. On the local level, Akosombo has meant access to electricity for people in urban and industrial areas across southern Ghana. For others, Akosombo inflicted tremendous social and environmental costs. The dam altered the ecology of the Lower Volta, displaced 80,000 people in the Volta Basin, and affected the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians. In A Dam for Africa, Stephan Miescher explores four intersecting narratives: Ghanaian debates and aspirations about modernization in the context of decolonization and Cold War; international efforts of the US aluminum industry to benefit from Akosombo through cheap electricity for their VALCO smelter; local stories of upheaval and devastation in resettlement towns; and a nation-wide quest toward electrification and energy justice during times of economic crises, droughts, and climate change.

A Dam for Africa

A Dam for Africa PDF Author: Stephan F. Miescher
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253059984
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Get Book

Book Description
Since its construction in the early 1960s, the hydroelectric Akosombo Dam across the Volta River has exemplified the possibilities and challenges of development in Ghana. Drawing upon a wealth of sources, A Dam for Africa investigates contrasting stories about how this dam has transformed a West African nation, while providing a model for other African countries. The massive Akosombo Dam is the keystone of the Volta River Project that includes a large manmade lake 250 miles long, the VALCO aluminum smelter, new cities and towns, a deep-sea harbor, and an electrical grid. On the local level, Akosombo has meant access to electricity for people in urban and industrial areas across southern Ghana. For others, Akosombo inflicted tremendous social and environmental costs. The dam altered the ecology of the Lower Volta, displaced 80,000 people in the Volta Basin, and affected the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians. In A Dam for Africa, Stephan Miescher explores four intersecting narratives: Ghanaian debates and aspirations about modernization in the context of decolonization and Cold War; international efforts of the US aluminum industry to benefit from Akosombo through cheap electricity for their VALCO smelter; local stories of upheaval and devastation in resettlement towns; and a nation-wide quest toward electrification and energy justice during times of economic crises, droughts, and climate change.

Dams in Africa Cb

Dams in Africa Cb PDF Author: Neville Rubin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317845560
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
First published in 1968. The present volume originated in a seminar which was conducted at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London during the 1965-66 academic session. With the possible exception of railways, there have been no projects in Africa of comparable size and implications to the giant dams, involving as they do such un-paralleled commitment of resources, with corresponding social, political and legal consequences. Some of these consequences have been considered in the essays presented here, both in the specific context of particular projects and as in the more general context of comparative surveys, by experts who were (with two exceptions) present at the seminar.

Dams in Africa

Dams in Africa PDF Author: Neville Ruben
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780714612485
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
First published in 1968. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A Dam for Africa

A Dam for Africa PDF Author: Stephan F. Miescher
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253059968
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
Since its construction in the early 1960s, the hydroelectric Akosombo Dam across the Volta River has exemplified the possibilities and challenges of development in Ghana. Drawing upon a wealth of sources, A Dam for Africa investigates contrasting stories about how this dam has transformed a West African nation, while providing a model for other African countries. The massive Akosombo Dam is the keystone of the Volta River Project that includes a large manmade lake 250 miles long, the VALCO aluminum smelter, new cities and towns, a deep-sea harbor, and an electrical grid. On the local level, Akosombo has meant access to electricity for people in urban and industrial areas across southern Ghana. For others, Akosombo inflicted tremendous social and environmental costs. The dam altered the ecology of the Lower Volta, displaced 80,000 people in the Volta Basin, and affected the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians. In A Dam for Africa, Stephan Miescher explores four intersecting narratives: Ghanaian debates and aspirations about modernization in the context of decolonization and Cold War; international efforts of the US aluminum industry to benefit from Akosombo through cheap electricity for their VALCO smelter; local stories of upheaval and devastation in resettlement towns; and a nation-wide quest toward electrification and energy justice during times of economic crises, droughts, and climate change.

Decision Support Systems for Large Dam Planning and Operation in Africa

Decision Support Systems for Large Dam Planning and Operation in Africa PDF Author: Matthew P. McCartney
Publisher: IWMI
ISBN: 9290906626
Category : Dams
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Supported by many International agencies.

Great Dams in Southern Africa

Great Dams in Southern Africa PDF Author: Henry Olivier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dams
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description


Dams, Displacement, and the Delusion of Development

Dams, Displacement, and the Delusion of Development PDF Author: Allen F. Isaacman
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0821444506
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Cahora Bassa Dam on the Zambezi River, built in the early 1970s during the final years of Portuguese rule, was the last major infrastructure project constructed in Africa during the turbulent era of decolonization. Engineers and hydrologists praised the dam for its technical complexity and the skills required to construct what was then the world’s fifth-largest mega-dam. Portuguese colonial officials cited benefits they expected from the dam—from expansion of irrigated farming and European settlement, to improved transportation throughout the Zambezi River Valley, to reduced flooding in this area of unpredictable rainfall. “The project, however, actually resulted in cascading layers of human displacement, violence, and environmental destruction. Its electricity benefited few Mozambicans, even after the former guerrillas of FRELIMO (Frente de Libertação de Moçambique) came to power; instead, it fed industrialization in apartheid South Africa.” (Richard Roberts) This in-depth study of the region examines the dominant developmentalist narrative that has surrounded the dam, chronicles the continual violence that has accompanied its existence, and gives voice to previously unheard narratives of forced labor, displacement, and historical and contemporary life in the dam’s shadow.

Living in the Shadow of the Large Dams

Living in the Shadow of the Large Dams PDF Author: Dzodzi Tsikata
Publisher: African Social Studies
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 558

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Book Description
Studies of populations affected by large dams are usually about physically displaced and resettled communities. This book on the Volta River Project breaks with the mould and tackles the long term environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Akosombo and Kpong Dams and the livelihood responses of two neglected groups- downstream and lakeside communities. In a detailed study which takes a gendered political economy of livelihoods approach, the book examines livelihoods in downstream and lakeside communities from a historical perspective. The study takes into account the contribution of factors such as the environmental restructuring of the Lower Volta and the exodus of its most economically active population to the Volta Lake, the state's neglect of affected communities, the changing economic and social context of Ghana, and social relations of class, gender and kinship (including inter-generational relations) to livelihood trajectories and outcomes.

The Management of the Zambezi River Basin and Kariba Dam

The Management of the Zambezi River Basin and Kariba Dam PDF Author: M. J. Tumbare
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 9982240536
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
This book brings together articles and conference papers on the Zambezi River and Kariba Dam written by Dr. Tumbare between 1998-2010. Part I discusses issues of river basin and integrated water resources management and Part II contains papers in infrastructure development in the water and energy sectors.

Developing the Rivers of East and West Africa

Developing the Rivers of East and West Africa PDF Author: Heather J. Hoag
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441111220
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
How did rivers contribute to the economic and political development of modern Africa? How did African and European notions of nature's value and meaning differ? And how have these evaluations of Africa's rivers changed between 1850 and the present day? Drawing upon examples from across the African continent, Developing the Rivers of East and West Africa explores the role African waterways played in the continent's economic, social, and political development and provides the first historical study of the key themes in African river history. Rivers acted as more than important transportation byways; their waters were central to both colonial and postcolonial economic development efforts. This book synthesizes the available research on African rivers with new evidence to offer students of African and environmental history a narrative of how people have used and engaged the continent's water resources. It analyzes key themes in Africa's modern history - European exploration, establishment of colonial rule, economic development, 'green' politics - and each case study provides a lens through which to view social, economic and ecological change in Africa.