Unmasking difference: intersectionality and smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate extremes in Northern Ghana

Abstract

This paper examines intersectionality and climate vulnerability in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Located within the southern fringe of the West African Sahel, and inhabited largely by smallholder farmers, the Upper West faces recurring climate extremes. This paper asks, how do the intersections between different inequalities and power relations shape vulnerability to climate extremes? Evidence for the paper comes from intensive qualitative fieldwork. Focusing especially on lived experiences from four case studies, the paper demonstrates the textured ways in which masculinity ideals, health status, religion, gender, age, marital status, and poverty intersect to deepen farmers’ vulnerability to dry spells, flash floods, and after-storm recovery. Overall, the paper advances two interrelated arguments. Firstly, it argues that vulnerability analysis that focuses independently on gender, class, religion, and other characteristics, is insufficient because it risks homogenizing entire groups. Secondly, the paper argues that climate extremes do not always affect women more adversely than men. Indeed, dominant ideals of threatened masculinity can make men highly vulnerable during extreme climatic events. In the end, the paper concludes that if vulnerability analysis fails to unmask difference or move beyond binary gender categories, ensuing interventions may miss the real needs of countless individuals.

Keywords:

• Climate extremes
• Ghana
• intersectionality
• social differentiation
• vulnerability

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Sheila Badong, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Isaac Luginaah, Godwin Arku, Derby Sweets, Karen Van Kerkoerle, and Dinko Hanaan Dinko for valuable assistance during various stages of the study. Table 1 was compiled thanks to the generous help of Dr. Joseph Wulifan and Dr. Martin Adoyika. I thank the Director of NADMO, Upper West Regional Office, Ghana, for granting me access to the data in Table 1. I also thank all farmers who shared time with me so that their stories could be told. The final article benefited substantially from constructive feedback given by three anonymous reviewers. I am greatly indebted to Kanchana N Ruwanpura for editorial guidance. Of course, all remaining errors are my own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

Early stages of the fieldwork were funded by the International Development Research Centre, Canada [Grant # 106690-99906075-013]; the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada; and the Land Deal Politics Initiative, International Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands. Funding for the data analysis for this paper was supported by University of Denver’s Faculty Research Fund [Grant # 86906-145015]; the Department of Geography & the Environment, University of Denver; and a Public Good Fund from the University of Denver’s Center for Community Engagement to advance Scholarship and Learning (CCESL) [Grant # 86847].

Notes on contributors

Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong

Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong is an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA. His research focuses on the human dimensions of global environmental change, and sustainable agriculture and food systems. His publications can be found in Applied Geography, Ecology and Society, Geoforum, Global Environmental Change, Journal of Peasant Studies, and Social Science & Medicine, among others.