UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Environment as Justice: Interpreting the State(s) of Drowning and Undercurrents of Power in Ghana

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.22160/22035184/aras-2019-40-1/12-30

Authors

Kirsty Wissing

Reported year

2019

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.869938+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:04:47.869938+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Australian National University

Reported affiliation countries

AU

Documentary abstract — original language

This article explores Akwamu understandings of the Volta and other rivers in Ghana -valued for their life-giving qualities -when they become the opposite: the cause of death by drowning.By engaging with customary ideas of the environment as an active player, influenced by deities, I seek to map local Akwamu perspectives of the environment as justice onto international models that posit the environment in need of justice and guardianship through human management.Akwamu traditional authorities have described river environments as a fair and unbiased avenue through which to resolve disputes.By dwelling on drowning, I explore Akwamu and broader Akan notions of 'good' or 'natural' compared to 'bad' or 'unnatural' deaths, the latter thought to reflect human-environment and inter-human social breakdown as well as the moral worth of the drowned victim.Through customary ritual practices, traditional representatives separate the Akwamu state, or society, from an individual's bad, watery death and restore humanenvironment and inter-human order in social life on land.Stir the waters, however, and Akwamu understandings of rivers highlight a hierarchy in human-environment relations as well as undercurrents of power between humans.By analysing beliefs, interpretations, and ritual behaviours in response to drowning, I reconceptualise Akwamu dynamics of power in reflections on environments as justice.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W2964190685

DOI

10.22160/22035184/aras-2019-40-1/12-30

HANDLE

1885/264565

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

GH

Natural entities mentioned

River

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2 · Record 3

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.22160/22035184/aras-2019-40-1/12-30
• Handle · https://hdl.handle.net/1885/264565
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2964190685

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w1583387899 · CITES
• openalex:w1584517622 · CITES
• openalex:w1600092372 · CITES
• openalex:w1706827643 · CITES
• openalex:w1965387732 · CITES
• openalex:w2001131311 · CITES
• openalex:w2026076326 · CITES
• openalex:w2038387585 · CITES
• openalex:w2061619687 · CITES
• openalex:w2087678474 · CITES
• openalex:w2101007145 · CITES
• openalex:w2137291049 · CITES
• openalex:w2162037544 · CITES
• openalex:w2205919641 · CITES
• openalex:w2282533962 · CITES
• openalex:w2321797144 · CITES
• openalex:w2332184058 · CITES
• openalex:w2332887901 · CITES
• openalex:w2607360476 · CITES
• openalex:w2622101723 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.