Accumulation by urban dispossession: struggles over urban space in Accra, Ghana

Despite the growing recognition of the utility of Marxist
theories of primitive accumulation for understanding the
current ‘neoliberal’ phase of capitalist development, there
is a lack of in-­‐depth research on the particular dynamics that ‘accumulation by dispossession’ assumes at the urban
scale. This is a problem compounded by the lack of dialogue
between Marxist theorists of primitive accumulation and
critical urban geographers researching neoliberalism at
the urban scale, particularly in the context of the Global
South. This thesis addresses these shortcomings through an
in-­‐depth empirical case study of struggles over urban space in Accra, Ghana. Situated within a critical urban theory approach, it draws on a range of qualitative data
gathered during fieldwork to explore the actors, motives,
mechanisms and struggles that lie behind accumulation by
dispossession at the urban scale – or accumulation by
urban dispossession -­‐ in Accra.
This thesis argues that neoliberal structural adjustment has
created a large ‘informal proletariat’ in Accra. This dispossessed surplus population has been expelled from the
formal capitalist economy and therefore has to create ‘urban
commons’ in order to reproduce itself outside of the capital
relation. Since these commons place limits to capital’s ability to valorise the urban fabric, state-­‐led accumulation by urban dispossession is a strategic response
that employs a range of physical-­‐legal and discursive
mechanisms to overcome these limits through the
gentrification of the urban environment, the enclosure of
the urban commons, and the expulsion of the informal poor.
The thesis also demonstrates how non-­‐state actors in Accra
enact accumulation by urban dispossession through governmental technologies that reshape the subjectivities
of informal settlement dwellers so as to enclose them
within a market logic. Rather than being passive victims,
however, this thesis argues that Accra’s informal proletariat actively contests accumulation by urban dispossession by creating and defending urban commons through a combination of everyday acts of ‘quiet encroachment’ and organised collective action.