Fluid Mobilities? Experiencing and Responding to Othering in a Borderless West Africa

Abstract

This paper seeks to interrogate the processes of othering that takes place in Ghana, acountry with a long history of migrants from the region now known as Nigeria. Thepaper draws on Spivak's (1985) concept of othering and explores both the ways inwhich Ghanaians othering of Nigerians is made manifest as well as the ways in whichNigerians respond to these processes of othering. Ultimately, I argue that until bothGhanaians and Nigerians recognize othering as a problem worthy of redress, the fullimport of the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons will be lost on thesetwo groups of West African citizens. For, while people can and do move across the 16borders of West Africa, they do not necessarily move freely. Migrants are oftenreminded of their status as the other even in a country where our founding fathersought to establish a strong sense of Pan African unity.