Custom and Commodification: The Role of Earth Priests, Family Heads, Chiefs and Youth in Land Administration Among the Bulsa of Northern Ghana

Abstract

This article assesses the effects of land commodification on the role and authority of earth priests, family heads, chiefs, and youth in the administration of customary land among the Bulsa of the Upper East Region of Ghana. In Ghana, land is not only an economic resource, but also forms the basis of history, power, identity, rootedness, spirituality, and memory claims at both individual and group levels. Consequently, land appropriation tends to generate multiple disputes/conflicts. Using ethnographic research methodology, the article explores how land commodification has redefined customary practice related to land ownership and administration in the Bulsa area, including instigating different types of disputes or contested claims between earth priests, family heads, chiefs, and youth. The article explains how these disputes and contestations that emerge from land commodification implicate a bundle of customary land rights and undermine the legitimate claims of earth priests, family heads, chiefs, and young people to engage in land transactions. The article concludes that, while land commodification in the Bulsa area is inevitable, its occurrence should not create continuous conflict leaving family members especially, the youth, women, and community in a dismal or impoverished state.