Extractive disjuncture: livelihood disruptions and resettlement in the Talensi District’s mining communities in Ghana

This study examines the socioeconomic and cultural impacts of mining-induced resettlement in Biung, Digare-Accra and Gbani in Ghana’s Talensi District, an area witnessing extensive mineral extraction. While mining is central to Ghana’s economic development, it often disrupts the lives and livelihoods of local populations through forced land dispossession and poorly managed resettlement processes. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted in 2024 in communities affected by Cardinal Namdini Mining Ltd and Earl International, the study employs in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and community observations to examine lived experiences of displacement, livelihood loss and erosion of social networks and ecology-based cultural practices, interpreted through a decolonial analytical lens. Findings reveal a marked disjuncture between policy frameworks and the lived experience of resettled populations. Despite global and national safeguards, resettled communities endure inadequate amenities, harsh living conditions, diminished livelihoods and weak institutional support. Situating these findings within colonial and neocolonial critiques of extractive political economies, the paper demonstrates how involuntary resettlement or dislocation undermines community resilience, produces infrastructural violence and sustains imperial legacies in Ghana’s mining sector. By foregrounding community perspectives, this paper calls for decolonial alternatives to mineral governance and extraction that prioritize social justice and cultural continuity.