About ASC

Staff

Kojo Sebastian Amanor

Kojo Sebastian Amanor
Name Kojo Sebastian Amanor
Affiliation Visiting professor, African Studies Center - TUFS / Professor, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana
E-mail ksamanorug.edu.gh
Key Words Development, Rural Society, Agricultural Transformation, Anthlopology
Academic Career September 1981 - July 1989 Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology, University College London
September 1976 - July 1979 Bachelor of Arts in African Studies and African History, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Degree PhD in Social Anthropology: University College London (1989)
Professional Career July 2015 - Present Professor, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana
June 2001 - July 2015 Associate Professor (Deputy Director from 2009 to 2011), Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana
August 1993 - June 2001 Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana
March 1988 - December 1989 Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute, London
Major Works

Books and monographs

  • Amanor, K.S. 2012. Land Governance in Africa: How historical context has shaped key contemporary issues relating to policy on land. Rome: International Land Coalition.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2001. Land labour and the Family in Southern Ghana: A critique of land policy under neo-liberalisation. Uppsala: Nordic Institute of African Studies, Research Report no. 116.
  • Amanor, K.S. with Diderutuah, M.K. 2001. Share Contracts in the Oil Palm and Citrus Belt of Ghana. IIED: London and Louvain: GRET.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1999. Global Restructuring and Land Rights in Ghana: Forest food chains, timber and rural livelihoods. Uppsala: Nordic Institute of African Studies, Research Report 108.
  • Kotey, N.A., J. Francois, J.G.K. Owusu, R. Yeboah, K.S. Amanor, and L. Antwi 1998. Falling into Place Policy that works for Forests and People. Ghana Country Study. London: IIED.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1996. The Management of Trees on Farms: The perspectives of farmers. Kumasi: Ghana Forestry Department.

  • Amanor, K.S. 1994. The New Frontier: Farmers' responses to land degradation. A West African case study. London: Zed Press.

Edited works

  • Amanor, K.S. and S. Moyo (Eds.) 2008. Land and Sustainable Development in Africa. London: Zed.
  • Ubink, J.M. and K.S. Amanor (Eds.) 2008. Contesting Land and Custom in Ghana: State, chief and citizen. Leiden: Leiden University Press.
  • de Boef, W., K.S. Amanor, K. Wellard (Eds.) with A. Bebbington 1993. Cultivating Knowledge: Genetic diversity, farmer experimentation and crop research. London: Intermediate Technology.

Journal articles

  • Solomon, D., J. Lehmann, J.A. Fraser, M. Leach, K. Amanor, V. Frausin, S.M. Kristiansen, D. Millemouno, and J. Fairhead 2016. "Indigenous African soil enrichment as a climate-smart sustainable agriculture alternative". Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 14(2): 71-76.
  • Scoones, I., K. Amanor, A. Favareto, and Q. Gubo 2016. "A New Politics of Development Cooperation? Chinese and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture". World Development 81:1-12.
  • Amanor, K.S. and S. Chichava 2016. "South-South Cooperation, Agribusiness and African Agricultural Development: Brazil and China in Ghana and Mozambique". World Development 81: 13-23.
  • Cabral, L., A. Favareto, L. Mukwereza, and K. Amanor 2016. "Brazil's Agricultural Politics in Africa: More Food International and the Disputed Meaning of 'Family Farming'". World Development 81: 47-60.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2013. "South-South Cooperation in Africa: Historical, geopolitical and political economy dimensions of international policy". IDS Bulletin 44(4): 20-30.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2013. "Expanding Agribusiness: China and Brazil in Ghanaian Agriculture". IDS Bulletin 44(4): 80-90.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2012. "Global Resource Grabs, Agribusiness Concentration and the Smallholder: Two West African Case Studies". Journal of Peasant Studies 39 (3-4): 731-749.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2012. "Seeing the Trees from the Biocultural Diversity: Forestry management, smallholder agriculture, and environmental politics in Ghana". Rachel Carson Center Perspectives 9 (Why Do We Value Diversity? Biocultural Diversity in a Global Context): 73-78.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2011. "From Farmer Participation to Pro-poor Seed Markets: The Political Economy of Commercial Cereal Seed Networks in Ghana". IDS Bulletin 4(4): 48-58.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2010. "Family Values, Land Sales and Agricultural Commodification in South-eastern Ghana". Africa 80(1): 104-125.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2009. "Global Food Chains, African Smallholders and World Bank Governance". Journal of Agrarian Change 9(2): 247-262.
  • Amanor, K.S. and O. Pabi 2007. "Time, Space and Rhetoric in Agricultural Change in the Transition Zone in Ghana". Human Ecology 35 (1): 51-67.
  • Guyer, J.I., E. Lambin, L. Cliggett, P. Walker, K. Amanor, T. Basset, E. Colson, R. Hay, K. Homewood, O. Linares, O. Pabi, P. Peters, T. Scudder, M. Turner, and J. Unruh 2007. "Temporal Heterogeneity in the Study of African Land Use: Interdisciplinary collaboration between Anthropology, Human Geography and Remote Sensing". Human Ecology 35 (1): 3-17.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2005. "La fracture de l'exploitation familiale agricole: jeunes, migrants et marchandisation de l'agriculture au Ghana". Afrique Contemporaine 214: 85-101.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2005. "Agricultural Markets in West Africa: Frontiers, Agribusiness and Social Differentiation". IDS Bulletin 36 (2): 58-62.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2002. "Bushfire Management, Culture and Ecological Modernisation in Ghana". IDS Bulletin 33(1) (Science and the Policy Process: Perspectives from the Forest): 65-74.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2001. "Empowering Women through Tree Planting? Gender and Global Environmentalism in Northern Ghana". Institute of African Studies Research Review 17(1): 63-73.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1997. "Collaborative Forest Management, Forest Resource Tenure and the Domestic Economy in Ghana". IRDCurrents 15: 10-17.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1995. "Dynamics of Herd Structures, Market Integration and Herding Strategies in West Africa". Africa 65(3): 351-394.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1994. "Ecological Knowledge and the Regional Economy: Environmental management in the Asesewa district of Ghana". Development and Change 25(1): 41-68.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1991. "Managing the fallow: Weeding technology and environmental knowledge in the Krobo district of Ghana". Agriculture and Human Values 8(1-2): 5-13.

Book Chapters

  • Amanor K. 2017. "South-South Cooperation and agribusiness contestations in irrigated rice: China and Brazil in Ghana". In Agronomy for Development: The politics of knowledge in agricultural research. Ed. J. Sumberg, London: Routledge.
  • Amanor, K. 2017. "Globalization, Agribusiness, and the Liberalization of Agricultural Services in Ghana". In Globalization and Agriculture: Redefining unequal development. Eds. A.M. Buainain, M. Rocha de Souza, and Z. Navarro, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.
  • Fairhead, J., J.A. Fraser, K. Amanor, D. Solomon, J. Lehman, and M. Leach 2017. "Indigenous Soil Enrichment for Food Security and Climate Change in Africa and Asia: A review". In Indigenous Knowledge: Enhancing its Contribution to Natural Resources Management. Ed. P. Sillitoe, Wallingford, UK: CAB International.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2014. "Empowering Women through Tree Planting? Gender and Global Environmentalism in Northern Ghana". In African Studies and Knowledge Production. Ed. Stephen Acheampong, Legon: Sub-Saharan Publishers.
    *This is a completely revised version of the article that appears in the Research Review 17(1) 2001, with a reworked analytical framework.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2012. "Custom, Colonial Ideology and Privilege: The land question in Africa". In Reclaiming the Human Sciences and Humanities through African Perspectives. Eds. H. Lauer and K. Anyidoho, Legon: Sub-Saharan Publishers, pp. 279-288.
  • Fairhead, J., M. Leach, K.S. Amanor 2012. "Anthropogenic Dark Earths and Africa: A political agro-nomy of research disjunctures". In Contested Agronomy: Agricultural Research in A Changing World. Eds. J. Sumberg and J. Thompson, New York and London: Routledge, pp. 64-85.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2011. "Youth, Migrants and Agribusiness in Cocoa Frontiers: Land, labour, child trafficking and the crises of governance in West Africa". In Une anthropologie entre pouvoirs et histoire: Conversations autour de l'oeuvre de Jean-Pierre Chauveau. Eds. E. Jul-Larsen, P-J Laurent, P-Y Le Meur, and ?. Léonard, Paris: Karthala, pp. 93-124.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2009. "Securing Land Rights in Ghana". In Legalising Land Rights: Local practices, state responses and tenure security in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Eds. J. Ubink, A. Hoekema, and W. Assies, Leiden: Leiden University Press, pp. 97-132.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2009. "Tree Plantations, Agricultural Commodification, and land tenure security in Ghana". In Legalising Land Rights: Local practices, state responses and tenure security in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Eds. J. Ubink, A. Hoekema, and W. Assies, Leiden: Leiden University Press, pp. 133-162.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2008. "The Changing Face of Customary Land tenure". In Contesting Land and Custom in Ghana: State, Chief and Citizen. Eds. K.S. Amanor, J.M. Ubink, Leiden: Leiden University Press, pp. 55-80.
  • Amanor, K.S. and J.M. Ubink 2008. "Contesting Land and Custom in Ghana: Introduction". In Contesting Land and Custom in Ghana: State, Chief and Citizen. Eds. K.S. Amanor, J.M. Ubink, Leiden: Leiden University Press, pp. 9-26.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2008. "Conclusion: Transforming Sustainable Development", In Land and Sustainable Development in Africa. Eds. K.S. Amanor and S. Moyo, London: Zed, pp.184-197.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2008. "Sustainable Development, Corporate Accumulation and Community Expropriation: Land and natural resources in West Africa". In Land and Sustainable Development in Africa. Eds. K.S. Amanor and S. Moyo, London: Zed, pp. 127-158.
  • Kanyinga, K., O. Lumumba, and K.S. Amanor 2008. "The Struggle for Sustainable Land Management and Democratic Development in Kenya: A history of greed and grievances". In Land and Sustainable Development in Africa. Eds. K.S. Amanor and S. Moyo, London: Zed, 2008, pp. 100-126.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2008. "Introduction: Land and sustainable development issues in Africa", In Land and Sustainable Development in Africa. Eds. K.S. Amanor and S. Moyo, London: Zed, pp. 1-32.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2007. "Conflicts and the Reinterpretation of Customary Tenure in Ghana" In Conflicts over Land and Water. Eds. B. Derman, R. Odgaard, and E. Sjaastad, London: James Currey, pp. 33-59.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2007. "Natural and Cultural Assets and Participatory Forest Management in West Africa". In Reclaiming Nature: Environmental Justice and Ecological Restoration. Eds. J. Boyce, S. Narain, and E. Stanton, London: Anthem, pp. 203-233.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2005. "Customary Land, Mobile Labor and Alienation in the Eastern Region of Ghana". In Land Rights and the Politics of Belonging. Eds. C. Lentz and R. Kuba, Leiden Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 137-159.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2005. "Night Harvesters, Forest Hoods and Saboteurs: Struggles over land expropriation in Ghana". In Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Eds. S. Moyo and P. Yeros, London: Zed, pp. 102-117.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2005. "Global and Local Land Markets": The role of the customary". In Land in Africa: Market asset or secure livelihood? Eds. J. Quan, Su Fei Tan, and C. Toulmin, London: IIED, pp. 103-114.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2002. "Shifting Tradition: Forest resource tenure in Ghana". In The Dynamics of Resource Tenure in West Africa. Eds. C. Toulmin, P. Lavigne Delville, and S. Traore, London: James Currey, pp. 48-60.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2002. "Indigenous Knowledge in Space and Time" In Cultivating Diversity: Understanding, Analyzing and Using Agricultural Diversity. Eds. H. Brookfield, C. Padoch, H. Parsons, and M. Stocking, London: ITDG, pp. 126-131.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2000. "Farmers, Forestry and Fractured Environmentalism in Ghana's Forest Zones". In Contesting Forestry in West Africa. Eds. R. Cline-Cole and C. Madge, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.307-321.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1997. "Interacting with the Environment: Adaptation and regeneration on degraded land in Upper Manya Krobo". In Environment, Biodiversity and Agricultural Change in West Africa. Eds. E.A. Gyasi and J.I. Uitto, United Nations University Press: Tokyo, pp. 98-111.
  • Amanor, K.S., A. Denkabe, and K. Wellard 1993. "Ghana: Country overview". In Non-Governmental Organizations and the State in Africa: Rethinking roles in sustainable agricultural development. Eds. K. Wellard and J. Copestake, Routledge, London, pp. 183-194.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1993. "Farmer Experimentation and Changing Fallow Ecology in the Krobo District, Ghana". In Cultivating Knowledge: Genetic Diversity, Farmer Experimentation and Crop Research. Eds. W. de Boef, K.S. Amanor, K. Wellard, and K. with A. Bebbington, London: Intermediate Technology, pp. 35-43.
  • Amanor, K.S. K. Wellard, and W. de Boef 1993. "Introduction". InCultivating Knowledge: Genetic Diversity, Farmer Experimentation and Crop Research. Eds. W. de Boef, K.S. Amanor, K. Wellard, and K. with A. Bebbington, London: Intermediate Technology, 1993, pp. 1-16.
  • Amanor, K.S. and J. Farrington 1991. "NGOs and Agricultural Technology Development". In Agricultural Extension: Worldwide Institutional Evolution and Forces for Change. Eds. W. Rivera and D. Gustafson, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 243-256.

Working/Discussion Papers, Conference Proceedings and Miscellaneous

  • Amanor, K.S 2019. Mechanised Agriculture and Medium-Scale Farmers in Northern Ghana: A success of market liberalism or a product of a longer history? (Future Agricultures Working Paper 23). Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2014. "South-South Cooperation in African Agriculture: China, Brazil and international agribusiness". GREAT Insights 3(4): 49-52.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2013. Dynamics of Maize Seed Production Systems in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana: Agricultural modernization, farmer adaptive experimentation and domestic food markets (Future Agricultures Consortium Working Paper 61). Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2010. Participation, Commercialisation and Actor Networks: The Political Economy of Cereal Seed Production in Ghana (Futures Agricultural Consortium Working paper 16). Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2005. "Equity In Forest Benefit Sharing And Poverty Alleviation". In Equity in Forest Benefit Sharing: Stakeholders' views and perceptions. Eds. K.S. Nketiah, J.A.S. Ameyaw, and B. Owusu Jnr., Wageningen: Tropenbos International, pp. 15-23.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2000. "Community, Youth, livelihood and agriculture: the Akyem area of Ghana". In African Rural Development Reconsidered, International Workshop Proceedings 2. Area Studies Department II, Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO), Tokyo.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1995. "Weeding on the Forest Edge". ILEIA Newsletter 11(3):12-13.
  • Amanor, K.S. 1990. Analytical Abstracts on Farmer Participatory Research. London: Overseas Development Institute.

Book Reviews

  • Amanor, K.S. 2011. Review of Derrick Fay and Deborah James (Eds.) The Rights and Wrongs of Land Restitution: "Restoring what was ours" African Studies Review 54(1): 201-203.
  • Amanor, K.S. 2008. Review of Shaping Tradition: Civil Society, Community and Development in Colonial Northern Ghana, 1899-1957 - by Jeff D. Grischow. Journal of Agrarian Change 8(4): 629-632.

Recent Conference Papers

  • Amanor, K.S. "Mechanised Agriculture in Ghana: Two historical processes or one? Private sector and state Linkages in agricultural development". Conference on Challenges of Social and Economic Research in times of Crisis at Institute of Social and Economic Studies, Maputo, 19-21 September 2017.
  • Amanor, K.S. "Markets, Politics and Land Administrative Reform in Africa: What can African Studies Contribute?" Paper presented at ASC-TUFS 'Kickoff' Symposium, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, 3rd November 2017.
  • Amanor K.S. "Agribusiness networks in Africa and Global Agricultural Value Chains: From State-led agriculture to neoliberal corporate governance". Paper presented at Sam Moyo Institute of Agrarian Studies Summer School, January 15-19 2018.
  • Amanor, K.S. "Regulating forestry and building global markets in Ghana: State, business and communities". Paper presented at Workshop on "Civilizing Resource Investments and extractive Industries", Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn, September 22-23 2016.
  • Amanor K.S. "Controlling land, inputs and communities: The rise of international rice production in southeast Ghana ". Paper presented at ASAUK, University of Cambridge 7-9 September 2016.
  • Amanor, K.S. "China Brazil and Agribusiness Networks in Ghana". Paper presented at IDS 50th Anniversary Conference on States, Markets and Society, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 5-6 July 2016.
  • Amanor K.S. "Foreign Investment in African Agriculture: The role of China and Brazil". Paper presented at Sociology and Anthropology of Development (SADE) Seminar, University of Wageningen, 1st June 2016.
  • Amanor, K.S. "Land, chiefly rule, ethnicity and capital accumulation in Africa". Paper presented at Land and Accountability Research Centre (LARC), Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, 12th May 2016.
  • Amanor K.S. "Chiefs and Land in Ghana". Paper presented at Symposium on Chiefs and Land in Ghana and South Africa" at Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, University of Western Cape.
  • Amanor, K.S. "China and Brazil in African Agriculture: Land, inputs and agribusiness in Ghana". Seminar paper presented at Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, University of Western Cape, 10th May 2016.
  • Amanor, K.S. "South-South Cooperation, Third World Solidarity and Technocentric Development: China, Brazil and Africa". Paper presented at Conference on Contested Agronomy: Whose knowledge counts, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 23-25th February 2016.