Nana Kesse

I am a historian of Africa specializing in environmental history with a focus on Africa's water systems and bodies of water. My research examines how Africans have interacted with waterbodies throughout history and how such interactions have shaped the continent's past. My current project, tentatively titled "Nzulezo: An African Waterscape, Eco-Tourism, and Environmental & Human Injustice," investigates the intricate lives and past of the people of Nzulezo, who, for the past two centuries, have lived in stilt houses in the middle of the Amanzule River in southwestern Ghana. Following its creation in the mid-18th century, the Nzulezo community has shared the Amanzule water space with animals like crocodiles, fish, and pythons while weathering challenging environmental conditions like seasonal flooding and unfavorable historical events, including the Atlantic slave trade and European colonialism. Why did the Nzulezo people choose to live in the middle of water instead of land or the littoral, and how have they survived on the Amanzule River over time? Why is their history relevant to the continental history of Africa? The first part of my study addresses these questions, revealing how prolonged human interactions with bodies of water resulted in complex relationships between culture and ecology. It also demonstrates how such relationships shaped ideas about community identity, spirituality, gender, and human adaptation to physically challenging environments.

The second part of my project explores historical (dis-)continuities in Nzulezo from the mid-18th century to the post-colonial period, discussing the history and evolution of eco-tourism and environmental injustice in West Africa. Today, the Nzulezo community functions as a vibrant tourist attraction in Ghana, resulting from UNESCO's nomination of Nzulezo as a World Heritage Site. The outboard motor-powered canoes used to convey tourists to the community spill gasoline into the Amanzule River so much that the gasoline residue settles on the river's surface. Nzulezo people drink this water and use it for daily cooking and other household chores. Drawing examples from stilt-house and island settlements in West Africa, including Ganvie in the Republic of Benin, Gorée in Senegal, and Makoko in Nigeria, I examine how eco-tourism has impacted West African island communities and their ecosystems, especially by posing threats to the physical environment, longstanding cultural norms and practices, and the human and non-human organisms inhabiting those waterscapes.