Public Lecture: Hotspots in the Midst of Peace: Gangs, Violence, and the Everyday Production of Peace in Urban Ghana; Speaker: Joyce De-Graft-Acquah

Abstract:

How do marginalised urban African communities negotiate violence, belonging, and peace? The public lecture addresses this question through the case of Nima and Mamobi, two urban communities in Accra, Ghana, that have experienced episodes of gang violence, including the 2022 clashes involving the Bombom and Kumodzi gang groups. Drawing on qualitative interviews with gang members and community leaders, the lecture explores how gangs, violence, and everyday peace coexist in historically excluded urban spaces. Rather than treating gang violence solely as a crime issue, the lecture situates it within broader debates on urban exclusion, informal governance, social belonging, and sustainable peace. In doing so, it examines how communities experiencing violence continue to manage social order and coexistence through everyday practices and informal institutions. The lecture argues that sustaining peace is an ongoing process of regulation, coexistence, and collective action that prevents episodic violence from escalating into chronic social collapse.

Dr Joyce De-Graft Acquah is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and an eminent member of the Central Regional Peace Council. She is a peace and conflict scholar-practitioner whose work focuses on peacebuilding, urban youth violence, conflict prevention, and post-conflict governance in West Africa. Her research combines qualitative and quantitative conflict analysis with grounded fieldwork in high-risk and politically sensitive settings. Through her academic research, policy engagement, and peace practice, she contributes to debates on inclusive governance, conflict transformation, and sustainable peacebuilding in Ghana and Africa.

For virtual participation via Zoom, please use the following link:

https://uni-freiburg.zoom-x.de/j/63688188503?pwd=pkL8BALXfifahu1CGZj9xoUtbogLJq.1

Meeting-ID: 636 8818 8503
Code: VZR4SDUky