Dams provide multifunctional purposes for many communities around the world. Governments in many developed and developing countries have been relying on dams not only for domestic and industrial use but also for flood control, irrigation, and hydropower generation. Dam development is framed as “development project” because of its potential to reducing poverty whilst promoting economic prosperity. While the construction of dams promotes the socio-economic development of economies, they require a substantial amount of land to facilitate a positive outcome. On many occasions, government expropriate indigenous community lands for dam construction using the discourse of development (modernization).

Therefore, grounded on notions in political ecology (PE), post-development, and post-colonial states, this research proposes to investigate the development (modernization) narrative of the Bui Hydroelectric Project (BHP) construction from the viewpoint of micro level dam actors in the Black Volta River Basin of Ghana. Integrating situational analysis (Clarke), and constructivist and interpretative perspectives (Charmaz) of the grounded theory methodology, the project will use narrative interviews, group discussions and participant observation to reveal and highlight the political tensions and synergies, social nuances and development aspirations of the Bui resettlement community, the host Gyama community and the new migrants who migrated to the Bui area as a result of the new economic opportunities presented by the Bui dam construction. To achieve this objective, the project seeks to ask the following questions; How is the concept of development (modernization) perceived by different actors at the micro level (resettled, host community and migrants)? Why and how do the various social groups react the way they do to Development-Induced Displacement and what are the outcomes? What kind of relationships/interactions exist between the resettled, migrants and the host community? What does the resettled think about the new migrants? What opportunities exist for the new migrants and what kind of community exist now? The project aim to generate theorize at the micro level, to describe how present social and political contestations are (re)shaping the trajectory of global Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement in the current neoliberal economic order.

Keywords: Dams, Development, Resettlement, Bui, Ghana, Grounded Theory.