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21 Chapter 3 My Approach to the Research There are two main things I wish to cover in this chapter, and will illustrate these by recounting some of the main challenges and opportunities I encountered in trying to document the recent history of community development in Botoku. The main point I wish to highlight is the role valuable local indigenous knowledge systems can play in promoting unique understandings about sustainable development and how local communities might go about achieving the same. But for researchers to fully appreciate and maximize the potential of these local knowledge bases in assisting their research, they will need to develop patience and a high capacity for deeplistening . The second thing to highlight is how I applied the principles of the local eko dodo (the framework for moderating genealogical narrative accounts) into this research. This chapter represents one of the most surprising of all of the findings of the oral history project, from my point of view as researcher. No matter how long my experience in trying to apply local indigenous knowledge traditions in social research, I still feel a novice as I continue to learn new things and develop novel insights with each new project. My original intention was to ask my participants to reflect on community development projects such as schools, the health clinic, behaviour modification programs such as HIV and AIDS education, clean water, rural electrification, et cetera et cetera, in the recent history of the village. The idea behind this being, the more people reflect on their previous experiences about these projects, the more they are likely to learn from them. This is important for motivating and guiding future initiatives. In community development, where the process is slow and often takes a long time to achieve tangible results, this becomes increasingly crucial. Providing people with the opportunity to routinely reflect on how they are doing; what is working, what is not working; who is benefiting and who is missing out, and what needs to happen to improve the situation, is one way community development participants provide and receive critical feedback. Through this sharing, they come to appreciate the tiny incremental changes they may be making, even though the magnitude of the changes may be so small they are not initially or readily obvious. Little did 22 I know that writing the history of recent community development projects would lead me on an epic journey. My journey took me through the origins, migratory stories and legends of Botoku people, from Notsie in present day Togo, to their first settlement in present Botoku some 300-400 years ago. I learned of their encounters, both peaceful and violent, with their Akan-speaking neighbours across the Volta River (now Lake). And I discovered the social, economic, political and spiritual transformations and changes that were brought about by German, and later British colonial rules, from the late 19th century through to Ghana becoming an independent country in the 1950’s. The methods for the current project, which occurred over a 15-year period between 1995 and 2010, involved semi-structured group discussions among Botoku citizens and their friends and associates, both residents and non-residents. In all, approximately 300 people participated. Participants in the groups were carefully recruited to reflect the changing demographic profile of the village. Included in the groups were male and female chiefs and their elders; resident and non-resident citizens; development project executives; project participants; school children and other young people; and church groups. Participants in the groups were asked to identify and narrate the histories of key community development initiatives in the recent history of the village, using these simple semi-structured questions as prompts: x What in your view were the significant community development initiatives in Botoku’s recent history? x Can you tell me their stories! x What were the main challenges and opportunities involved in undertaking these initiatives? x What in your view is the future of rural communities such as Botoku? The actual process of gathering and processing the data was based on the structured but flexible local eko dodo or abrewa gbo oral traditions of arriving at consensus with regards to historical events and other decision-making processes that are characterized by lack of consensus and conflicting views and perspectives. The aims of the project were explained to one group of people. A lengthy discussion of what people thought were the most important development initiatives occurred within the group. A tsiami or spokesperson was then appointed to...

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