Home
Ragnhild Overå's picture
Photo:
Eivind Senneset

Ragnhild Overå

Professor
  • E-mailRagnhild.Overa@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 30 90+4797124809
  • Visitor Address
    Fosswinckels gate 6
    Lauritz Meltzers hus
    5007 Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7802
    5020 Bergen

I am a human geographer mainly working in Ghana and other African countries. My research always involves fieldwork where socio-economic processes in local communities are viewed in context of processes on national and global scales. Research interests include gender, entrepreneurship, innovation, informal economies, market trade, food and nutrition security, small-scale fisheries, land tenure, petroleum industry, ICT development, migration, globalisation and political ecology.

Current research projects:

  • 2021-2026: SAMAKI https://www.uib.no/en/news/153489/overlooked-role-small-fish-fight-malnu...
  • 2018-2022: Small Fish and Food security (SmallFishFood): Towards innovative integration of fish in African food systems to improve nutrition https://smallfishfood.org/ The SmallFishFood project is funded by LEAP-Agri (Long term EU Africa research and innovation Partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable Agriculture, Horizon 2020) and is led by Jeppe Kolding, Department of Biological Sciences, UiB. Together, biologists, nutritionists, anthropologists and geographers investigate the contribution of small fish species such as anchovies and sardines to the food and nutrition security of low-income groups in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. My research focuses on the processing and marketing links of the fish value chain.
  • 2018-2023: Enclaving: Patterns of global futures in three African cities. This Research Council of Norway (FRIHUMSAM) funded project is led by Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, Department of Social Anthropology, UiB, and investigates urbanisation and multiple inequalities in three African cities: Johannesburg, Maputo and Accra. My research focuses on gender and socio-economic dynamics of households in a newly constructed high-cost residental area in the capital city of Ghana, Accra.
  • 2019-2022: Mapping marine resource conflicts across sub-Saharan Africa: patterns, drivers and solutions for coastal communities (MARICA). Project leader. Elizabeth Selig, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA). Funding: NORGLOBAL, The Research Council of Norway.

Development; globalisation; gender; natural resource governance; agriculture; fisheries; food security; political ecology; migration; the power of maps; qualitative methodology; research ethics; theory of science.

 

Academic article
  • Show author(s) (2023). The processing, preparation, and cooking practices of small fish among poor Ghanaian households: An exploratory qualitative study. Maritime Studies. 11 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Market women’s skills, constraints, and agency in supplying affordable, safe, and high-quality fish in Ghana. Maritime Studies. 1-16.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Contextualities of gender in Eritrean immigrant households: Exploring empowerment through integration in Norwegian society. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. 135-148.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Anchovy powder enrichment in brown rice-based instant cereal: a process optimization study using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Food Science & Nutrition. 4484-4496.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Land governance and access dynamics in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana . African Geographical Review.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Opposing discourses on the offshore coexistence of the petroleum industry and small-scale fisheries in Ghana. The Extractive Industries and Society. 190-197.
  • Show author(s) (2018). The importance and limitations of social networks and social identities for labour market integration: The case of Ghanaian immigrants in Bergen. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. 27-36.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Power theories in political ecology. Journal of political ecology. 350-363.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Local navigations in a global industry: the gendered nature of entrepreneurship in Ghana’s oil and gas service sector. Journal of Development Studies. 361-374.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Rethinking Livelihood Impacts of Biofuel Land Deals in Ghana. Development and Change. 98-129.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Local and global geographies of innovation: Structures, processes, and geographical contexts from a firm perspective. Growth and Change. 403-411.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Modernisation narratives and small-scale fisheries in Ghana and Zambia. Forum for Development Studies. 321-343.
  • Show author(s) (2009). New Technologies, New Demands and New Literacies: The Changing Literacy Practices of Fishing Communities in Bangladesh and Ghana. Maritime Anthropological Studies. 35-51.
  • Show author(s) (2007). When men do women's work: structural adjustment, unemployment and changing gender relations in the informal economy of Accra, Ghana. The Journal of Modern African Studies. 539-563.
  • Show author(s) (2006). Networks, Distance and Trust: Telecommunications Development and Changing Trading Practices in Ghana. World Development. 1301-1315.
Report
  • Show author(s) (2005). 'Money has no name': unemployment, informalisation and gender in Accra, Ghana. .
  • Show author(s) (1995). Interpretation of other life worlds: An essay on the construction of gendered world versions. Paper in scientific theory for the Dr.polit. degree, The Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Bergen. .
Academic lecture
  • Show author(s) (2022). Privat byutvikling og urbane enklaver i Afrika .
  • Show author(s) (2022). Life in the urban enclave: Aspirations, detachment, and differentiated outcomes of living in a private city.
  • Show author(s) (2022). In the same storm but not in the same boat. Fisheries management, scalar politics, and blue (in)justice within and beyond the Joal-Fadiouth marine protected areas, Senegal.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Living the dream in a cool Place: Gender and spatial relations among enclave pioneers in Accra.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Motivations, challenges and performances of local entrepreneurship in the emergent oil city Takoradi, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Modernization narratives and the sustainability of small-scale fisheries in Ghana and Zambia.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Local entrepreneurship in the context of the emerging oil and gas industry in Takoradi, Ghana.
Editorial
  • Show author(s) (2011). Introduction to special issue : environmental governance in the South - discourses/science/policies. Forum for Development Studies. 235-238.
Masters thesis
  • Show author(s) (2018). The Gendering of a Farming System. A study of the relationship between gender and agricultural production in Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Mobile Phones and Innovations. An Empirical Description of Farmers´ Utilizations of the Mobile Phone in Upper East Region, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2017). GOVERNING THE OCEAN SPACE FOR THE COEXISTENCE OF FISHERY AND PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN GHANA’S WESTERN REGION.
  • Show author(s) (2016). LAND GOVERNANCE AND COMPETITION FOR SPACE IN GHANA’S EMERGING OIL CITY, SEKONDI-TAKORADI.
  • Show author(s) (2016). INTEGRATION OF GHANAIAN IMMIGRANTS IN BERGEN’S LABOUR MARKET.
  • Show author(s) (2015). The Proposed Re-development of the Takoradi Market Circle and its likely Implications for Market Traders’ Access to Trading Space.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Impacts of the oil and gas industry on the livelihoods of men and women working in the firsheries: A study of Shama, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2014). The Role of Norad’s Oil for Development Programme in Environmental Management in Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Managing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Liberia: Exploring the syncretisation of Western and traditional approaches.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Irregular and Incomplete Primary School Attendance in Rural Ghana. A case-study of late enrolment and early drop-out in the Eastern Region.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Health advocacy and practice: Exploring the influence of social structures in the health related lifestyles of adults in the Asokwa community in Kumasi, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Ghana’s Emerging Oil and Gas Industry: Livelihood Impacts of the Ghana Gas processing Plant at Atuabo in Western Region, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Housing in the era of black gold: A study of access to housing in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2012). MANNING THE RIGS: A STUDY OF OFFSHORE EMPLOYMENT IN GHANA’S OIL INDUSTRY.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Gender and Informality in the Construction Industry in Ghana’s Oil City Takoradi.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Processes and Effects of Land Sales on Local Livelihoods in Communities located near the Oil Industry in the Western Region of Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Tilgang til vann gjennom det uformelle vannforsyningssystemet i Luanda, Angola.
  • Show author(s) (2010). GENDERED STRATEGIES AMONG MIGRANTS FROM NORTHERN GHANA IN ACCRA: A CASE STUDY OF MADINA.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Competition between biofuel and food? The case of a jatropha biodiesel project and its effects on food security in the affected communities in Northern Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2009). The Impact of Tourism on Socio-Economic Development in Busua in the Western Region og Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2009). RESOURCE MANGAGEMENT IN THE ANLOEWE MIGRANT FISHING COMMUNITY ABAKAM IN THE CENTRAL REGION, GHANA.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Poverty mitigation and Wealth creation through artisanal fisheries in Dzemeni area at Volta Lake, Ghana.
  • Show author(s) (2008). MIGRATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR RURAL LIVELIHOODS: A CASE STUDY OF KWAMANG IN ASHANTI.
  • Show author(s) (2008). IBI TSE YIE ( SOME PEOPLE ARE BETTER OFF):RE-DISTRIBUTION MECHANISMS IN THE COASTAL TOWN MOREE, GHANA.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Consequences of the reduction in the water levels of Lake Victoria on poor people’s livelihood in Rwanjaba lakeshore community, Uganda.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Gender relations and household livelihood security in Lake Kariba fishing communities, Zambia.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Fattige fiskere: Fanget eller frigjort av eget fiskegarn? En studie av fiskeribistand og fattigdomsforebygging i Kasafal -India.
Doctoral dissertation
  • Show author(s) (2017). Matsikkerhet i Aasiaat, Grønland. En studie av interaksjoner mellom matpreferanser, klimaendringer og globaliseringsprosesser.
  • Show author(s) (2016). From local content to local participation? Exploring entrepreneurship in Ghana’s oil and gas industry.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Biofuels and land politics:Connecting the disconnects in the debate about livelihood impacts ofjatropha biofuel land deals in Ghana.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Show author(s) (2008). Mobile Traders and Mobile Phones in Ghana. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2005). When Sisters Become Competitors: Coastal Women's Innovative Utilization of Trawler By-Catch in Ghana. 16 pages.
Academic literature review
  • Show author(s) (2021). Locally-procured fish is essential in school feeding programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. Foods. 1-23.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Fish for food and nutrition security in Ghana: Challenges and opportunities. Global Food Security. 10 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Networks, trust and capital mobilisation: Challenges of embedded local entrepreneurial strategies in Ghana's oil and gas industry. The Journal of Modern African Studies. 391-413.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Research groups