Engineering Wastelands: Exploring the Global Problem of Electronic Waste Through Narrative Creation at Agbogbloshie, Ghana

Electronic waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, yet recycling practices and waste destinations often remain invisible or ignored by consumers. Large amounts of the Global North’s e-waste are sent to countries in the Global South with looser waste management regulations like Ghana. Using the Agbogbloshie site in Accra, Ghana as a case study in examining the different key steps of these life cycles, my research explores how and why e-waste dumping practices as they are today have come into being and continue to harm some communities without much accountability. This research utilizes content analysis methods to explore how scholarly, news, and documentary sources portray e-waste, its causes, and proposed solutions at the Agbogbloshie site. Ultimately, this thesis highlights how narrative creation around the Agbogbloshie site is critical for influencing public perception and policy. The project’s title, “Engineering Wastelands,” reflects the nature of e-waste creation through the engineered obsolescence of electronics. It also reflects how scholarly and journalistic sources often construct narratives of e-waste sites as mere wastelands, overlooking their complexity as sites of environmental injustice, economic opportunity, and socio-political history.