Digital addressing and the construction of the Ghanaian nation-space

Abstract

This contribution focuses on the recent introduction of a digital addressing system in Ghana. Initially developed in the slipstream of the restructuring of the Ghana Post, the oldest public service institution in the country, the digital addressing system has recently been tied into the country's broader digital identification agenda. The article examines how innovations in geospatial (population) data infrastructure alter the Ghanaian state's view on the spatial distribution of the population as well as on individuals by associating them within certain spatial categories, and eventually, (re)formatting the way in which the national space is produced and disciplined. In view of the limitations of earlier paper-based registers, particular attention is paid to the integration of various population registers thus afforded.