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Dr. Dorothy Takyiakwaa
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Dr. Dorothy Takyiakwaa

Lecturer - ( Senior Member ) Department of Sociology and Anthropology
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Field(s) of Specialization
African Urbanism
Gender Studies
Migration
Qualitative Research Methodology
Urban Sociology
Field(s) of Academic Interest
African Urbanisms
Decolonialism
Gender
Migration
Urban Sociology
About

Dorothy Takyiakwaa is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a Researcher at the Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation. She employs intersectionality, feminist methodologies and decolonial lens to unpacking power and inequalities embedded in issues of gender relations, social justice, collective action, livelihoods, poverty, migration, conflict, social stratification, class, conflict, politics of and in Africa, and knowledge production. Besides her personal research and teaching, she has shared her expertise by consulting for UNFPA Ghana, Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), and Plan International Ghana. Other independent research and advocacy have been done with funding from reputable organisations such as the British Academy and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Having been a doctoral fellow on the Academy for African Urban Diversity (2017/2018), Dorothy is currently a post-doctoral fellow on Andrew Mellon foundation funded project on ‘Entanglement, Mobility and Improvisation: Culture and the Arts in Contemporary African Urbanism and its Hinterlands’. She was a visiting scholar at University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies, on a BIRCA funded project ‘Decolonising the Hegemonic Narratives on FGM’. Dr Dorothy Takyiakwaa studied at the University of Cape Coast and Hanze University of Applied Sciences. Before joining the University of Cape Coast, she was a Research Scientist at the Animal Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. 

Change is the only constant in our world. This means everything around is speedily changing mainly to accommodate and provide trends, tastes and new ways of doing things. This is same with the academic environment where diverse people come in periodically, new tools are emerging and challenges abound, yet higher educational structures are slow in catching up or even leading the change. In response therefore, I am open-minded and design my teaching and learning spaces (to the best of my ability) to utilize diverse methods (written, audio, visual, imaginary aids, online & offline) to engender student/learners creativity, give constructive feedback, and assess not only based on text but also discussions, debates, audio-visual and other creative outputs. From a feminist tradition of empathy, intersectionality and social justice, I encourage and provide alternative lenses (African and decolonial lens, power analysis) for my students and learners to be open-minded, ask questions, seek to understand and not to be afraid to critique local and broader social issues. Learners and students are also co-creators of knowledge: thus, I learn from them too. I work towards changing toxic norms and hope that through my teaching and learning attitudes and behaviours will change towards social justice. 

Degrees
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology

    University of Cape Coast 2017
  • Bachelor of Arts in Sociology

    University of Cape Coast 2013
  • Presented a paper (Social mobility among ‘re-migrant’ women in Ghana)

    October, 2022

    Upward Social Mobility Among Female Remigrants/Returnees In West Africa Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany.

  • Presented a paper (Hair and Becoming: Politics of natural hair in Ghana)

    October, 2022

    Summer Institute on Entanglement, Mobility and Improvisation: Culture and the Arts in Contemporary African Urbanism and its Hinterlands Kampala, Uganda.

  • Participant

    April, 2022

    Capacity-Building Training of AUC, RECs, CSOs, Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs), and National Governments on Coordination in Data Collection, Analysis, and Utilization relating to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP), and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights (SRH &RR) indicators) Accra, Ghana.

  • Presented a paper (Polyphony, Popular Culture and Social Networks: Intercourse of urban spaces and hinterlands)

    October, 2021

    Summer Institute for Entanglement, Mobility and Improvisation: Culture and the Arts in Contemporary African Urbanism and its Hinterlands University of Pretoria, South Africa.

  • Presented a paper (Politics of Affordable Housing: The Case of Ghana’s Housing Policies at the Turn of the Third Millennium)

    June, 2021

    Regions in Recovery: Building Sustainable Futures (by Regional Studies Association) Global e-festival (Online).

  • Presented a paper (Relationship between Gender socialisation and SGBV)

    November, 2019

    Symposium on ‘Girls in SDG ERA: Health, Equity, and Education, Takemi Programme at Harvard School of Public Health and Institute of African Studies IAS, University of Ghana.

  • Participant

    June, 2019

    Writing Workshop: Foregrounding the Perspectives of African Scholars in Childhood Studies Discourses University of Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Participant

    June, 2019

    Writing Workshop: Foregrounding the Perspectives of African Scholars in Childhood Studies Discourses University of Ghana.

  • Rapporteur

    April, 2019

    DIES Workshop on Gender Equity: Navigating Women's Careers in Higher Education Koforidua.

  • Presented a paper (Raising Dependent Wives and Breadwinner Husbands in Ghana: Understanding the Consequences of Framing Gender Socialisation around Marital Roles and Expectations for Gender-Based Violence)

    September, 2018

    Children and Youth Facing Violence in Africa. What do we know? What can we do? Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

  • Doctoral Fellow and presenter

    September, 2018

    Academy for African Urban Diversity Max Planck centre, Berlin, Germany.

  • Participant

    July, 2018

    Cape Coast Summer School: Engendered Politics of Place and Belonging University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

  • Presented a paper (Home is home’: Internal migrants’ associations and development of origin communities)

    April, 2018

    Those Who Stay’: how out-migration affect West African Societies. Conference on ‘Those Who Stay: how out-migration affects West African societies Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany.

  • Doctoral Fellow and presenter

    November, 2017

    Academy for African Urban Diversity University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

  • Facilitator

    September, 2024

    Contemporary Issues in Fisheries Management. Fisheries Leadership Short course for Practitioners funded by USAID/Fisheries Recovery Activity Ghana.

  • Presenter

    October, 2024

    International and Regional Fisheries Institutional Frameworks and Bodies. Workshop on Destabilising Impacts of Distant Water Fishing Vessels (DWFV) in the Gulf of Guinea Yaounde, Cameroon.

  • Guest Speaker

    October, 2024

    “Promoting Research Excellence for Impact on Marine Conservation in Africa”, Institute for Oceans and Fisheries Online Seminar Series University of British Columbia, Canada.

  • Co-Facilitator

    October, 2021

    “Grants Proposal Writing Workshop” University for Development Studies.

  • Presenter

    November, 2024

    “Performance of the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience”, Country Round Table Workshop Association of African Universities (AAU), Online.

  • Facilitator

    November, 2024

    “Regional Political Parties Dialogue on Fisheries: Protecting Our Fish, Securing Our Future, Live Engagement on JoyNews TV Centre for National Culture, Cape Coast.

  • Presenter

    November, 2023

    Professorial Inaugural Lecture on the topic “Our Oceans: Securing Our Common Future through Transformative Research” Medical School Auditorium, University of Cape Coast.

  • Presenter

    March, 2024

    Africa’s Plastic Revolution: Advancing Global Solutions for Healthy Oceans, T.D. Walter Bean Professorship Public Lecture University of Waterloo, Canada.

  • Presenter

    June, 2024

    Expanding the Impact of Research on Africa’s Blue Economy. National Consultative Workshop for the Formulation of a National Blue Economy Strategy for Angola Luanda, Angola.

  • Panelist

    June, 2024

    Regional Steering Committee Workshop for the World Bank West African Coastal Resilience Investment Projects (WACA ReSiP and ReiP2) Banjul, Gambia.

  • Facilitator

    July-August, 2012

    Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change. Short-term Training Course funded by USAID Ghana.

  • Co-Discussant

    July, 2023

    “Expanding the Impact of Blue Economy in Africa” (with Professor Rashid Sumaila) World Bank Headquarters, Washington.

  • Facilitator

    February, 2022

    Workshop on “Winning Research and Development Grants in a Competitive World” Bolgatanga Technical University, Ghana.

  • Facilitator

    February, 2019

    Workshop on “Proposal and Grants writing” University of Ghana, Ghana.

  • Speaker

    August, 2024

    Study Tour on Sustainable Fisheries Management & Leadership University of Rhode Island, United States.

  • Presenter

    August, 2023

    Vulnerability to Viability (V2V) Ghana Case Study. Bootcamp on moving fisheries from Vulnerability to Viability Puri, Delhi, India.

  • Guest Speaker

    April, 2024

    Workshop Presentation on “Expanding the Impact of Research on Africa’s Blue Economy in Africa Hohai University, China.

  • Participant

    2021

    6th ACE Impact Regional Workshop of the World Bank and the Association of African Universities Accra (Online).

  • Panelist

    2014

    Seaweed (Sargassum) Invasion on the Ghanaian Coasts, Implications for the National Economy and Management Live TV Broadcast, GTV.

  • Guest Speaker

    2010

    “West African Fisheries”, Workshop by the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) University of Makerere, Kampala, Uganda.

  • Revisiting a Dark Past: Reactions of visitors

    (Virtual) National University of Singapore Electronic-Study Trip for Engagement and EnRichment (NUS E-STEER) Sub-Saharan Africa, 2021.

    1. 2022

      BIRCA Grant (Ghana Lead; ‘Decolonising the hegemonic narrative on ‘FGM’)

      University of Bristol, UK

    2. 2021

      DRIC Research Support Grant (PI; Pandemic Control and Culture)

      Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, UCC

    3. 2021

      DRIC Research Support Grant (COVID-19 and nurses mental health)

      Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, UCC

    4. 2020

      DRIC Research Support Grant (Co-I; Gendered relations in COVID-19 era)

      Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, UCC

    5. 2019

      Best Poster and Presentation (Symposium on ‘Girls in SDG ERA: Health, Equity, and Education)

      Takemi Programme at Harvard School of Public Health & Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

    1. 2021

      Post-Doctoral Fellow (African Urbanisms Project)

      Universities of Ghana, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Makerere University (funded by Andrew Mello Foundation)

    2. 2017

      Doctoral Fellow (Academy for African Urban Diversity)

      Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI-MMG), Germany, Africa Centre for Migration Studies (ACMS), University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

    1. 2022

      Member

      Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT)

    2. 2022

      Associate Editor & Reviews Editor

      Feminist Africa Journal

    3. 2020

      Member

      Ghana Sociological and Anthropological Association

    1. Team Member (CEGRAD)

      September 2020 - January 2021

      Documentation of the Status of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) and Mid-Term Analysis of the UNFPA Adolescent Girls Programme (AGP) in the Central Region, Ghana. UNFPA, Dept. of Gender, & CR Co-ord. Council (Sep. 2020-Jan. 2021)

    2. Research Assistant & Scoping Report Writing Team Member

      May 2019 - December 2019

      Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA), Agrarian Change and Commercialisation in the Ghanaian Cocoa Sector (WS2), ISSER, University of Ghana (May - December 2019)

    3. Co-Investigator (Ghana Team)

      March 2022 - June 2022

      Construction of gender within schools and its implications for forming healthy relationships and gender-based violence (GBV) among young people (YP) aged 13-19 in England and Ghana. (March - October 2022)

    4. Co-Investigator

      March 2021 - October 2021

      Intersectional Gender Equality Assessment for Women’s Innovation for Sustainable Enterprises (WISE) Project in Ghana. (March-October, 2021)

    5. Principal Investigator

      June 2022 - Present

      Social mobility among ‘re-migrant’ women in Ghana (with travel support from the ‘Upward Social Mobility Among Female Remigrants/Returnees In West Africa’, MPI for Social Anthropology, Germany) (Ongoing)

    6. Team Member (CEGRAD)

      June 2022 - Present

      Cohabitation among in-school and out-of-school youth: the case of university students and the youth in UNFPA-supported communities in the Central Region of Ghana (June 2022 - Ongoing)

    7. Co-consultant

      July 2021 - November 2021

      Case studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses from West African universities. Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), IEPA and CEGRAD, IDRC funded Project (July - November, 2021)

    8. Team Member (CEGRAD)

      December 2020 - July 2021

      Exploring Gendered Relations in a COVID-19 Era: A Study of Selected Fishing Communities in the Central Region. DRIC funded Research (December 2020 - July 2021)

    9. Co-Investigator

      August 2019 - December 2019

      Poultry Value Chain Baseline Study, KOPIA Ghana Centre and CSIR-ARI Project. (August - December, 2019)

    10. Research Assistant & WP Writing Team Member

      April 2019 - September 2021

      Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA), Oil Palm Commercialisation Models and Outcomes in South Western Ghana (WS1), ISSER, University of Ghana (Apr. 2019 - Sep. 2021)

    1. 2024-2025

      Team member, Contract for services to deliver a short course on Marine Litter under the OCPP

      Cefas/UKAID

    2. 2024

      Panel Chair, Reviewed Environmental Impact Statement of PECAN Energies for Offshore Exploration of Oil & Gas

      Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Ghana, Secondi/Takoradi

    3. 2023-2024

      Team member, Contract for development of a short course on Marine Litter for the West Africa Region

      Ocean Country Partnership Program (OCPP) funded by Cefas/UKAID

    4. 2023-2024

      Team member, Contract services to conduct data collection surveys on abandoned lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) in Ghana

      Ocean Country Partnership Program (OCPP) funded by Cefas/UKAID

    5. 2023

      Lead Consultant, Contract for the Development of Fishery Courses Syllabi for Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences (DoFAS), University of Liberia

      IDA-V3100

    6. 2023

      Panel Chair, Evaluation of Applications for recruitment of Environmental, Social Safeguards Officers for Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI)

      World Bank funded West Africa Coastal Areas Management Programme

    7. 2022-2023

      Lead Consultant, Consultancy to review and align national fisheries and aquaculture polices and laws with the PFRS, regional instruments and global best practices for 15 AU Member States

      African Union – InterAfrican Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)

    8. 2022-2023

      Lead Consultant, Mechanisms to Facilitate the Domestication of Global Instruments and Initiatives (2022)

      African Union – InterAfrican Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)

    9. 2022-2023

      Lead Consultant, Identification of Issues for SIDS, Development of Draft Strategic Positions for SIDS

      African Union – InterAfrican Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)

    10. 2022

      Team member, Environmental Systems Analysis of the Avu Lagoon Protected area

      Calgary Zoo Foundation

    11. 2021

      Trainer, Conduct Marine Spatial Planning Workshop in Ghana

      University of Liverpool

    12. 2021

      Team member, Pre-feasibility study for nature-based intervention for Anlo Beach community in Ghana

      Valued at US$32,365.00

    13. 2021

      Team member, Marine Plastic Pollution Study in Liberia

      Conservation International

    14. 2021

      Team member, Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate - WACA -VAR Workshop

      World Bank

    15. 2020-2021

      Consultant, Support Development of Multi-sector Resilience Investment Programme for the West Africa Coastal Area Management Program

      World Bank

    16. 2020-2021

      Consultant, Issues and Opportunities in the Ghanaian Fishery Sector: Addressing the context, prospects and challenges

      Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), United Kingdom

    17. 2020

      Consultant, Estimations on renewable energy investments in Ghana

      Highland Star Group (HSG) of Companies, Geneva, Switzerland

    18. 2019-2020

      Team Member, Regional Mapping of Experts and Institutions in Coastal management

      World Bank

    19. 2017

      Lead Consultant, Review of the Fisheries Act 2002 (act 625) and the Development of Draft Regulations for the conduct of Fisheries Impact Assessments

      Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association (GITA) and GOGIG funded by DFID/UK

    20. 2013

      Team member, Environmental baseline survey of water bodies in the Great Consolidated Diamond Ghana Limited (GCDGL) mining concession

      AERC Ltd.

    21. 2012

      Team member, Scoping Study on the Dredging of the Whin Estuary in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis

      UCC Consultancy Unit/Consolidated Energy Ltd.

    22. 2011

      Team member, Social Ecology of Anlo Beach Wetland of Ghana

      Friends of the Nation/IUCN/French Global Environment Facility (GEF)

    23. 2010

      Principal Investigator, Biodiversity Assessment of Urban Wetlands in the Western Region, Ghana with focus on Essei and Butuah Lagoons and the Whin River Estuary

      USAID through Friends of the Nation

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