I am a social anthropologist with special interest in the anthropology of Africa. I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology with Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon in 2007. In 2011, I won the prestigious Commonwealth-Shared Scholarship to study at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh where I graduated with a Master of Science degree in Africa and International Development. I worked briefly as Education Coordinator and Project Manager for an Austrian NGO based in Ghana, BRAVEAURORA. In 2015, I was awarded the Lisa Maskell Doctoral Fellowship by the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University (South Africa). I officially enrolled as Lisa Maskell Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, (Stellenbosch University), graduating with a PhD in Social Anthropology in 2019. While studying for my doctoral degree, I won the Monica Wilson Prize in anthropology, a prestigious award conferred by Anthropology Southern Africa. In 2020, I joined the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. I currently serve as Lecturer and Graduate Seminar Coordinator in the Department. In August 2023, I was elected as the Evans-Pritchard Lecturer for 2023-24 by the University of Oxford. I hold this position until May 2024. My teaching and research interests include ethnography, anthropology of religion (witchcraft, magic, rituals), medical anthropology, anthropology of aging, and the anthropology of development and human rights. I have conducted fieldwork in northern Ghana. I have published in internationally reputed journals including the Nordic Journal of African Studies, Social Dynamics, and Anthropology Southern Africa.

My pedagogy is informed by my personal experiences of living and learning elsewhere. Although I have grown up and lived the most part of my life in Ghana, I received my postgraduate education in the UK (Edinburgh) and South Africa (Stellenbosch) where I experienced issues about racial diversity and, in the case of the latter, complex racial relations. These personal experiences gained in the course of my academic engagements and exchanges have raised awareness in me about issues of diversity and racial/ethnic relations. My education in the South African context, in particular, has been as much a product of thick forms of social experience in the learning environment and at other social events. My personal experiences have taught me how diversity and multicultural consciousness can influence efforts at building or creating an inclusive learning environment. Mindful of this, I seek to adopt an inclusive pedagogy in delivering my lectures. As a learner-centred approach, inclusive pedagogy ensures that learners’ diverse backgrounds and abilities are taken into account in the design and implementation of course outlines and other instructional materials. While this approach directs students toward attaining academic freedom and self-fulfillment, it also promotes social justice and academic success. My commitment to respect diversity and promote inclusive strategies in the classroom is partly motivated by my professional training in social anthropology where sensitivity to social and cultural diversity is essential and encouraged.

I am passionate about teaching in ways that continually draw students into active modes of critical thinking that draws them towards cutting-edge research. Specifically, I am excited about developing pedagogies that build on students’ experiences and seek out inter-disciplinary reading, thinking and analysis. In my engagement with students, I seek to foster critical thinking and strong analytical skills oriented towards developing a curious mind sensitive to the academy and the world outside of it. I aim to create a challenging and exciting learning environment where students come to know or understand themselves better through the knowing of others in their learning environment. I see this as a good approach to help students develop the requisite self-confidence that they need to succeed after school.

My professional training in the ethnographic method and inquiry remains a unique asset to my pedagogical approach to teaching in the classroom. Ethnography as a technique and practice takes experience, reading, and writing as constitutive elements in the making of knowledge and the shaping of a humanistic scholarly disposition. Ethnography plays a central role in building knowledge and curating experiences that are vital to the teaching and learning process. I seek to make classroom learning natural and engaging by deploying appropriate ethnographic techniques – including interaction, drama, observation, participation, and interpretation – that seek to help students grasp and appreciate the teaching content. This ultimately leads learners to create a pool of lasting impressions, thus helping to build permanent learning experiences.