As a music geek studying sociology, I am deeply intrigued by the relationships between music and society in African contexts. My Ph.D research focuses on alternative music in Ghana and how its artists create, express, and are informed by community and care for wider society. It is part of a DANIDA-funded research project between the University of Ghana and Copenhagen Business School, examining Ghana’s cultural and creative industries.

I also hold an LL.B in Law and an MA in International Studies & Diplomacy from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

Things I’ve Taught

Dikan Center (2023 to date)

• Research & Writing Between the Lines (as part of Dikan’s Photojournalism & Documentary Practice Certificate Course)
• New Literacy & Research (an introduction to research methodology and AI in the age of (mis)information)

School for International Training (SIT) Study Abroad Program (2019 to date)

• Religion in Africa
• A History of Highlife
• Afropolitanism, Afrofuturism & AfricanFuturism
• Black Panther & the African Imagination

Webster University Ghana (2018 to 2023)

• Cornerstone Global Seminar: Introduction to African Social Theory
• Introduction to Interactive Digital Media
• Cultural Diversity in the Media
• Student Leadership Development

Ashesi University (2011 to 2018)

• Text & Meaning
• Written & Oral Communication
• Social Theory
• African Philosophical Thought
• Africa in International Affairs
• Leadership I: What Makes a Good Leader?
• Leadership II: Rights, Ethics & the Rule of Law

Grants & Scholarships

• Miles Morland African Writing Scholarship (2020): awarded £18,000 towards the financial freedom to write a narrative memoir around the death of my younger brother, exploring masculinity, mental health, marriage, and relationships in contemporary Ghanaian culture.
• DANIDA Doctoral Scholarship (2019): awarded $75,000 Ph.D. scholarship by the DANIDA Fellowship Centre as part of its ‘Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana‘ research project with the University of Ghana
• The Force of Art (2018): received €10,000 research grant from HIVOS, Prince Claus Fund & the European Cultural Foundation to study how non-profit art spaces transform people and situations in Ghana, Uganda & Tanzania

Publications

• Forces of Art: Perspectives from a Changing World (with Dr. Joseph Oduro Frimpong; Idea Books, 2020) chapter on ‘The Sustainability of Contemporary Arts Spaces in Ghana, Tanzania & Uganda‘

Conferences

• ACCES Music Conference 2022 (Tanzania): presented Highlife & it’s Alte(rnatives) – combining DJing and public speaking – at the largest annual gathering of music practitioners in Africa.
• Re:publica Accra 2018 (Ghana): co-presented Revolution Radio – a paper on the recent rise of Ghanaian podcasts as a platform for alternative voices, viewpoints and sounds. Also participated in a panel on Afrofuturism: an African History of the Future.
• 7^th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) 2017 (Switzerland): presented Back to Black: New Manifestations of Social Conscience in Accra’s Creative Spaces – a paper exploring economics and experiences within Accra’s rising counterculture scene (as part of a panel on Cultivating African Cities: On a Decolonial Potential of Urban Cultural Elites)
• Lancaster University Richardson Institute Joint Conference 2017 (Ghana): co-presented Teaching Evolving Political Landscapes in the African Context – a paper on the experience of redesigning a Global South-centred undergraduate Social Theory course
• Open Forum 2012 (South Africa): participated in two panels – Patriarchs and Publishing: The Business of Breaking African Gender and Sexual Stereotypes and In Our Own Image: Defining African-ness
• International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) Conference 2006 (Canada): under the auspices of Sussex University’s Development Research Centre on Migration (UK) and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (Ghana), I presented Beyond Rights: Integration Between Liberians and Their Ghanaian Neighbours in the New Buduburam Community – a co-authored paper researching relations between Liberian refugees and their Ghanaian neighbours

Press

• Ghana Studies Conference 2019: commentary on Sonic Lecture on the History of Highlife (2019)
• Webster University: Webster Ghana Examines the ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ Documentary Series (2019)
• Ashesi University: On Pop Academia: lecturer Kobina Ankomah-Graham looks beyond academic systems (2016)
• AMP: A Trip to Agbogbloshie with Belgian-Beninese artist Fabrice Monteiro and Senegalese designer Doulsy for ‘Prophecy II’ photoshoot (2016)
• BBC: Leaving the UK and Going Home to Ghana (2015)
• Ashesi University: Retooling technology to make learning fun: the case of the Ashesi class that has lessons on Whatsapp (2013)