Research Overview
Available for purchase here
afropolitan projects
My book explores how Ghanaians draw on the Afropolitan to articulate their identities and sense of belonging to the world and to the African continent. I call the cultural work they do to support these efforts “Afropolitan projects.” The primary method is ethnography, relying on participant observations and in-depth interviews with a Ghanaian immigrant community in the United States and artists and activist groups in Ghana. The research offers insights into our understanding of identities, citizenship and belonging, and cosmopolitan modernity. Some of my findings from this research are published in Ethnic and Racial Studies and Ethnography and the book is available for purchase via the press website or anywhere else were books are sold.
Photo by Brandi Ibrao on Unsplash
football, gender, and inclusive citizenship
I am beginning a project that builds on my interests in culture, nationalism, and black identities by examining how women’s sports are incorporated into nation-building projects in postcolonial African countries. Using Ghana as a case study, I examine how women’s football shapes local and global relations of gender and power, and inspires social movement and activism. Ethnographic observations and archival research helps me trace the development of women’s football in the Ghanaian nation-building project and popular imagination. This research examines how the interplay of gender, popular culture, and national identity are intertwined with forces of globalization and cultural interconnectedness. A chapter from this work appears in The Routledge Handbook of Queer African Studies.
rugby, whiteness, and heterosexuality
In previous research, I explored gender, race, and sexuality within the context of rugby. I found that U.S. American women rugby players asserted their whiteness and emphasized heterosexual femininity as a way to show their investment in a gendered and racialized social order. I have published findings from this research in The International Review for the Sociology of Sport and Sport in Society.