Presentations

Selected lectures, keynotes, conference presentations and invited talks

  • >
  • Presentations

What Is the Value of a University Education in a Global Knowledge Economy?

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: December 2018
Event / Conference: 15th General Assembly of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
Location: Dakar, Senegal
Co-presenters / Authors: Kehinde Ajayi
Examines the value and purpose of university education within a global knowledge economy, with particular attention to how graduates understand higher education, skills, credentials and labour-market opportunities.

Are Female Graduates Less Ambitious? Gendered Differences in Educational and Employment Aspirations Among Tertiary Graduates in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: 29 November 2018
Event / Conference: 61st Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Co-presenters / Authors: Kehinde Ajayi
Examines gender differences in the educational and employment aspirations of tertiary graduates in Ghana, asking whether women and men differ in their ambitions and the factors shaping their expectations for work and further education.

“Christian Gender Activists”? Religion and Feminism in Development Work in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: 16–18 November 2017
Event / Conference: 60th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Explores how women working in gender and development in Ghana negotiate the relationship between Christian faith, feminist identity and professional commitments to gender equality and women’s rights.

What Is the Value of Higher Education?

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: June 2017
Event / Conference: 2nd Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual and Cultural Festival
Location: University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
Co-presenters / Authors: S. Mahama; F. M. Dzanku
Examines how students and graduates understand the value of higher education, including the importance of qualifications, skills, employment prospects and the wider role of university education in shaping future opportunities.

Mapping the Employment Expectations and Outcomes of Tertiary Graduates in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: December 2016
Event / Conference: 59th Annual General Meeting of the African Studies Association
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Co-presenters / Authors: Kehinde Ajayi
Examines the employment expectations and early labour-market outcomes of tertiary graduates in Ghana, with attention to graduate aspirations, job search, employment transitions and the relationship between higher education and work.

The Role of Civil Society Actors in the Implementation of the Domestic Violence Act in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: July 2016
Event / Conference: Second Triennial Ghana Studies Association Conference
Location: Cape Coast, Ghana
Co-presenters / Authors: Peace Medie; Gordon Crawford
Examines the role of civil society organisations in implementing Ghana’s Domestic Violence Act, focusing on the Domestic Violence Coalition and the challenges of sustaining advocacy after legislation has been passed.

The Intersection of Feminism, Religion and Development in Discourses of “Gender Workers” in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: March 2016
Event / Conference: Feminisms Beyond the Secular? Emerging Epistemologies and Politics in the 21st Century
Location: Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Explores how women working in gender and development in Ghana negotiate the relationship between feminist commitments, Christian faith and professional efforts to advance gender equality and women’s rights.

Fighting Structural Violence: The Strengths and Limits of Coalition

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: November 2014
Event / Conference: 57th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Co-presenters / Authors: Gordon Crawford
Examines the strengths and limitations of coalition-building in confronting structural violence, with particular attention to how civil society actors mobilise across different levels to challenge entrenched inequalities and power relations.

Women Informal Bank Workers? The Informalization of Formal Work in Ghana’s Banking Sector

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: July 2014
Event / Conference: XVIII International Sociological Association (ISA) World Congress of Sociology
Location: Yokohama, Japan
Co-presenters / Authors: Akosua Adomako Ampofo
Examines the informalisation of formal employment in Ghana’s banking sector, focusing on the working conditions of female agency workers and the ways insecure contracts, lower wages and limited protections reshape women’s experiences of formal-sector work.

Transformation of Women’s Formal Work in a Neoliberal Era: A Study of Female Agency Workers in Ghana’s Banking Sector

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: June 2014
Event / Conference: 23rd Annual Conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics
Location: Accra, Ghana
Co-presenters / Authors: Akosua Adomako Ampofo
Examines how neoliberal reforms and changing employment practices in Ghana’s banking sector have reshaped women’s formal work, with particular attention to female agency workers, job insecurity and the informalisation of employment.

Occupational Preferences of University of Ghana Students

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: May 2014
Event / Conference: Faculty of Social Science Colloquium
Location: University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
Examines the occupational preferences and career aspirations of University of Ghana students, considering the types of work students hope to pursue and the factors that shape their career choices and expectations.

Leveraging Global Links for Local Rights Advocacy: WACAM and Transnational Mining Corporations in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: June 2013
Event / Conference: 5th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS)
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Co-presenters / Authors: Gordon Crawford
Examines how local rights organisations in Ghana use international networks and transnational advocacy to strengthen campaigns involving mining corporations, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges of linking local struggles to global actors.

Leveraging Global Links for Local Rights Advocacy: WACAM and Transnational Mining Corporations in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: September 2012
Event / Conference: African Studies Association of the UK 2012 Biennial Conference
Location: Leeds, United Kingdom
Co-presenters / Authors: Gordon Crawford
Examines how WACAM and other local rights actors in Ghana draw on international networks to strengthen advocacy around mining, showing how transnational connections can amplify local struggles while also creating new challenges for coalition-building and representation.

How Women Make Successful Use of Microcredit – the Mathew Effect Explained

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: August 2012
Event / Conference: 2nd Annual International Sociological Association Conference – RC32 Session on Gender Empowerment and Microfinance: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Examines why some women are better positioned than others to benefit from microcredit, highlighting how pre-existing social and economic advantages can shape women’s ability to use credit successfully and improve their livelihoods.

Young People’s Perceptions of and Aspirations in Agriculture: A Case Study of Ghana’s Cocoa Sector

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: March 2012
Event / Conference: Young People, Farming and Food: International Conference on the Future of the Agrifood Sector
Location: Accra, Ghana
Co-presenters / Authors: Jennifer Leavy; Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere
Examines young people’s perceptions of agriculture and their aspirations for future employment, using Ghana’s cocoa sector to explore the factors that encourage or discourage youth participation in farming and the wider agrifood economy.

Claiming the 21st Century: Youth People’s Aspirations and Perceptions of Future Employment in Ghana

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: December 2011
Event / Conference: 13th General Assembly of CODESRIA
Location: Rabat, Morocco
Co-presenters / Authors: J. Baidoo; B. Pupulampu
Examines young people’s aspirations and expectations for future employment in Ghana, focusing on how education, social conditions and labour-market opportunities shape their ideas about work, mobility and the future.

Women’s Work in the Banking Sector in Ghana: Informalizing Employment

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: November 2011
Event / Conference: 54th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Co-presenters / Authors: Akosua Adomako Ampofo
Examines changing employment practices in Ghana’s banking sector and their implications for women workers, focusing on the informalisation of formal employment through agency work, insecure contracts and reduced employment protections.

The Video Revolution and Its Potential for Cultural and Political Pan-Africanism

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: February 2011
Event / Conference: 3rd CODESRIA-FESPACO Workshop on African Film: African Film, Video and the Social Impact of New Technologies
Location: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Co-presenters / Authors: Kofi Anyidoho
Explores the growth of video technologies in Africa and their potential to strengthen cultural exchange, political consciousness and Pan-African connections through new forms of audiovisual production and circulation.

Rural-Rural Child Migration in West Africa

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: June 2009
Event / Conference: Conference on Child and Youth Migration in West Africa: Research Progress and Implications for Policy
Location: Accra, Ghana
Co-presenters / Authors: Ainsworth
Examines rural-to-rural child migration in West Africa, considering the circumstances that shape children’s movement between rural communities and the implications of migration for their livelihoods, well-being and development.

Theorising the Intersection of Public Policy and Personal Lives Through the Lens of Participation

Type: Invited Conference Presentations
Date: December 2008
Event / Conference: 12th General Assembly of CODESRIA
Location: Yaoundé, Cameroon
Examines the relationship between public policy and people’s personal lives through the concept of participation, considering how individuals experience, interpret and respond to development policies and programmes intended to involve them in decision-making.
1 2