About

Gifty Etornam Katahena is a PhD candidate and an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. 

Research Interest

Her research examines how ancient Greek and Roman texts are reimagined in African contexts, focusing on the intersections of classical reception, gender, and postcolonial thought. Her doctoral research, Sophocles’ Antigone and the Politics of Adaptation in Postcolonial Rewritings, investigates how African dramatists transform Antigone into a stage for negotiating authority, resistance, and identity. Through this work, she contributes to the ongoing discourse on decolonising the Classics and situating it within Africa’s cultural and intellectual setting.

As a course instructor, she teaches undergraduate courses on ancient civilisations, mythology, ancient Greek and Roman drama, gender related issues in ancient Greece and Rome, Comparative Literature, and Reception Studies.

Beyond teaching and research, Gifty integrates scholarship with creative practice. She has produced and directed Socrates’ Euthyphro and co-directed notable stage productions, including Tegonni: An African Antigone and The Love of the Nightingale, through which she interprets ancient myths using African performance traditions.

She is a member and Acting Vice President of the Classical Association of Ghana, a member of the Society for Classical Studies, a member of the African Classics Network, and a co-collaborator on the international project Classics at the Crossroads: Partnership, Mobility, and Exchange between Ghana, Nigeria, and Canada.

Gifty’s research demonstrates a new generation of African classicists—connecting worlds and cultures, challenging boundaries, and reimagining the ancient past within the vibrant realities of modern Africa.