About

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Akosua K. Darkwah is the Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies at the University of Ghana. She is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Ghana and has expertise in qualitative research methods including innovative approaches such as the river of life approach. Her research interests focus on both the ways in which global economic policies and practices reconfigure women’s work in Ghana as well as the gendered ways in which migration reconfigures households. She was a member of the second and third phase of the Migrating out of Poverty (MOOP) research project which was run by the University of Sussex. She is currently one of the editors of the African Studies Review. She is a member of the International Sociological Association, Sociologists for Women in Society, the African Studies Association (USA), the Ghana Studies Association, and the Ghana Sociological and Anthropological Association.

Education

• PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2002
• MSc, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998
• BA, Vassar College, 1996

Research Interest

• Development Sociology
• Labour Studies
• Gender Studies

Publications

1. Darkwah, A. K & Tsikata, D. (2022). The Changing Conceptions of Work and the Language of Work in 
            Ghana – Towards a Research Agenda. In D.Hill & F. K. Ameka (Eds.), Language, Linguistics and 
            Development Practices (pp. 87-109). Palgrave Macmillan.
2. Ofori-Dankwa, J., DelVecchio, M., & Darkwah, A. K. (2022). Towards a more comprehensive 
           capital-based framework for explaining the performance of small entrepreneurs: illustrations from 
           the Ghanaian marketplace. In D. (Ed.). Innovation and Behavioural Strategy (pp.109-132). 
           Information Age Publishing.
3. Darkwah, A. K. (2022). Key workers in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic. ILO Working Paper 61. 
         Geneva: International Labour Organisation.
4. Darkwah, A, K., & Tsikata, D. (2021). Home-based work and homework in Ghana: An exploration. ILO 
         Working Paper 22. Geneva: International Labour Organisation
5. Darkwah, A. K. (2021). African women and globalisation. In O. Yacob-Haliso, & T. Falola (Eds.), The 
        Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies (pp. 1805- 1820). Palgrave Macmillan.
6. Darkwah, A. K., Dako-Gyeke, M., & Nketia-Amponsah, E. (2018). Hedging against vulnerability: 
         Associational life as a social insurance strategy by the poor in the Central Region of Ghana. In N.
7. Awortwi & G. Walter-Drop (Eds.), Non-State Social Protection Actors and Services in Africa: 
        Governance below the state (87-103). Routledge.
8. Darkwah, A. K. (2016). Globalisation, development and the empowerment of women. In
        J. Steans, & D. Tepe-Belfrage (Eds.), Handbook of Gender in International Relations (pp 386-393). 
       Edward Elgar.
9. Nazneen. S., Darkwah, A. K., & Sultan, M. (2014). Researching Women’s Empowerment: Reflections  on  
        Methodology  by  Southern  Feminists.  Women’s  Studies International Forum, 45 (4), 55-62.
10. Darkwah, A. K. (2014). Structural gendered inequalities in the Ghanaian economy. In
          D. S. Dzorgbo, & S. Tonah (Eds.), Sociology and Development Issues in Ghana: A Reader in Sociology 
          (pp. 137-151). Woeli Publishing Services.
11. Tsikata, D., & Darkwah, A. K. (2014). Researching empowerment: On methodological innovations, 
          pitfalls and challenges. Women’s Studies International Forum, 45 (4), 81-89.
12. Darkwah, A. K. (2013). Keeping hope alive: An analysis of training opportunities for Ghanaian youth 
          in the emerging oil and gas industry. International Development Planning Review, 35 (2), 119-134.
13. Darkwah, A. K. (2010). Education: pathway to empowerment for Ghanaian women?
         IDS Bulletin, 41 (2), 28-36.
14. Darkwah, A. K. (2007). Making hay while the sun shines: Ghanaian female traders and their insertion 
        in the global economy. In N. Gunewardena, & A. Kingsolver (Eds.), The Gender of Globalization: 
        Women Navigating Cultural and Economic Marginalities (pp. 61-83). James Currey.
15. Darkwah, A. K. (2007). Work as a duty and as a joy: Understanding the role of work in the lives of 
        Ghanaian female traders of global consumer items. In S. Hurley (Ed.), Women’s Labor in the Global 
        Economy: Speaking in Multiple Voices (pp. 206- 220). Rutgers Press.
16. Darkwah, A. K. (2005). Poverty trends in Ghana over the last fifteen years. Legon Journal of 
        Sociology, 2(1), 81-100.
17. Darkwah, A. K. (2002). Trading goes global: Ghanaian market women in an era of globalization. Asian 
        Women, 15, 31-49.
18. Darkwah, A. K. (2001). Confronting the phantom in our midst: Market women negotiate the Ghanaian 
        trade policy framework. Social Policy, 2 (1), 1-7

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES

•  Ghana Sociological and Anthropological Association
•  African Studies Association, USA
•  Ghana Studies Association
•  International Sociological Association
   

EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES

• Editor, Feminist Africa (2023-)
• Associate Editor, Feminist Africa (2020-2023) Editor, African Studies Review (2020-2026)
• Managing Editor, Ghana Journal of Sociology and Anthropology (2021-2024) Co-editor, Ghana Studies
• (2013-2016)
• Editorial Board Member, Gender and Society (2014-2016)