Akosua Adomako Ampof

Adomako Ampofo is a Ghanian Professor of African and Gender Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (UG). She describes herself as an activist scholar and informs her work through her faith, questions of identity and power, and a commitment to social justice.

Akosua Adomako Ampof was born in Accra. Her heritage is a blend of German and Ghanaian Asante roots, with her father's family being associated with the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) tradition. After attending Aburi Girls' Secondary School, she pursued her passion for architectural design, completing her bachelor's degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Continuing her academic journey, she achieved a master's degree in development planning and management at the same university. Ampofo's pursuit of knowledge led her to Vanderbilt University, where she earned her Ph.D. in sociology. In addition, she obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Spatial Planning from the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany.

Akosua Adomako Ampofo holds the esteemed position of Professor of African and Gender Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (UG).

She has been significantly involved in various roles at the university, including serving as the foundation Director of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy in 2005 and as the Director of the Institute of African Studies from 2010 to 2015. Furthermore, she has held the prestigious position of President of the African Studies Association of Africa.

Her expertise and research interests encompass a range of topics, such as African Knowledge systems, higher education, race and identity politics, gender relations, masculinities, and popular culture. In her recent research on black masculinities, she delves into the dynamic nature of identities among young men in Africa and the diaspora. Moreover, her earlier work explored how the discourse of "men of God" shapes and redefines femininity.

Professor Adomako Ampofo is also a published author, with her most recent co-edited book, "Producing Inclusive Feminist Knowledge: Positionalities and Discourses in the Global South," being published in 2021 by Emerald Publishing.

In addition to her academic contributions, she engages in documentary production. One of her notable works is the documentary "When Women Speak," which is part of the "Archive of Activism: Gender and Public History in Postcolonial Ghana" project. This project aims to create a publicly accessible archive highlighting gender activism and the role of "political women" in Ghana.

In 2018 Akosua Adomako Ampofo shared her insights and advocacy at a TEDx talk on the future of gender equality and the role of feminism in its pursuit.

Ampofo is the 2023–2024 Wangari Maathai Visiting Professor at the University of Kassel.

Photo credit: adomakoampofo.com