CAS semester start lecture: Who Do We Write Africa For? The Hidden Obligations of Knowledge
Across education, health technologies, gender, history, and migration, knowledge about Africa is often produced through claims of universality that obscure the lived realities and interpretive authority of African publics. From medical drones delivering care in Ghana and Malawi to education policies that promise equity while reproducing structural blind spots, global agendas frequently misrecognise local priorities and silence the people they aim to serve. Bringing their work on education and digital health into conversation, Akuffo and Ameso ask: when we write about Africa, who are we addressing, and to whom — and to what — do scholars owe fidelity?
Presenters:
Aboabea Gertrude Akuffo holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Oxford, UK. Her research spans Sociology of education, gender, family, history, migration, politics, and the ethics of social research. She examines how policies, institutions, and dominant narratives construct authoritative accounts that displace lived experience and interpretive authority. Methodologically, Akuffo treats fidelity as an ethical and interpretive commitment, attending closely to lived realities, recognising silences in knowledge production, and preserving complexity in research practice. Across her scholarship, she returns to a central question: When we write Africa, are we describing Africa, speaking for Africa, or answering to Africa? Her work develops forms of research and representation that are accountable to the people whose lives they seek to understand.
Dr. Edwin Ambani Ameso is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of African Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen. His research examines digital health technologies, social welfare, citizenship, and health insurance in sub-Saharan Africa, with attention to how emerging systems of care reshape relationships between states, institutions, and citizens. His work bridges health and social research to explore questions of access, equity, and knowledge production across the continent.
