PhD | Kajsa HA

Graduate Student Resources and a Laugh

August 13, 2010 2 Comments

PhDKnowledge.007 — Borrowed from http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

As I am now back in my office I had to read up on blogs I normally follow.

A favorite of mine is Chris Blattman, who even inspired my new blog both in content and style. Anyhoo, he posted among many more substantial things a funny link – the illustrated guide to a PhD.

It looks something like what you see to the left…”approaching the edge of human knowledge!” Haha! You just must see the whole thing! (click on the link above)

The funny guy coming up with this, Matt Might, also posted helpful book tips for graduate students (although I am missing Marian Petre’s brilliant The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research) as well as a list of productivity tips for academics – very useful as the fall semester approaches with speed!

This semester I will try to post research related posts on Fridays, lets see how it goes.

Ghana, People, PhD, Places, Positive

Back in Ghana or When I Met Kofi Annan

August 3, 2010 5 Comments

So my Swedish summer is over and I am back in Ghana with all that it entails. So far:

1. A Ghanaian wedding in which a vuvuzela played an important role.

“Do you take this… VUUUU! VUUUU!”

2. Getting the updates on our backyard farm from my husband.

“…And here we have tomatoes, watermelon, two kinds of plantain, cassava, paw-paw and there ginger. Don’t step on the pepper!”

3. A visit to the drivers licensing office, DVLA. I was there for an hour and did of course not get my license. I did however read an article about the corruption at the DVLA while I waited.

4. Returning to work where E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y greeted me whith a heartily:

“Akwaaba! How was your trip?”

5. A function at the University of Ghana where I, to my surprise, got the chance to pitch my research idea to Former Secretary General of UN Kofi Annan.

“I am interested in why Ghanaian students leave this…” Kofi Annan interrupts me excitedly:

“…WONDERFUL COUNTRY?”.

“Yes, exactly, this wonderful country”. When he found out I was married here in Ghana to a Ghanaian he and his Swedish wife Nane Annan smiled and said a warm “congratulations!”

Yes, I am back in Ghana! This wonderful country!

PhD

BBC Program on Africans Returning Home

May 31, 2010 2 Comments

In the BBC production An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby, the story about Africans returning back to their continent is unveiled, according to a recent BBC article.

This Africans returning home business is nothing new, but I think the story needs to be told many times to counteract the strong emigration narrative “everybody is leaving for the UK/US…”.

Personally, I like the more modern approach to migration, suggesting you can stay both here and there, creating the true cosmopolitan or should I say AFROPOLITAN citizen. Here a short excerpt about Ghanaian fashion designer Kofi Ansah I think says exactly that:

Mr Ansah still travels the world, and could live anywhere, but his business is growing, his family are settled and he feels like he’s making a difference in Accra. “I came to help try to develop the clothing textile industry. And I thought, if we could do it right, it could help our employment situation.

Unfortunately, the program (first episode covering Mali, Ghana and Nigeria) is not available to watch here in Ghana, but maybe our brothers and sisters will watch it in the UK and tell us about it…

Ghana, People, PhD, Sweden

Minor Field Study (MFS) in Ghana

May 18, 2010 No Comments

Yesterday, I met up with two students coming to do their minor field study (MFS) in Ghana.

MFS is almost an institution in Swedish academic circles. Since 1968, MFS is a stipend financed from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), administered by the International Programme Office for Education and Training (in Swedish: Internationalla Programkontoret) in collaboration with higher educational institutions in Sweden. The goal with the program is to expose young university students to life in developing countries and give them an experience of doing research there. The student has to propose a research plan and spend at least 8 weeks in the chosen field destination. The stipend covers travel expenses and a little more. Over the years more than 10 000 students have gone through the program. Recent theses coming out of the program since can be found in this MFS Thesis Database. Usually, the program is very popular and highly competitive.

Back to yesterday afternoon. I first took Emma and Ebba to eat some fufu and drink some bissap at Buka. We talked about everything from clinics to corruption, from surveys to soup, from PhD to perfect beaches. After washing our hands, we went around to do some errands, see some Ghanaian art and crafts and finished the day with a drink by the beach. I could see myself in them – the personal involvement in student activities, the interest in the foreign and exotic, the wonderful curiosity. I was impressed with their confidence and their future goals.

Emma and Ebba are not the first MFS students I take around Accra. They follow Emilie, Asa, Jessica and Ulrik – all MFS students who I have met in Ghana. To some I have been a contact person, an address to put on the VISA application, to others “Field Supervisor” and a discussion partner. I must say I enjoy spending time with them and gladly share what ever small knowledge on research I possess as well as my own experiences in this green country.

Ironically, my own MFS application was not approved when I was studying for my Bachelor’s Degree. But that is another story.

Ghana, PhD, Political

Ninety-Nine-Year-Old Graduate and More

May 9, 2010 2 Comments

Recently a World War II veteran and former teacher reached headline news in Ghana (and the world through CNN) as he graduated from business school at the ripe age of ninety-nine!

I wrote an article about this very special ninety-nine year old graduate and the discussion that his achievement gave rise to for University World News(UWN). Here is an excerpt:

In February 99-year-old World War II veteran and former teacher, Akasease Kofi Boakye Yiadom, graduated from the Presbyterian University College Business School in Abetifi, Ghana.

The elderly graduate was featured on CNN’s Inside Africa programme, and he took the opportunity to call on fellow graduates to be loyal and not join the brain drain.

“If it is a scant pay you have to accept it, because it is the government’s money that has been used to educate you,” he said. “If you have finished school and passed your degree, you have to stay in Ghana and serve Ghana.”

I thought it was interesting he entered into the “brain-drain” debate and did something with his 15 minutes of fame. Read the rest of the article about Akasease Yiadom and the “brain-drain” discussion by yours truly.

In the same issue of UWN, Linda Nordling wrote an interesting feature directed to African universities on diversifying funding. She compared the recent consequences of the Icelandic volcano ash on African export industry to the current situation in African academe where African universities are very dependent on student fees and government funding. What if an “ash cloud” or more likely an economical crisis would reduce fees and government funding?

There needs to be a lateral, more diversified strategy for funding of the African universities. Looking overseas for funding instruments, reducing the administrative burden through capacity building and turning to local industry to offer consultancies are the main points offered as a solution, by Nordling. Read the whole insightful article Lateral Thinking for Research Funding.

Ghana, PhD

Young Female PhD Holders in Ghana

May 7, 2010 3 Comments

My favorite radio channel here in Ghana, Joy FM, recently did a program about young, female PhD holders.

Dr:s Esi Ansah, Akua Anyidoho, Ama de Graft Aikins, Linda Darkwa and Joana Boampong were invited and interviewed in the popular Front Page show.

They talked about the origins and motivations of their profession as academics.

Esi Ansah of Ashesi University College was quoted saying:

“I’ve always wanted to teach. I grew up in that kind of environment. I started teaching at a very young age, assembling the kids in the neighbourhood and teaching and so it’s always been something I wanted to do”

The women interviewed were all gainfully employed and Dr Linda Darkwa, currently working with the Ghanaian military service, said:

“My work focuses on peace and security. Even though I work basically on African issues, I also look at national issues”.

Ghana, just as many other African nations, has a major problem with educating enough lecturers for her rapidly growing universities. As an example, University of Ghana with a undergraduate student body of 34 000 graduated only 10 PhD’s earlier this year! See the Vice-Chancellor’s report.

I commend Joy FM for inspiring the public by holding up these positive examples of young Ghanaian women who are among the few to take on the academic challenge of this country.

PhD, Positive, Promoting

World Bank Does Good: Opens Free Data Website

April 22, 2010 No Comments

On April the 20th 2010, the World Bank announced they would be making their statistics on development available on the Internet, free of charge. Before you needed to pay to have access to these data sets or buy a CD-ROM. At the same time a new website was opened to easily disseminate the information – data.worldbank.org (see pic).

The Swedish organization Gapminder has been working for some time now with making it happen and. In 2006, was lucky to work with one of their board members, Gun-Britt Andersson and was by her introduced to Gapminder’s mission of “unveiling the beauty of statistics for a facts based world view”. Since then, I have seen Director of Gapminder Hans Rosling’s TED speeches many times and played around with the data on their website.

Now even more data is available. Gapminder commented on the World Bank releasing some of its development data on its website calling it a “bold and long awaited step”.

Free statistics, what does it mean?

Well, to start out with, information is now available all over the world. All decision makers can now afford to inform themselves. Researchers and students can find more data to test theses and critique current data collection, indicators and methods. Developers can play around with the data and make it even more accessible. An app-competition is to be organized soon.

Read Owen’s blog and Privat Sector Development Blog for more info on its uses.

Faced with this statistical opportunity, what did I do?

I first checked out the country page for Ghana. It was easy to overview, but unfortunately the additional indicators took a while to load. Still most recent information on GDP, GNI, Poverty, Literacy, Debt, Education, Infrastructure and Unemployment lay in front of me in seconds.

Second, I looked at topics. I was looking for migration, but as I couldn’t find it, I chose Education as I also have a research interest in Higher Education. As the page loaded, my first feeling was confusion. How can total enrollment be 106% for primary school?

After thinking about it for a while and realizing primary enrollment has dramatically increased over the last years , I can only think of one explanation. Is it because now also older students get a chance to catch up?

What else did I find?

For higher education I found two interesting indicators – enrollment on tertiary level and public expenditure on tertiary students per student as percentage of GDP per capita. For the first one, Ghana has 6,2% of an age group that officially corresponds to tertiary level enrolled in tertiary education. Sweden has 74,5%. Public expenditure on education, especially higher education is an interesting number, so why not give it to us in a more comparable format?The data can with a click be seen as a map instead of a table. The sets can also be saved or shared.

All in all, I recommend visiting this website. The data being released is long overdue – imagine the “open market” supporters clinging on to their own data! Actually, this information raises more questions than it answers which is a pretty awesome outcome.

PhD

University of Ghana Admission Letter in Hand

March 16, 2010 7 Comments

Today was the day when I was formally invited to pursue a “course of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy Degree in African Studies”.

The events leading up to me holding the very much desired letter in hand includes many drops of sweat (but only a few tears), numerous visits, phone calls and emails on my part since I applied for the program in March of 2009. I almost gave up in September, but finally did a presentation of my proposal in November and a few weeks ago got my first call back.

Since then, I have made three trips to the School of Graduate studies and today was the day! I feel content and anxious to get started.

For the first half of the program, I have secured funding through the generous Swedish Women’s organization SWEA, but as I am now admitted I should probably get to worrying about finding scholarships for the latter half.

Dear reader, any ideas?

Blogging, Kajsa HA's Social Media, Personal, PhD, Promoting

Welcome to My New Blog!

March 8, 2010 7 Comments

Finally! Today I am moving (or should I say “launching”?) my new blog on wordpress and introducing you, my dear reader, to a new blogging concept. You will recognize much from Rain in Africa (I have imported all the posts, the headings of imported posts are marked “>”), but in this space I’d like to expand and give you

-More personal stories (on Me , myself and I)
-More work related stories (teaching and PhD/ migration research)
-More critical stories
-More international stories
-More of my favorite reads, links and resources.

To underline that the new blog is more personal, I’ve decided to “do an AtoKD” and simply give my new blog my name plus initials = Kajsa H.A. resulting in the web address https://kajsaha.com (please bookmark it and change eventual links!)

Thanks for reading my blog and I’d love to read your comments on my new blog!

Personal, PhD

>PhD News

March 5, 2010 9 Comments

>Last Friday I got a phone call. It was late in the afternoon and I was in the Accra Mall stocking up for the weekend with a friend. I had to run into a quiet place because I thought I heard something like:

…Graduate…University…Ghana….

I was right. It was my first call back from the university. The message was short.

Please bring your birth certificate on Monday.

Here I have been waiting since March last year, or at least since November when I did my presentation, to hear back, and now they are giving me a weekend’s notice to produce my birth certificate. BIRTH CERTIFICATE.

Well, thanks to Sweden’s excellent governmental ICT services, I was there Monday morning with my certificate. Now it looks like I might be a PhD student very, very soon.

Ghana, PhD

>Valentine’s Day in Ghana – All You Need To Know

February 14, 2010 6 Comments

>
Valentine’s day became a day to celebrate in Ghana first after the airwaves were deregulated and private radio channels like Radio Gold and Joy FM entered the stage around 1995.

But if Valentine’s Day celebrations got to a late start, it sped up quickly and the celebration of romantic love is today widespread in Ghana!

Fellow blogger Nana Yaw writes a funny post including five stories of what high-school sweethearts go through around this time of year, like this one

Sometimes, you just didn’t have the money to compete, but couldn’t get her to understand. So, 1 week before the Day, you kicked up a baseless fight, and broke up. No need for presents. You waited for 5 days, and went back to you were sorry.

I hope you never had to do this artificial breakup maneuvre! Read all of Nana Yaw’s Valentine stories here.

Professor Jo Ellen Fair (who I met last year) have researched the topic of Valentine’s Day in Ghana and in summary says that celebrating “Val Day” is something the middle class in Ghana does to feel modern and cosmopolitan. This quote is from the conclusion of the paper “Me Do Wo: The Creation of Valentine’s Day in Accra, Ghana”. Find the whole paper here (pdf). or read a summary here.

Many say that the Valentine’s theme of love “clicks”
in Ghana. “Because love is universal, anyone in any culture can be a part of Val Day,” said one young woman (interview, Feb. 10, 2002). Valentine’s Day sanctions gestures and words of affection in a culture otherwise characterized by public and private reserve. Valentine’s Day is “the one chance you get to tell people how you feel,” said one female secondary student (interview, Feb. 5, 2002). “Valentine is wonderful. I can hold my boyfriend’s hand and walk down the street,” said another secondary student(interview, Feb. 5, 2002). Advocates of Val Day are insurgents for romance in aculture uncertain of the future of more practical approaches to relationships.

This morning, these inputs paved the way for an interesting discussion over breakfast with my sweetheart.

Pic: Walking together on a beach early in the morning – my idea of romance! Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!

Blogging, Personal, PhD, Political

>Busy Everyday Life

February 13, 2010 2 Comments

>This week was also not a good blogging week – what is happening to me?
Well, let me tell you and at least that gives me a few days respite!

These days I teach Monday through Wednesday. It is a lot of preparation work, since I am teaching two classes that are new to me. It means all lectures, assignments, readings and handouts have to be prepared from scratch. I knew this semester was going to be heavy and truly, even though I love my work I have been very busy.

As you all know, I am also hoping to soon start my PhD at University of Ghana. The update is that my department in January arranged for supervisors and now it is up to the School of Research and Graduate Studies to officially admit me to the program. Yesterday, I was tired of waiting and wrote a letter of inquiry into the application process to involved parties. And I think that was a good thing to do, because all the three recipients were not in their offices when I came around.

Outside of work and study, I am engaging in civil society. I am a part of the Fabulous Feminists (FabFem), the Accra Book Club (ABC), the Accragio choir (but that’s a different blog post, Sppp) and the Ghanaian bloggers’ group Ghanablogging.com.

The FabFem met yesterday, a fun meeting as usual with young, female, fabulous, professionals with one or two things to say about feminism. Especially interesting for this meeting was that we talked about what we as a group can do for our community. I’ll keep you posted. (also, a new member of the group recognized me from my blog! celebrity life, here I come!)

The ABC last month read Swedish (!) writer Stieg Larsson’s book from the Millenium triology. I missed that meeting, so I look forward to saying a thing or two on Lisbeth Salander’s impact on Swedish society at the ABC meeting next week. This month we are reading Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (and hey, there’s another blog post).

Ghanablogging.com is meeting the week after that, but as I am the anchor of the group, every week there are things to take into consideration. People who want to join our network, have meetings with us etc. Last week my colleague Edward and I spoke about blogging at Radio Universe, University of Ghana’s student run radio. At this point in time we want to spread the blogging habit or citizen media to others and are planning an event around that.

Tonight there is a performance with a female flamenco group with the scariest and best name, Mala Sangre, at the Alliance Francaise. 8.30 pm!

And that is my busy everyday life!

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