Mangement and Personnel

Dr. Pearl T. Robinson — Director, Africa in the New World Interdisciplinary Minor and Department of Political Science, Tufts University. Teaches courses on African politics and African political economy. Helped initiate the Tufts-in-Ghana study abroad program. Will coordinate the seminars with Legon faculty. Will work with. Kutsoati on contacts with policy think tanks.

Beatrix Allah-Mensah — University of Ghana at Legon, Lecturer in the Department of Political Science (spent a year at Tufts as a Tufts-in-Ghana staff development exchange fellow doing coursework and working toward her doctoral dissertation on The Political Economy and Environment Impact of the Gold mining industry in Ghana). Allah-Mensah is presently on sabbatical from the University and working at the World Bank on environmental issues, gender, and social accountability. She is serving as our local contact person.

Dr. Edward Kutsoati — ANW Core Faculty and Department of Economics, Tufts University. Did his undergraduate degree in Economics at Legon. Interested in a long-term collaboration with an economic research center in Ghana. Will coordinate the learning module on the gold mining industry in Ghana. Will work with Robinson on contacts with policy think tanks.

Dr. Peter Probst — ANW Core Faculty and Department of Art History, Tufts University. Anthropologist and specialist in African art. Teaches courses on African Art — including one on the Royal Arts of Africa. Will coordinate the visit to the Asantehene’s palace in Kumasi as well as the day-long session at ArtHaus in Accra. Will share responsibility with Sharpe for the Gold Weights gallery tour at the University of Ghana.

Dr. Christina Sharpe — ANW Core Faculty and Department of English, Tufts University. Author of Monstrous Intimacies: Making Post-Slavery Subjects. Monstrous Intimacies, which examines power, sex, slavery and subjectivity in Africa and the diaspora in the (disavowed) relations between and among the enslaver, the formerly enslaved, and their descendants. Teaching and research interest in slavery. Will coordinate the learning module on the Elmina Slave Castle. Will share responsibility with Probst for the Gold Weights gallery tour and proverbs.

Chelsea Bardot (LA06) — Political Science and Environmental Studies Major. Is doing a Senior Honors Thesis on the Mystic River watershed. Will make the connection between watershed issues, policy and community involvement in Kwabeng, Ghana and Medford, Massachusetts. Has organized a walking tour of Kwabeng to acquaint students with the social context of local environmental issues.

Charline Han — BS Engineering (05) and MS Environmental Engineering/ Environmental Health (06). Conducted a public health survey of school children in Kwabeng focused on water use habits, infection status, and treatment options. Was in Ghana with Dr. David Gute and Tufts engineering students working in Kwabeng. Worked with Chelsea Bardot to plan the walking tour of Kwabeng. Also helped Bardot to understand watershed issues, policy and community involvement in Kwabeng and Medford.