Dr. Emma Abotsi

Staff details

Dr. Emma Abotsi

Position

Lecturer

Department

Anthropology

Email

e.abotsi (@gold.ac.uk)

I work on youth, education, migration and development with a geographical focus on the UK and West Africa.

My research focuses on the uses of the ‘homeland’ as an educational resource among immigrant and minority communities in Britain. I have explored these themes through ethnographic research in the UK and Ghana on the practice of British-Ghanaian families opting to educate their children in Ghana for a few years at a time and the experiences of the young people involved. I have also conducted archival research using the British Library’s collections on the alternative educational projects of African, Caribbean, and Asian communities in Britain. I am currently exploring return migration among the children of Ghanaian migrants which focuses on the themes of work, professionalism, and development.

Academic qualifications

  • DPhil, Education, Oxford University 2018
  • MSc, Education: Research, Design and Methodology, Oxford University 2013
  • MPhil, Social Anthropological Analysis, Cambridge University 2011
  • BA (HONS) Photography, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London 2008

Research interests

Recent research projects include:
Sociology in the archives (2019-20) funded by the British Sociological Association and the British Library.

The African diaspora in the UK: A mapping study (2016-17) funded by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Publications and research outputs

Article

Abotsi, Emma and Hoechner, Hannah. 2022. Transnational migration and educational change: examples of Afropolitan schooling from Senegal and Ghana. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 53(4), pp. 376-395. ISSN 0161-7761

Abotsi, Emma. 2020. Negotiating the ‘Ghanaian’ way of schooling: transnational mobility and the educational strategies of British-Ghanaian families. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 18(3), pp. 250-263. ISSN 1476-7724