Adwoa Bobie - MIASA - Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa

Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie is a research fellow at the Centre for Cultural and African Studies (CeCASt) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. Her research interest is Creative Industries in Ghana and Nigeria, focusing on fashion, clothing, and textiles. Adwoa also has a keen interest in Gender Studies and Development Studies. Besides research, she teaches at the History and Political Department.

Adwoa served as a consultant on UNESCO’s project on African fashion titled “The African Fashion Sector: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities for Growth.” She served as a postdoctoral fellow on two projects, both affiliated with the University of Ghana: a trans-regional reach on the Ghanaian creative industry titled “Advancing Creative Industry for Development in Ghana (ACIG)” and a cross-national gender inclusivity project titled “TranSforming InSTitutions to Advance Women LeadeRS in Science Technology Engineering And Mathematics (SISTARS) in Ghana and Kenya,” before joining KNUST. She holds PhD in Sociology from the University of Basel, Switzerland. Her Ph.D. dissertation is titled “Rebranding Africa, Reclothing Africa: The Role of Emerging Designers in the Production of Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism in Lagos, Nigeria”. She has published widely in peer-reviewed international journals as a singular author and as a co-author with experts in multiple disciplines.

MIASA Project: Social Resilience: Sustaining Fashion Production during and Post COVID in Ghana

The world has gone through unprecedented health, social, and economic crises in the past three years due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. Though the pandemic’s death toll and health implications are alarming, the social and economic disruption during and after is not lost on us. The fashion industry has been particularly hit as China, a major fashion manufacturing hub, is also the country originating from the virus. This economic crisis has been further heightened by the Russian-Ukraine war, which has sparked skyrocketing increases in essential commodities across the world. Small and precarious businesses have been especially hit. However, fashion businesses in Ghana are surviving these challenges, showing a great level of social resilience: how individuals and communities can adapt to rapid and crises-driven change. Therefore, the study investigates how fashion entrepreneurs in Ghana sustained businesses during and post-COVID and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Selected publications

Bobie, Adwoa O., Katherine V. Gough, and Akosua K. Darkwah (2023). Career Geographies in Ghanaian Fashion Industry: Brain Drain, Gain and Circulation. Globalisation, Society, and Education. DOI:10.1080/14767724.2023.2236563
Bobie, Adwoa O (2024). Customized Prèt-a-Porter: West Africa’s Answer to the Quest for Sustainable Fashion, Fashion Practice, DOI:10.1080/17569370.2024.2310295
Darkwa, Akosua K., Adwoa O. Bobie and Katherine V. Gough, Elenora Belfiore, (2024). Promoting Culture and Creativity in Ghana: Bottom-up Strategies for Creative Industries Development, Cultural Trends.
Gough, Katherine V., Adwoa O. Bobie, Akosua A. Darkwah and Thilde Langevang (2024), This Place Becomes A Place’: Artists And Placemaking On The Margins, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104097

Institute:
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

Year:
2024/2025