Team

Associate Professor of Anthropology, Jeannette Wogaing specializes in women’s health, motherhood, and fatherhood in Cameroon, including in crisis situations and contexts of displacement. She brings expertise on Gender perspectives and approaches to researching forced migrations and displacement. She is also the National Secretary of the National Union of Teachers of Higher Education of Cameroon. She is the first woman in that position since its creation. She is treasurer of three associations and is habitually part of some programs and debates in many media in Cameroon.

Assistant Professor of History, Amadou Souleymanou, leads the CERDYM research axis “Racisms, Exclusions, and Violences in Africa.” He is an expert on China-Africa and Japan-Africa relations. He brings racial/identity analysis, as well as empirical methods strengths—particularly in conducting oral research—to the training in Douala.

Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Brenda Nachuah Lawyer is the Head of the Division for academic affairs students records and Research of the Faculty of Letters and Social Sciences, University of Douala-Cameroon., Presently teaching in the Higher Teachers' Training College for Technical Education; the University of Douala, She specializes in effective teaching and teacher education, motivated by the fact that the 21st-century society is driven by a digital revolution which requires teachers to reconsider their pedagogic practices in order to embrace the dynamism learners bring to the classroom and the learning process. Her interest (s) also lies in how the less privileged can continue education especially during crisis situations and in how current issues and happenings are linked to and can be improved upon through pedagogy and teaching. Following the recent experience in Cameroon, there is an urgent need for more proactive steps by education authorities to develop national pedagogic plans for relief or emergency education in preparation for any future crisis, so children do not miss out on their schooling. Lastly, she is interested in research on teaching methods that respond to the present technological dispensation and renders the traditional methods of teaching insufficient and inefficient to help learners acquire the necessary skills to proffer solutions to contemporary societal problems.

At UG, Mary Boatemaa Setrana, A Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Centre for Migration Studies, draws on her multidisciplinary background in sociology, political science, linguistics, gender, and migration to train students to conduct migration-related research using both quantitative and mostly qualitative techniques/skills such as community entry, reconnaissance survey, life history, in-depth interviews, participant and non-participant observations, and thematic analysis. She trains IRTG students in knowledge mobilization through varied means including world café, popularly used for policy dialogues among stakeholders.

Dr Solomon Kofi Amoah is a collaborator, Frontiers of Belonging, International Research and Training Group (IRTG). He presently teaches Sociology at the University of Ghana. His research interests are the social organisation of work, non-profit sector studies, social protection systems, governance and sustainability, development, and labour migration issues.  He has experience in research in African contexts. Dr. Amoah is experienced in qualitative and quantitative research approaches with analysis and writing skills. He has carried out research on the emergence and effects of extremist radicalism and terrorism in Africa, the political economy of CSOs in West Africa, CSOs’ sustainability in humanitarian regions, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations and programmes of non-profit organisations in the sub-region. He hopes to contribute to the renewed interest in building and managing social protection floors in Africa through research and training. 

A Professor of Public and International Affairs, Christina Clark-Kazak, specializes in young people’s political participation, age discrimination in migration policy, and interdisciplinary methods and ethics in contexts of violence and displacement.

Associate Professor of History Andrew Ivaska of Concordia University focuses on political exile along “global 1960s’ African activist networks, training students to connect displacement and refuge-seeking to its political legacies. He draws on collaboration in graduate student training with colleagues at Makerere University (Uganda) and shares his experience in mobilizing public-facing web-based scholarship such as Stateless Histories, to teach students writing for academic and non-academic audiences.

Associate Professor of History, Eric Allina, brings expertise on migration and mobility in regional and trans-regional contexts, examining African worker and student movement under varying degrees of coercion, from colonial-era slavery and forced labor to Cold War training and exchange programs.

Dr. Boulou Ebanda de B’béri is a Full Professor of Communication, Media, and Cultural Studies at the University of Ottawa, The Founding-Director of the Audiovisual Media Lab for the study of Cultures and Societies (lamas-amlacs.org), and the First Special Advisor, Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence at the University of Ottawa. He brings expertise on Black Experiences and Global Perspectives on the Politics of Multiculturalism.

Professor of Sociology Abdoulaye Gueye consults with Carnegie Corp and CODESRIA (among others). He researches African intellectuals and mobility, focusing on their integration, via African universities, into international research networks.

Dr. Sena Dei-Tutu is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law where she teaches the Law of Contract, International Law, Gender and the Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, and National Security Law and Practice.

Her research spans the fields of data protection in Africa, international law, and African gender protection issues (especially in conflict regions).

She also has over twenty years of experience working on Rule of Law, Governance, and Security Sector issues in the West African sub-region.

Thelma Nyame is an accomplished professional with expertise in banking, customer service, and relationship management. She holds a Master's degree in project management and a Bachelor's degree in economics and sociology from the University of Ghana-Legon. Currently pursuing a PhD in Migration Studies, her research focuses on "Climate Change-induced Displacement and Forced Migration in West Africa." Thelma's educational background and research interest position her to contribute valuable insights to the history of displacement and refuge-seeking narratives in West Africa.

Hilary Elise Zeh, is a young Cameroonian student in the first year of the PhD cycle of the Department of Communication of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of the University of Douala, specialty communication of organizations. Her doctoral thesis focuses on "The discourses of public and private organizations on/in the refugee camps of the East and Far North of Cameroon." This research studies the tensions in the discourses of public and private organizations on the reality of refugee camps in Cameroon. The objective of this reflection is to analyze the tension that is observed in the intersection of the melorative discourses of public organizations and the critical discourses of private organizations on the realities of living conditions and survival of refugees in the camps of the East and Far North that have become a social concern in Cameroon. This work intends to analyze the logics of the actors of these public and private organizations producing discourses in order to highlight the discursive nuances contained in these discourses. Finally, this study aims to show how the tensions between the discourses produced by these public and private organizations have an impact on the representations of the actors-receivers and on their living conditions.

Hilary Elise Zeh, est une jeune camerounaise étudiante en première année du cycle Doctorat du département de communication de la faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de l'université de Douala, spécialité communication des organisations. Sa thèse de doctorat porte sur "Les discours des organisations publiques et privées sur/dans les camps des réfugiés de l'Est et de l'Extrême-Nord du Cameroun". Cette recherche étudie les tensions dans les discours des organisations publiques et des organisations privées sur la réalité des camps de réfugiés au Cameroun. L'objectif de cette reflexion est d'analyser la tension qui s'observe dans le croisement des discours méloratifs des organisations publiques et les discours critiques des organisations privées sur les réalités des conditions de vie et de la survie des réfugiés dans les camps de l'Est et de l'Extrême-Nord qui sont devenues une préoccupation sociale au Cameroun. Ce travail entend d'analyser les logiques des acteurs de ces organisations publiques et privées productrices de discours afin de faire ressortir les nuances discursives contenues dans les dits discours. Enfin, ladite étude ambitionne montrer comment les tensions entre les discours produits par ces organisations publiques et privées ont des incidences sur les représentations des acteurs-recepteurs et sur leurs conditions de vie.

Augustine Kaku is a PhD student at the Sociology Department of the University of Ghana. He holds an MPhil Degree in Sociology from the same University. He has prior experience working as a Graduate Assistant at the Department of Sociology. His research areas include Mining and Migration, Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resource Management. His previous study was on the socioeconomic impact of oil and gas discovery in the Ellembelle District of Ghana. For his PhD research, he is currently working on ‘migration and the social and economic impact of mining’. He aspires for an academic career in the field of Development Sociology. 

Philippe Etanga Awono is a young Cameroonian PhD student at the University of Douala in the Department of History. He is currently writing a doctoral thesis entitled "Places and conditions of reception of refugees in colonial and postcolonial Cameroon". It deals with the places and conditions of reception of refugees in both colonial and postcolonial periods in Cameroon. This research aims to analyze the governance of refugees in Cameroon through a socio-historical study of the places and conditions of reception of these people in situations of forced migration. He draws on the experience of the refugee camps' past to see whether the realities of the colonial period have been transferred to the post-colonial period or whether there have been changes. In addition to questioning the different actors who intervene in the places of reception of refugees, this work questions the interaction between the place of reception and the refugee himself. This leads him to address legal issues (reception conditions), socio-cultural aspects (transformations or not of the refugee), and economic issues (transformations of the place of reception by the refugee. His research interests include the history of mobility, political history, and the history of international relations.

Philippe Etanga Awono est un jeune camerounais doctorant à l’Université de Douala au département d'histoire. Il rédige actuellement une thèse de doctorat intitulée « Lieux et conditions d’accueils des réfugiés au Cameroun colonial et postcolonial ». Celle-ci traite des lieux et des conditions d’accueil des réfugiés aussi bien en période coloniale que postcolonial au Cameroun. Il est question dans cette recherche d’analyser la gouvernance des réfugiés au Cameroun à travers une étude socio-historique des lieux et conditions d’accueils de ces personnes en situation de migration forcée. Il puise dans l’expérience du passé des camps des réfugiés pour voir si les réalités de la période coloniale se sont transportés en période postcolonial ou s’il y a eu mutations. En plus de questionner les différents acteurs qui interviennent dans les lieux d’accueil des réfugiés, ce travail, interroge l’interaction entre le lieu d’accueil et le réfugié lui-même. Ce qui le conduit à aborder les questions juridiques (conditions d’accueil), les aspects socio-culturels (transformations ou non du réfugié), les questions économique (transformations du lieu d’accueil par le réfugié. Ses intérêts de recherche portent l'histoire des mobilités, l'histoire politique et l'histoire des Relations internationales.

Sociologist Judeon Yong is a PhD student at the University of Ottawa. Working in rural societies in Central Africa, his research interests focus on land governance, forced displacement, gender, youth and inclusion. He is currently conducting a research project on land insecurity among refugees in Cameroon: an analysis of the case of Central African refugees in the East Cameroon region. The results of this research could inform sustainable policies and practices for inclusion and cohesion within refugee host societies. He also contributes to the commitment of African youth to land governance, currently chairing the multi-stakeholder platform on youth and land in Africa.

Sociologue, Judeon Yong est en doctorat à l’université d’Ottawa. Travaillant dans les sociétés rurales d’Afrique centrale, ses intérêts de recherche portent sur la gouvernance foncière, les déplacements forcés, le genre, la jeunesse et l’inclusion. Il conduit actuellement un projet de recherche sur l’insécurité foncière des réfugiés au Cameroun : une analyse du cas des réfugiés centrafricains dans la région de l’Est Cameroun. Les résultats de cette recherche pourront renseigner les politiques et les pratiques durables d’inclusion et de cohésion au sein des sociétés d’accueil des réfugiés. Il contribue également à l'engagement de la jeunesse africaine en matière de gouvernance foncière en assurant actuellement la présidence de la plateforme multi acteur jeunesse et foncier en Afrique.

Gloria Lamptey is a Ph.D. History student at the University of Ottawa. Her research interest(s) largely lies in Africa's 'connectedness' to the Global Cold War with a particular focus on how notions of displacement and belonging intersect with Cold War policies. She focuses on how migration, education and broader societal attitudes towards cultural diversity shape the identity of African youth migrants. In seeking to offer a comprehensive understanding of complex issues surrounding migration from the global South to the global North, her doctoral research explores the experiences of Ghanaians who studied in the Soviet Union from the late 1950s to the 1980s. By investigating the challenges these migrants faced and how they navigated them; her research sheds light on remedies to displacement—derived from empirical research, grounded in Ghana yet also shaped by processes of change powered by forces from farther afield.