UNC Asheville Africana Studies Chair, Agya Boakye-Boaten, Receives Fellowship

Agya Boakye-Boaten is the chair and associate professor of Africana Studies at UNC Asheville.

Agya Boakye-Boaten will travel to Ghana to collaborate with scholars on curriculum development.

Associate Professor Agya Boakye-Boaten, chair of Africana Studies at UNC Asheville, has been awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, which is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education in collaboration with the United States International University–Africa.

With the fellowship, Boakye-Boaten will return to his native Ghana to begin a curriculum development initiative with his host and collaborator, Augustina Adusah-Karikari, coordinator of the Liberal Arts Program at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). Boakye-Boaten is one of 70 African diaspora scholars chosen to return to Africa this year to collaborate with higher education institutions there on projects in many disciplines.

Boakye-Boaten will assist Ghanaian faculty at GIMPA in the development of multi-disciplinary liberal arts curricular design, and will plan future opportunities for UNC Asheville students to collaborate with Ghanaian students on undergraduate research projects.

Boakye-Boaten has joined with other faculty to lead many study-abroad summer trips to Ghana for UNC Asheville students. The “Discover Ghana 2015” trip won the 2017 Best Practices in International Education Award for Study Abroad Programming from NAPSA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

In addition to chairing UNC Asheville’s Africana Studies Program, Boakye-Boaten directs the university’s Interdisciplinary and International Studies Programs. Under his leadership, the Africana Studies Program is launching Moja, An Interdisciplinary Journal of Africana Studies, with submissions now being accepted for the journal’s debut open-access issue.

Boakye-Boaten earned his Ph.D. in educational studies, with an emphasis on cultural studies in education, at Ohio University. He also possesses two master’s degrees, both from Ohio University, in political science and international affairs. He earned his bachelor’s degree in social work/administration and political science from the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra. He also is a seasoned musician and master drummer.

With his background in education and social work as well as cultural studies, Boakye-Boaten’s research and writing interests include alternative education for street children; modern slavery, child trafficking, and child labor; collaborative international teacher education; and service learning.

For more information, about UNC Asheville’s Interdisciplinary Studies Program, which includes the Africana Studies Department, visit http://ist.unca.edu.