In 2014, the Gerda Henkel Foundation initiated a scholarship programme supporting young humanities scholars from Africa in honour of the foundation's founder, Lisa Maskell. It is the largest international support programme for PhD students in the history of the Foundation. The Lisa Maskell Fellowships aim to strengthen universities in the partner countries, to counter the outflow of qualified young scholars and to ensure the doctoral students enjoy excellent academic training.
In this dossier, L.I.S.A. publishes interviews with Lisa Maskell Fellows, in which they talk about their research projects as well as their experiences during their academic career and the Lisa Maskell fellowship.
Today, we welcome Nii Adotei Baddoo from Ghana. After graduating from the University of Cape Coast with a B.A. as well as from the University of Ghana with an M.A., he started his PhD in History with the thesis Cocoa Farmers and Nationalist Movements in Ghana, 1940–1966 at the University of Ghana in 2020.
“The history of Ghana and how it is told needs a total reconstruction”
L.I.S.A: What is your PhD project about, and what got you interested in the chosen topic to begin with?
Nii Adotei Baddoo: My PhD project is about engaging the narratives of nationalism in Ghana and interrogating what other narratives exist that contribute to the development of nationalism in Ghana. I explore the contributions of cocoa farmers to this development as cocoa was and is a major source of revenue for national income today. As such, my topic is Cocoa Farmers and Nationalist Movements in Ghana, 1940–1966. I want to use this opportunity to thank my supervisor, Prof. Kojo Amanor, with whom I worked on a project in the cocoa-growing areas of Ghana. Through that project, it became very evident that the history of Ghana and how it is told needs a total reconstruction to accommodate all other individuals or groups whose contributions have impacted the development of the country.