Dr. Mark Kwaku Mensah Obeng

Mark Kwaku Mensah Obeng applies qualitative research techniques to explore the people-to-people exchanges between Chinese and African actors. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Ghana, Legon where he currently serves as a Senior Lecturer. His research focuses on areas such as the economy, consumption, formal education, and the emergence of the new elite. His PhD dissertation focused on the transnational economic activities of Ghanaian traders involved in the importation and distribution of Made-in-China products in the country. This saw him travel with some traders from Accra to Guangzhou and Yiwu as they embarked on their economic activities. His recent publications have appeared in Asian Ethnicity, Canadian Journal of African Studies, Contemporary Journal of African Studies, Review of Social Studies, Legon Journal of Sociology and Cogent Social Sciences. His ongoing research titled 'Deconstructing the uptake of Made-in-China products' is supported by the Building Africa's Next Generation of Academics project (BANGA-AFRICA) of the University of Ghana with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Mark is also a recipient of the Just Tech Covid-19 Rapid Response Grant from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), USA. Mark was a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida, USA. He is also a research fellow at the Afro-Sino Center of International Relations.