About the Project
Labour and Work in Ghana, 1951–2010
This international research project brings together scholars from Ghana, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden to investigate the history of labour and work in Ghana from the early post-colonial period to the early 21st century. It is funded jointly by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The project examines long-term changes in labour relations, employment structures, and everyday work in Ghana between 1951 and 2010. It responds to two key trends in labour history: first, the increasing focus on informal, precarious, and non-wage forms of work; and second, evidence that wage labour—especially in rural areas—has often been underestimated. These insights challenge earlier assumptions that post-colonial African labour markets would evolve along European-style proletarian models.
Using a rich combination of sources—including interviews, surveys, censuses, archival records, newspapers, and court documents—the project develops a national overview and focuses in detail on case studies in southern and western cocoa-growing regions, and northern areas to capture different aspects of labour experiences in the rice sector. Research questions address shifts in workforce composition, employment forms, earnings, migration, regional inequalities, and the relationship between poverty, informality, and work.
The project team includes historians and social scientists from the University of Cambridge, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Ghana, and University of Cape Coast, working collaboratively to produce new insights into Ghana’s labour history and broader post-colonial labour dynamics.
Team
Principal Investigators
Prof. Gareth Austin – University of Cambridge
Dr. Lamine Doumbia – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Founding Principal Investigator
Prof. Andreas Eckert – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Co-Investigators
Assoc. Prof. Akua O. Britwum – University of Cape Coast
Dr. Nana Yaw Boampong Sapong – University of Ghana
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Igor Martins – University of Cambridge
Doctoral Researchers
Hedvig Lagercrantz – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Felix Yao Amenorhu – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Student & Research Assistants
Lena Gentejohann – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Events
Concluding Conference
25–27 March 2025 – University of Ghana, Legon, Accra
Three-day conference bringing together project members and colleagues to discuss youth employment,
agricultural labour, academic labour, price mechanisms, cocoa and rice production, unemployment,
and changing occupational structures in Ghana. The programme included a field visit to the Cocoa
Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) in Tafo to connect archival and statistical research with
on-the-ground perspectives from farmers and researchers.
Midway Workshop
24–25 July 2023 – King’s College, Cambridge
Internal project workshop marking the midway point of the AHRC–DFG project. Team members presented
their ongoing work on gendered labour, unemployment, trade unions, market integration, rice farming,
farmers’ and workers’ grievances, and occupational structures, followed by in-depth discussions on
sources, methods, and next steps for the book project.
Publications
The project is preparing an edited volume on labour and work in Ghana, 1951–2010, bringing together case studies on agricultural labour, academic work, occupational structures, unemployment and underemployment, gendered earning strategies, land and labour issues and regional labour markets.
Chapters will draw on census data, surveys, archival sources, and qualitative fieldwork to provide a long-term perspective on work, livelihoods, and social change in post-colonial Ghana. The volume is planned for submission following the Accra concluding conference.
Details of publications and open-access links will be added here as they become available.
Contact
For questions about the project, collaboration, or events, please contact the project team via their institutional affiliations:
- Prof. Gareth Austin – University of Cambridge
- Dr. Lamine Doumbia – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
- Dr. Nana Yaw Boampong Sapong – University of Ghana
- Assoc. Prof. Akua O. Britwum – University of Cape Coast
If you have specific enquiries about conferences, publications, or student involvement, please reach out to the relevant team member at their institution.