Pokuaa Oduro-Bonsrah is a PhD candidate in the department of International History and Politics. She is part of the team of the Swiss National Science Foundation funded project, Decolonising the Psyche: The Politics of Ethnopsychology, 1930-1980.
Her particular research contributes to the history of developmental psychology, tracing different movements since the interwar period and its preoccupations with infantile socialisation. The aim of the study will be to analyse psychological and anthropological theories as well as its practitioners who sought to understand the mentality and rational abilities of ‘the African’ from childhood to maturity.
Pokuaa holds a Master in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute. For her thesis, she looked at the role of hegemony and international organisations, using the United Nations as a case study.
Research Experience
Research Affiliate, Gender Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute
PHD Thesis
Proposed title: Observing the Observers of Child Rearing Practices in Decolonising ‘Africa’
PhD supervisor: Mischa Suter
Expected completion date: 2025
Research interests
Feminism
Colonialism
Decolonisation
History of science
Gender
Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PhD Researcher)