Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie

Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie

Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie is a doctoral candidate at the University of Basel, Switzerland, studying Sociology and African studies. Her studies are funded by the Fondation Oumou Dilly and her project topic is “The Contribution of Middle-class to the Development of Fashion in Lagos” under the supervision of Prof. Elisio Macamo (University of Basel) and Prof. Akosua Keseboa Darkwah (University of Ghana). The research explores the relationship between the increase in middle-class population and the developments strides in the African fashion industry. She argues that the middle-class population with their educational background, exposure and improved purchasing power is driving, among other things on the continent, developments in the African fashion industry: creativity, innovation, and expansion.

Adwoa obtained her MPhil degree at the University of Ghana from the year 2014 and Bachelor’s at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) in 2010. At the MPhil, she worked on “The Youth in the Ghanaian Fashion Industry” which discusses the creativity of young Ghanaian entrepreneurs who are changing the face of fashion with no or little formal training in fashion.

She participated in the first CASB/CODESRIA Summer School programme through which she earned a scholarship with the Fondation Oumou Dilly for her PhD. Adwoa worked as research assistant and also as a freelance research consultant from 2014 to 2016. Major among the projects was “Because I Am a Girl” project funded by Plan International, a United Kingdom based NGO and others funded by Marie Stopes and MasterCard Foundation.