Participating Faculty and Students

-Faculty-

Publications and Teaching Interests

Vice-Dean, Faculty of Communication and Cultural Studies (FCCS)
University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale-Ghana

abembia@yahoo.com

Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • Extractive industries (mining and oil/gas production) and rural livelihoods in Ghana;
  • Land governance/acquisitions and agrarian change in Ghana;
  • African politics and democracy and politics in Ghana;
  • The global political economy, neoliberalism, and rural livelihoods in Africa;
  • Political agency of lower classes and politics from “below.”

Publications and Teaching Interests

Dean, Faculty of Communication and Cultural Studies (FCCS)
University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale-Ghana

edsalifu@yahoo.co.uk

Edward Salifu Mahama, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • Language and development;
  • Language policy for education;
  • Language use and conflict;
  • Language and development communication;
  • Cross-cultural communication.

Publications and Teaching Interests

Professor, Sustainable Development Department, Appalachian State University

rheingansrd@appstate.edu

Richard Rheingans, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • Structural inequalities and their amplification due to environmental and ecological dynamics.
  • Specific areas of interest include: inequality and environmental health; water sanitation and hygiene, health equity, and restoration forestry.

Publications and Teaching Interests

Associate Professor, Sustainable Development Department, Appalachian State University

anatoli@appstate.edu

Anatoli Ignatov, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • African political thought;
  • Postcolonial theory;
  • Land politics, land law, and governance in Ghana;
  • Conflict and development; development and identity;
  • Indigenous sovereignty;
  • African orature and philosophies of Nature;
  • Critical agrarian studies;
  • Political economy;
  • Collaborative ethnography.

Publications and Teaching Interests

Assistant Professor, Sustainable Development Department, Appalachian State University

jignatova@appstate.edu

Jacqueline Alyca Ignatova, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • The politics of food and agriculture;
  • Critical political economy;
  • Post-development studies;
  • Philanthrocapitalism and the governance of humanitarianism;
  • Bioeconomy and biopolitics;
  • Food sovereignty and food justice;
  • Foucauldian discourse analysis.

Publications and Teaching Interests

Fulbright Scholar

Head of Department of Communication, Innovation and Technology (CIT);
Faculty of Communication and Cultural Studies (FCCS);
University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale-Ghana

mumunielisau@gmail.com
meliasu@uds.edu.gh

Eliasu Mumuni, Ph.D

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • Organizational and development communication;
  • Media and development;
  • Knowledge management and coproduction;
  • Transdisciplinary communication and research;
  • Agriculture and policy development;
  • Media, society and development;
  • Innovation communication and extension

Publications and Teaching Interests

Assistant Professor, Sustainable Development Department, Appalachian State University

ogwumc@appstate.edu

Matthew Chidozie Ogwu, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • Ecological interactions and climate change (biogeography and soil and marine microbial ecology);
  • Biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources;
  • Food security issues and waste management; traditional knowledge and practices for sustainable development;
  • Economic plant biology and systematics; sustainable agriculture and land use changes;
  • Sustainable development policies.

Publications and Teaching Interests

Deputy Director, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIR)
University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale-Ghana

makudugu@uds.edu.gh

Mamudu Abunga Akudugu, Ph.D.

Research interests and possible new trajectories:

  • Climate change;
  • Agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods;
  • Rural financial intermediation,
  • Social safety and livelihoods development;
  • Agrarian change and livelihoods diversification;
  • Gender, generational, cultural and spatial dynamics of poverty and development.

– Students –

Sustainable Development Major with Environmental Studies Concentration; Minor in Geology at Appalachian State University

cullenhk@appstate.edu

Hannah Cullen, Undergraduate

Hannah Cullen is a Sustainable Development major at Appalachian State University. She is a student assistant to Dr. Anatoli Ignatov, Dr. Cody Miller, and Dr. Dinesh Paudel. She is interested in environmental justice, climate change science and mitigation, place-based epistemology, and community organizing.

Sustainable Development Major with Environmental Studies Concentration; Minor in Sustainable Business at Appalachian State University

mitchellod@appstate.edu

Omiah Mitchell, Undergraduate

Omiah Mitchell (she/her/hers)  is a Sustainable Development major at Appalachian State University. She is a student assistant to Dr. Anatoli Ignatov and Dr. Brian Burke. She is passionate about breaking down the walls of knowledge and uplifting non-traditional ways of knowledge production through environmental justice and climate activism.

Sustainable Development Major with Environmental Studies Concentration; Minor in Geographic Information Systems at Appalachian State University

maloneao@appstate.edu

Aidan Malone, Undergraduate

Aidan Malone is a Sustainable Development major at Appalachian State University. He is a GIS intern with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. He is interested in sociol-ecological systems resilience and adaptation, geographic information systems, multifunctional land use, and community commons.