Archival Fieldwork in a Pandemic World: Reflections from Ghana
Beginning in the last week of January 2020, I nonchalantly followed world news from the TV screen at my gym in Arlington, VA about a virus outbreak in China. I did not seem to be bothered much about the happenings. After all, media discussions made it seem distant from the rest of the world.
Digital Discussions: Hosting Focus Groups on Zoom
Like many other PhD students in comparative politics, over the past year I have been trying to figure out how to make progress in my work without traveling. Most of my research is focused on Lagos, Nigeria, and I had planned to spend part of 2020 collecting data there.
Field research and Covid-19 in East Africa: Ethical and Pragmatic Challenges for Research Design, Data Collection, and Equity
We arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, the last week of February 2020. Before officially entering the terminal at Jomo Kenyatta Airport, medical staff, wearing masks, stood at the end of the passenger boarding bridge.
Flexibility, Generosity, and Community in the Time of COVID
I was going to write a different book. For the last five years, I had been planning a book that traced debates about the shape of Accra, Ghana’s capital city, from the late 19th century through the present.