Humphrey Asamoah Agyekum
Biographic Data
| ID | 161005 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Humphrey Asamoah Agyekum |
| GIVEN NAMES | Humphrey Asamoah |
| FAMILY NAME | Agyekum |
| SIGNATURE | AGYEKUM H A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Copenhagen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5112-9598 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
State incapacitation for partisan political interest: Assessing government’s responses to the neo-galamsey crisis in Ghana
Family Welfare During the Deployment of Ghana Armed Forces in Peacekeeping Missions: Exploring the Role of “Military Surrogacy”
This research focuses on the place of soldiers’ families and family life while on deployment, using the case of Ghana’s regular deployments to international peacekeeping missions. We advance the concept of a “military surrogate” to explain the ways in which military hierarchy temporarily take on family roles when a soldier is deployed. This involves intervening in issues related to military spouses, troublesome children, and resolving financial m…
Ghana's 2024 Elections: Ghanaians Vote for Renewal and Accountability
Since Ghana's return to democratic rule in 1992, the West African country has recurrently been heralded as the model for democracy in Africa. Despite multiple controversies challenging core democratic institutions, Ghana's 2024 elections again represent a strong indicator of the country's democratic resilience. Combining our multi-disciplinary perspectives, we identify the key concerns that preoccupied Ghanaian voters in the lead-up to election d…
Tackling Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea: Interactions Between Global Shipping and Ghanaian State Agents
Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is a challenge that straddles multiple players and sectors, and crimes like piracy cause disruptions to international trade and shipping. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the global shipping industry tried to keep maritime security on the agenda, while advocating for global security assemblages, specifically, transnational policing initiatives as part of the maritime security governance. Using the notion of na…
Maritime security and the inter-agency challenge: The case of Ghana
Maritime security is a major international concern with the Gulf of Guinea recognised as one of the global hotspots of blue crime, such as piracy, kidnap for ransom, trafficking of narcotics, human and arms, and illegal fishing. The complex and complicated challenge of maritime security, a wicked problem, calls for inter-agency coordination, synergy of efforts and scaling up of responses. Given the complexity of maritime security threats, no sing…
New soldiers on the block: The emergence of disciplined soldier subjects in the Ghana Armed Forces' transformation process
Based on ethnographic engagement with the Ghana Armed Forces, this study examines the creation of new soldier subjectivities in the process of institutional transformation. It does so by foregrounding interpersonal relations as manifestation and mediation of transformation. As a result of the restoration of military order in the barracks after the breakdown of and subsequent reinstallation of discipline in the Ghana Armed Forces since the 1980s, …
Crisis Politics and the 2020 "Imposition of Restrictions Act" in Ghana
Around the globe, the Covid-19 pandemic generated uncertainties in relation to the novel virus itself, its treatment and its socio-economic effects on an international scale. In addition, various claims of truth about the pandemic added to the situation’s complexity. In this article, we analyse Ghana’s initial response to Covid-19 to illustrate how complex assemblages of political elites and knowledge production infrastructures intersected in the…
We Are not into Politics, but Politics Is into Us: The Politicization of the Ghana Armed Forces Through Patronage Exchanges between Political Elites and Military Leaders
Throughout Ghana's political history, soldiers have inspired socio-political change. Based on fieldwork with the Ghanaian military, this article contributes to literature on militaries and civil-military relations in Africa. Agyekum analyzes how the politicization of the military impacts dynamics within the barracks, while highlighting how the country's political class endeavors to diminish the armed forces' societal and political influence as a …
Complicating Entanglements: Societal Factors Intruding in the Ghana Armed Forces' Civil-Military Relations
Scholarly debates on civil-military relations often focus on how the military impacts society. Adding to the vast literature of civil-military relations, this article examines how socio-cultural practices and societal developments in the host society affect the military. Based on long-term ethnographic engagement with the Ghana Armed Forces, the piece presents empirical observations of how culturally informed practices, such as begging via proxie…
Medicalization and manhood: Is an ADHD diagnosis emerging for allegedly troublesome boys in Accra, Ghana
Although mental health diagnoses and treatments are spreading across the globe, most medicalization research originates from the Global North, where diagnosis and treatment are well institutionalized. In this article, we examine the earliest possible emergence of ADHD diagnosis and treatment in the context of Ghanaian boys' transition towards manhood. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among boys from different class backgrounds in Accra in 2017, we…
Monkeys play by sizes: The reconstruction of military hierarchy in Ghana's armed forces
Ghana's post-independence era has been shaped by a series of coups and numerous attempted military interventions. While the involvement of the Ghana Armed Forces in politics has received widespread academic attention, the detrimental effects of these events on the military as an institution remain largely understudied. Using the coups of 1979 and 1981 as a point of departure, the article explores from an institutional perspective how the disrupti…
Peacekeeping Experiences as Triggers of Introspection in the Ghanaian Military Barracks
African political elites have been forthcoming with military support for United Nations peacekeeping missions, contributing substantially to these missions' workforce. Despite their contribution, most studies on peacekeeping omit the African soldier's voice on his experiences of the African war theatre. This article features Ghanaian soldiers' narratives based on their peacekeeping deployments and illuminates how Ghanaian peacekeepers connect the…
Takashie: Translating Transnational Policy Circulations in the Ningo-Prampram City Extension Agenda
The Rise and Demise of the Boys’ Company: From Coup Makers to a Footnote in Ghana’s Political History
Graduates of Ghana's defunct Army Boys’ Company, a specialized military training institution for boys, participated to varying degrees in all five successful coups in the West African country. Most significantly, their prominent role in the coups of 1979 and 1981 catapulted them into the heart of the Ghanaian political arena. They thus became political actors; a position with far reaching consequences for the Boys’ Company. Coups in Ghana have re…
Medicalization and manhood: Is an ADHD diagnosis emerging for allegedly troublesome boys in Accra, Ghana
Although mental health diagnoses and treatments are spreading across the globe, most medicalization research originates from the Global North, where diagnosis and treatment are well institutionalized. In this article, we examine the earliest possible emergence of ADHD diagnosis and treatment in the context of Ghanaian boys' transition towards manhood. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among boys from different class backgrounds in Accra in 2017, we…
Peacekeeping Experiences as Triggers of Introspection in the Ghanaian Military Barracks
African political elites have been forthcoming with military support for United Nations peacekeeping missions, contributing substantially to these missions' workforce. Despite their contribution, most studies on peacekeeping omit the African soldier's voice on his experiences of the African war theatre. This article features Ghanaian soldiers' narratives based on their peacekeeping deployments and illuminates how Ghanaian peacekeepers connect the…
New soldiers on the block: The emergence of disciplined soldier subjects in the Ghana Armed Forces' transformation process
Based on ethnographic engagement with the Ghana Armed Forces, this study examines the creation of new soldier subjectivities in the process of institutional transformation. It does so by foregrounding interpersonal relations as manifestation and mediation of transformation. As a result of the restoration of military order in the barracks after the breakdown of and subsequent reinstallation of discipline in the Ghana Armed Forces since the 1980s, …
The Rise and Demise of the Boys’ Company: From Coup Makers to a Footnote in Ghana’s Political History
Graduates of Ghana's defunct Army Boys’ Company, a specialized military training institution for boys, participated to varying degrees in all five successful coups in the West African country. Most significantly, their prominent role in the coups of 1979 and 1981 catapulted them into the heart of the Ghanaian political arena. They thus became political actors; a position with far reaching consequences for the Boys’ Company. Coups in Ghana have re…
Complicating Entanglements: Societal Factors Intruding in the Ghana Armed Forces' Civil-Military Relations
Scholarly debates on civil-military relations often focus on how the military impacts society. Adding to the vast literature of civil-military relations, this article examines how socio-cultural practices and societal developments in the host society affect the military. Based on long-term ethnographic engagement with the Ghana Armed Forces, the piece presents empirical observations of how culturally informed practices, such as begging via proxie…
Takashie: Translating Transnational Policy Circulations in the Ningo-Prampram City Extension Agenda
The Rise and Demise of the Boys’ Company: From Coup Makers to a Footnote in Ghana’s Political History
Graduates of Ghana's defunct Army Boys’ Company, a specialized military training institution for boys, participated to varying degrees in all five successful coups in the West African country. Most significantly, their prominent role in the coups of 1979 and 1981 catapulted them into the heart of the Ghanaian political arena. They thus became political actors; a position with far reaching consequences for the Boys’ Company. Coups in Ghana have re…
Peacekeeping Experiences as Triggers of Introspection in the Ghanaian Military Barracks
African political elites have been forthcoming with military support for United Nations peacekeeping missions, contributing substantially to these missions' workforce. Despite their contribution, most studies on peacekeeping omit the African soldier's voice on his experiences of the African war theatre. This article features Ghanaian soldiers' narratives based on their peacekeeping deployments and illuminates how Ghanaian peacekeepers connect the…
Medicalization and manhood: Is an ADHD diagnosis emerging for allegedly troublesome boys in Accra, Ghana
Although mental health diagnoses and treatments are spreading across the globe, most medicalization research originates from the Global North, where diagnosis and treatment are well institutionalized. In this article, we examine the earliest possible emergence of ADHD diagnosis and treatment in the context of Ghanaian boys' transition towards manhood. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among boys from different class backgrounds in Accra in 2017, we…
Monkeys play by sizes: The reconstruction of military hierarchy in Ghana's armed forces
Ghana's post-independence era has been shaped by a series of coups and numerous attempted military interventions. While the involvement of the Ghana Armed Forces in politics has received widespread academic attention, the detrimental effects of these events on the military as an institution remain largely understudied. Using the coups of 1979 and 1981 as a point of departure, the article explores from an institutional perspective how the disrupti…
Complicating Entanglements: Societal Factors Intruding in the Ghana Armed Forces' Civil-Military Relations
Scholarly debates on civil-military relations often focus on how the military impacts society. Adding to the vast literature of civil-military relations, this article examines how socio-cultural practices and societal developments in the host society affect the military. Based on long-term ethnographic engagement with the Ghana Armed Forces, the piece presents empirical observations of how culturally informed practices, such as begging via proxie…
New soldiers on the block: The emergence of disciplined soldier subjects in the Ghana Armed Forces' transformation process
Based on ethnographic engagement with the Ghana Armed Forces, this study examines the creation of new soldier subjectivities in the process of institutional transformation. It does so by foregrounding interpersonal relations as manifestation and mediation of transformation. As a result of the restoration of military order in the barracks after the breakdown of and subsequent reinstallation of discipline in the Ghana Armed Forces since the 1980s, …
Crisis Politics and the 2020 "Imposition of Restrictions Act" in Ghana
Around the globe, the Covid-19 pandemic generated uncertainties in relation to the novel virus itself, its treatment and its socio-economic effects on an international scale. In addition, various claims of truth about the pandemic added to the situation’s complexity. In this article, we analyse Ghana’s initial response to Covid-19 to illustrate how complex assemblages of political elites and knowledge production infrastructures intersected in the…
We Are not into Politics, but Politics Is into Us: The Politicization of the Ghana Armed Forces Through Patronage Exchanges between Political Elites and Military Leaders
Throughout Ghana's political history, soldiers have inspired socio-political change. Based on fieldwork with the Ghanaian military, this article contributes to literature on militaries and civil-military relations in Africa. Agyekum analyzes how the politicization of the military impacts dynamics within the barracks, while highlighting how the country's political class endeavors to diminish the armed forces' societal and political influence as a …
Tackling Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea: Interactions Between Global Shipping and Ghanaian State Agents
Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea is a challenge that straddles multiple players and sectors, and crimes like piracy cause disruptions to international trade and shipping. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the global shipping industry tried to keep maritime security on the agenda, while advocating for global security assemblages, specifically, transnational policing initiatives as part of the maritime security governance. Using the notion of na…
Maritime security and the inter-agency challenge: The case of Ghana
Maritime security is a major international concern with the Gulf of Guinea recognised as one of the global hotspots of blue crime, such as piracy, kidnap for ransom, trafficking of narcotics, human and arms, and illegal fishing. The complex and complicated challenge of maritime security, a wicked problem, calls for inter-agency coordination, synergy of efforts and scaling up of responses. Given the complexity of maritime security threats, no sing…
State incapacitation for partisan political interest: Assessing government’s responses to the neo-galamsey crisis in Ghana
Family Welfare During the Deployment of Ghana Armed Forces in Peacekeeping Missions: Exploring the Role of “Military Surrogacy”
This research focuses on the place of soldiers’ families and family life while on deployment, using the case of Ghana’s regular deployments to international peacekeeping missions. We advance the concept of a “military surrogate” to explain the ways in which military hierarchy temporarily take on family roles when a soldier is deployed. This involves intervening in issues related to military spouses, troublesome children, and resolving financial m…
Ghana's 2024 Elections: Ghanaians Vote for Renewal and Accountability
Since Ghana's return to democratic rule in 1992, the West African country has recurrently been heralded as the model for democracy in Africa. Despite multiple controversies challenging core democratic institutions, Ghana's 2024 elections again represent a strong indicator of the country's democratic resilience. Combining our multi-disciplinary perspectives, we identify the key concerns that preoccupied Ghanaian voters in the lead-up to election d…
Political science (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Economics (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Institution (4 works) · Peacebuilding and International Security (4 works)