Award: 2023 ASA Graduate Student Paper Prize

Kuukuwa Manful has been awarded the 2023 African Studies Association Graduate Student Paper Prize for her article titled “Building Classes: Secondary Schools and Sociopolitical Stratification in Ghana.” The prize is awarded at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting for an essay presented at the previous year’s Annual Meeting.

ABSTRACT: It is widely accepted that understanding social class in Africa is more than just about economic metrics and income figures, but rather about social perceptions and individual identification with class groupings. Yet it remains unclear how exactly people form class perceptions and why they identify with one class group rather than another. This paper explores the making and consolidation of social classes and other sociopoliticalhierarchies in Ghana through the architecture of secondary schools. It shows howGhanaians find and place themselves in hierarchies – such as those of class, religion, and gender – through their perceptions and usage of secondary school buildings.