Obed Mfum-Mensah, Ph.D.

Research

• Social Movements and education reforms
• Education of marginalized groups in sub-Saharan Africa
• Education and social development
• Citizenship education

Ph.D. University of Toronto
Comparative and International Development Education; Curriculum Teaching and Learning

M. Ed., University of Western Ontario
Educational Policy Studies

B.A Andrews University
Religion and History

• EDUC 205: Cultural and Political Geography
• EDUC 346: Sociocultural Perspectives on Education
• IPCG 203: Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
• EDME 502: Advanced Sociocultural Perspectives on Education

My engagement in education emerged from my work to promote integrated community development. This work kindled my interest in education of marginalized populations in the developing world. I enjoy traveling and gardening.

Current Project
Social movements and Decolonial Education in sub-Saharan Africa

Selected Publications
Books, Book Chapters, and Book Reviews

‘Colonial’ Intervention and Destabilization of African Identities: Contours of Trusteeship and Organized Infantilism in Sub-Saharan Africa Berghahn Books Incorporated, 2025 ISBN 978-1-80539-843-1

“We Come as Members of the Superior Race”: Distortions, Misrepresentations, and Education Policy Discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa. Berghahn Books Incorporated, 2021. ISBN 978-1-78920-913-6

Education Marginalization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies, Politics, and Marginality. Lexington Books of Rowman and Littlefield 2018. ISBN 978-1-4985-7404-4

Education, Social Progress and Marginalized Children: Historical Antecedents and Contemporary Challenges. Washington DC: Lexington Books of Rowman and Littlefield, 2017. ISBN 978-1-4985-4569-3

Mfum-Mensah O. 2024. Between “Scylla and Charybdis”? Trusteeship, African-China Relations, and Education Policy and Practice. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Eds.). Education in Developing, Emerging, and Developed Countries: Different Worlds, Common Challenges. BCES Book Series Vol 22, 2024.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2023. Transgressive Instruction as Cultural Production: Teaching Strategies to Disrupt the “Dirty Gossips” about Sub-Saharan “Africa”. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Eds.). Recovering Education. Using the Experiences and Learning Acquired to Build New and Better Education Systems. BCES Book Volume 21, 2023

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2020. “Dirty Gossips”, Transnational Policy Borrowing and Lending, and Education Policy Discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Ed.), Global Education in Practice: Teaching, Researching, and Citizenship. BCES Book Volume 18, 2020.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2019. International Philanthropic Support for African Education: The Complex Interplay of Ideologies and Western Foreign Policy Agenda. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Ed.), Global Education in Practice: Teaching, Researching, and Citizenship. BCES Book Volume 17, 2019.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2017. Education and Communities at the “Margins”: The Contradictions of Western Education for Islamic Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Ed.), Current Business and Economic Driven Discourse and Education: Perspectives from Around the World. BCES Book Volume 15, 2017.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2016. Negotiating the Trilogy of Blackness, “Accentness” and Africanness”: A “Native-Alien” Professor’s Tale. In K. Akurang-Parry and Charles Hutchison (Eds.) Voices of Immigrant Professors: Historical and Contemporary Challenges & Triumphs. New York: Routledge 2016.

Mfum-Mensah, O 2009. Teaching and learning in a developing world context: Understanding the curriculum development for marginalized communities in northern Ghana”. In Wiggan, G., & Hutchison C (eds.). Global Issues in Education: Pedagogy, Policy, School Practices, and the Minority Experience. Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield ISBN 978-1-60709-272-8

Mfum-Mensah O. 2024. Between “Scylla and Charybdis”? Trusteeship, African-China Relations, and Education Policy and Practice. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Eds.). Education in Developing, Emerging, and Developed Countries: Different Worlds, Common Challenges. BCES Book Series Vol 22, 2024.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2023. Transgressive Instruction as Cultural Production: Teaching Strategies to Disrupt the “Dirty Gossips” about Sub-Saharan “Africa”. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Eds.). Recovering Education. Using the Experiences and Learning Acquired to Build New and Better Education Systems. BCES Book Volume 21, 2023

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2020. “Dirty Gossips”, Transnational Policy Borrowing and Lending, and Education Policy Discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Ed.), Global Education in Practice: Teaching, Researching, and Citizenship. BCES Book Volume 18, 2020.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2019. International Philanthropic Support for African Education: The Complex Interplay of Ideologies and Western Foreign Policy Agenda. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Ed.), Global Education in Practice: Teaching, Researching, and Citizenship. BCES Book Volume 17, 2019.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2017. Education and Communities at the “Margins”: The Contradictions of Western Education for Islamic Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Nikolay Popov and Charl Wolhuter (Ed.), Current Business and Economic Driven Discourse and Education: Perspectives from Around the World. BCES Book Volume 15, 2017.

Mfum-Mensah, O. 2016. Negotiating the Trilogy of Blackness, “Accentness” and Africanness”: A “Native-Alien” Professor’s Tale. In K. Akurang-Parry and Charles Hutchison (Eds.) Voices of Immigrant Professors: Historical and Contemporary Challenges & Triumphs. New York: Routledge 2016.

Mfum-Mensah, O 2009. Teaching and learning in a developing world context: Understanding the curriculum development for marginalized communities in northern Ghana”. In Wiggan, G., & Hutchison C (eds.). Global Issues in Education: Pedagogy, Policy, School Practices, and the Minority Experience. Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield ISBN 978-1-60709-272-8

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2014). A review of Mass Education, Global Capital, and the World: The Theoretical Lenses of Istvan Meszaros and Immanuel Wallerstein, by Tom Griffithss & Robert Imre. New York: Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-01481-8. Teachers College Record, May 5, 2014 http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 17522,

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2013). A review of Education in a Strange Land: Globalization, Urbanization and Urban schools- The Social and Educational Implications of the Geopolitical Economy by Greg Wiggan. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (paper) ISBN 978-1-61122-647-8 Education Review

Selected Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals

Mfum-Mensah, O. & Friedson-Ridenour, S. (2014). Whose Voices are being heard? Mechanisms for Community Participation in Education in Northern Ghana. Prospects Quarterly Review of Comparative Education DOI 10.1007/s11125-014-9316-z

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2011). Education Collaboration to Promote School Participation in Northern Ghana: A Case Study of a Complementary Education Program. International Journal of Educational Development 31(5), 459-465

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2009). An exploratory study of the curriculum development process of a Complementary Education Program for Marginalized Communities in Northern Ghana. Curriculum Inquiry 39(2), 343-367

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2005). Moving in the right direction? Nomadic education in Ghana. Id21 Education Highlights. Literacy (Online). Available: www.id21.org.

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2005). The impact of colonial and postcolonial Ghanaian language policies on vernacular use in schools in two Northern Ghanaian communities. Comparative Education 41(1), 71-85.

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2004) Empowerment or impairment? Involving traditional communities in school management. International Review of Education 50(2), 141-155

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2003). Exploring the constraints affecting non-formal basic education programs: The Shepherd School Program in Northern Ghana. In-Focus Journal of Comparative Education [online], 1(2). Available at:www.escotet.org/infocus/2003/mfum.htm

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2003). Fostering educational participation in pastoral communities through non-formal education: The Ghanaian perspective. International Journal of Educational Development 23(6), 661-676.

Selected Conference Presentations

Maseko, D. Nonhlanhla, Buthelezi, Nomthandazo, Mfum-Mensah, Obed, and Padayachee, Amy (2024). The power of Protests for a more Equitable Inclusion Practice: Contextual Nuances and Lessons from South Africa and Pennsylvania. Paper presented at the CESE Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, July 7-11

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2024). China-African Relations, Education Reforms, and Reconstruction of African Identities. Paper presented at the BCES Conference in Sandanski, Bulgaria, June 2024.

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2024). American “Secular Missionaries” and the Transnational Exchange of Educational “Apartheid” in Sub-Saharan Africa. A paper presented at Humanities Symposium at Messiah University, February 20, 2024

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2023). Thriving in Postgraduate Studies. Work/Life Balance. A paper presented to Postgraduate studies Department at University of Johannesburg, South Africa. October 16, 2023

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2023). Transgressive Instruction as Cultural Production: Teaching Strategies to Disrupt the “Dirty Gossips” about Sub-Saharan “Africa”. In Nikolay Popov Charl Wolhuter (Eds.). Recovering Education. Using the Experiences and Learning Acquired to Build New and Better Education Systems. Paper presented at the BCES Conference in Sophia, Bulgaria, June 27-30, 2023

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2022). “Embodied Otherness” and a Guest in a Majority Culture’s House: The Complexities of Being an Underrepresented Faculty in a Higher Educational Institution in the United States. Paper presented at the Athens Institute of Educational Research Symposium Conference, Athens, July 2-7, 2022

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2020). “Dirty Gossips”, Transnational Policy Borrowing and Lending, and Education Policy Discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa. Paper presented at the Bulgaria Comparative Education Conference, Sofia Bulgaria June 21-27. Presented via Zoom.

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2020). Caught between “Scylla and Charybdis”: Affirmative Policies, Education and Access to the Labor Market in Sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Miami, Fl, March 22-26. Presented via Zoom.

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2019). International Philanthropic Support for African Education: The Complex Interplay of Ideologies and Western Foreign Policy Agenda. Paper for BCES Conference, Pomorie Bulgaria June 11-15.

Mfum-Mensah, O. (2019). Paradoxes and Challenges of Teaching Diversity Courses in Predominantly White Academic Spaces. Paper Presented at the AERA Annual Conference, April 5-9, Toronto, Canada