The Department of Sociology and Anthropology has held a homecoming event for its Anthropology alumni, featuring a forum on Friday, 16th May 2025, at the Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang Auditorium.
The event was created to create a platform where Anthropology alumni could network with current students offering the Anthropology programme at the University of Cape Coast.
Speaking to the media, Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Professor Mrs. Georgina Yaa Oduro stated that one of the aims of the forum was to sensitise the public on what Anthropology is and what its prospects are.
“Most people don’t really know what this whole concept of anthropology is. Yet, it’s about studying cultures, it’s about understanding humanities, about what we can do, communicating and interacting generally. And most of our products are all over.”
So, we thought that we’ll use the opportunity of this homecoming to engage with the current students but to also sensitize and educate Ghanaians generally about what anthropology is and the prospect that it stands to offer.”
Reflecting on his time as an Anthropology student, President of the Anthropology alumni, Evangelist Augustine Mensah highlighted the need for corporate Ghana to engage the services of anthropologists in their operations.
“We must get to know is the humanistic and the scientific of all academic disciplines, in the sense that it studies people from the past to the present, and even to the future. I’ve acquired skills such as critical thinking and analytical skillset, which has helped me a lot in my corporate world, or in my career path, in the sense that we all live in a global world, and it’s full of human beings.”
“We deal, we interact day in and day out with human beings. So, in order to understand someone, to put yourself in the shoes of someone, you need anthropological skills to do that. I believe corporate Ghana, a lot of companies here in Ghana need anthropologists. They need to employ anthropologists to do ethnographic research, to carry out investigations into their businesses.”
Drawing from his research in “witch camps” in northern Ghana, a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Dr. Saibu Mutaru spoke on the importance of ethics in the practice of anthropological research, emphasizing, “So, in doing research with them, you need to take certain ethical issues into consideration.”
“You need to have collaboration with trained social workers who will be in a position to cancel these accused witches when they break down into tears. That is very important because if you don’t do that, your research is actually causing harm to them. So, to be able to avoid this harm or to be able to mitigate this harm, then you need to have professional social workers or psychologists who will be in a position to provide counselling when they are so badly hurt in the course of the interviews” he said.
The forum saw the presentation of awards to students and staff who had distinguished themselves in their studies, while several alumni shared their experiences and encouraged current students to persevere in their academic journey.
The homecoming activities continued with a fun day held on Saturday, 17th May 2025.
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Source: Afote Asomdwoe Laryea/ATLFMNEWS
