Ann Cassiman

Ann Cassiman 

Ann Cassiman is an anthropologist in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KULeuven, researching the lives of young women in West African cities.
Building on previous research on the materiality of living in rural Ghana, she shifted her research focus to cities such as Accra, where newcomers from these rural areas often end up in so-called zongos or 'migrant neighbourhoods', where they face economic insecurity and vulnerability while trying to build new lives. She studies the geography of inclusion and exclusion in an often violent postcolonial and neoliberal context. Central to the research are the shifting modalities of urban kinship, friendship, loyalty and local networks of care. Her recent ethnographic research (including in the CityLabs research project) looks at forms of informal learning and making of young women in the zongos of Accra and how alternative kinds of knowledge are 'made'.

As part of her academic work, Ann Cassiman has for 20 years coordinated the international Advanced Master of Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies (CADES) (www.cades.be), which trains young scholars and professionals to become anthropologists who can critically and creatively analyse and rethink development, inequality and social change. 

In her research, Ann Cassiman has always paid close attention to visual storytelling, both in her methods of research and in the exploration of new forms of anthropological knowledge production. For instance, she made two exhibitions around her research in Ghana, at the Africa Museum in Berg en Dal, the Netherlands (Songo: Rhythms of Living) and at MAS Antwerp (Home Call). She is currently working with photographer Nii Obodai and Nuku Studio in Ghana (nukustudio.org) on a documentary project on young women in migrant neighbourhoods in Accra.