People

Prof. Steve William Tonah

All People

  • Role in Center:

    Advanced Researcher

  • Discipline:

    Sociology

  • University:

    University of Ghana

  • Country:

    Ghana

Biography: Steve Tonah is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Ghana, Legon. He studied Economics and Sociology at the University Of Cape Coast (1978-82), Social Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, USA (1990) and obtained his MPhil and PhD degrees in Development Sociology at the University of Bielefeld, Germany in 1989 and 1993, respectively.

Between 1993 and 1998 he worked as a Programme Coordinator with the Christian Council of Ghana, Osu-Accra, managed the Ghana Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) and undertook several consultancies for several local and international organisations.

Professor Tonah joined the University of Ghana in 1999, initially as a Research Fellow of the Volta Basin Research Project (VBRP) and later as a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and was appointed the Head of the Department of Sociology from (2007-09) . Professor Tonah has over 160 academic publications in his research areas and he is currently doing research on irregular migration from Ghana to Libya and Europe. He is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Selected Publications:

  • Setrana, M. B./Tonah, S. (2016): Do Transnational Links Matter After Return? Labour Market Participation Among Ghanaian Return Migrants. Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 52, 4, 549-560.

  • Ohemeng, F./Tonah, S. (2016): I want to go gently: How AIDS Patients in Ghana Envisage their Death. Omega-Journal of Death and Dying. DOI:1177/0030222815575010.

  • Tonah, S./Anamzoya, A.S. (2016): Managing Chieftaincy and Ethnic Conflicts in Ghana. Woeli Publishing Services, Accra.

  • Steve, T. (2016): Politics and the Management of Chieftaincy Succession Conflict in Central Accra (2006-2012). In: Tonah, S./Anamzoya, A.S. (2016): Managing Chieftaincy and Ethnic Conflicts in Ghana. Woeli Publishing Services, Accra, 214-233.

  • Tonah, S./Setrana, M.B./Arthur, J. (eds.) (2017): Migration and Development in Africa: Trends, Challenges and Policy Implications. Rowman and Littlefield, USA.

  • Setrana, M. B./Tonah, S./Asiedu, A.B. (2018): Return and Reintegration of Migrants to Ghana – In M. Awumbila, D. Badasu, and J. Teye (eds.) Migration in a Globalizing World. Perspectives from Ghana. Oxford: African Books Collective, 152-169.

  • Tonah, S./Codjoe, E. (2020): Risking it all: Irregular Migration from Ghana through Libya to Europe and its Impact on the Left-Behind Family Members. In: Eva Bahl and Johannes Becker (Eds.). Global Processes of Flight and Migration. The Explanatory Power of Case Studies, Goettingen University Press, Goettingen, 25-41.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Rural development
  • Chieftaincy
  • Inter-ethnic relations
  • Fulani pastoralism
  • Pastoral and Irregular Migration

Current Position(s):

  • Coordinator, Ghana Sociological and Anthropological Association
  • Editor, Legon Journal of Sociology
  • Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Legon
  • Board Member, Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana, Ghana

Past Position(s)

  • Head, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana
  • Chair, Graduate Committee, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Legon
  • Board Member, Regional Institute for Population Studies, UG, Legon

Prizes & Awards:

  • World Bank Scholarship (1991-93)
  • NRW Scholarship (1992)
  • Best Researcher (2009), Social Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon
  • Fellow, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019)

Memberships & Networks:

  • Ghana Sociological and Anthropological Association
  • Ghana Association of Writers
  • Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences