New Postdoctoral Fellow Abena Yalley arrived at the Zukunftskolleg
Abena is one of five new Postdoctoral Fellows from the 14th call for applications. She has started her fellowship digitally in September and now could join the Zukunftskolleg in person. Abena is affiliated with the Department of Literature.
Abena obtained her PhD in Gender Studies in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Before she was awarded the postdoctoral fellowship in Konstanz, she was one of the first cohort of the ZUKOnnect fellowship launched in the Zukuftskolleg in 2019. Prior to that, she was a recipient of the ECOWAS Fellowship Programme in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan where she researched and taught African feminist theories and masculinities. She was also the country representative for the ECOWAS mobility project, researching on gender and security. Abena’s research focuses on gender inequalities, violence against women, masculinity, policing domestic violence, African feminism and development, migration, and security.
“The ZUKOnnect Fellowship provided an outstanding opportunity where I engaged in interdisciplinary dialogue, accessed academic materials for publication and boosted my potentials for a successful transition into a postdoctoral fellowship in Zukunftskolleg", states Abena. "I am highly excited to be back to Konstanz and look forward to an enriching research career.”
Her research project in the Zukunftskolleg examines the correlation between women’s experiences of obstetric violence and the low facility-based deliveries and the high maternal mortality rate in Ghana. Obstetric violence is a major health problem that violates the bodily integrity of women, their right to good health, freedom from discrimination, and could lead to complications and poor health outcomes, including death. Specifically, the project examines the prevalence of abuse and mistreatment of pregnant women by health care professionals during delivery and explores its dimensions. It further interrogates the factors that contribute to women’s experiences of abuse and its impact on their wellbeing. Finally, the project seeks to determine ways/develop intervention strategies to address the abuse and mistreatment of women during delivery.
Abena is currently a member of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Working Group One (multidisciplinary network of researchers on birth related trauma) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18211/#tabs|Name:overview and the leader of the obstetric violence sub-group where she is collaborating with other international researchers to publish a review paper titled: “In Search of Dignity: A review of Obstetric Violence intervention strategies in health care centres.