Year in program: 1
ABD Y/N: N
Primary supervisor: Dr. Michelle Moyd
Major field: African History
Minor fields: African American Studies; Urban History
Link to your personal page or profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-asante-2979b3382/
Sophia Obour Asante is a first-year PhD student in History at Michigan State University. She earned her B.A. in History from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where she also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She went on to complete her M.A. in History at the University of Arkansas, working as a Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant. Her thesis examined public responses to sanitation interventions in Ghana, including the Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit latrine and the Community-Led Total Sanitation program, showing how cultural norms and public disengagement shaped outcomes. Building on this work, her doctoral research investigates how colonial and postcolonial governments reinforced sanitation inequality by privileging urban centers over rural communities, a legacy that continues to shape Ghana’s public health. At MSU, Sophia is a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Her broader interests include African urban history, African American studies, and comparative histories of governance and health.