Academic Bio

Bright Gyamfi is an Assistant Professor of History at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Northwestern University, an MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford, and a BA in Political Science and History (Honors) from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining Rutgers, he served on the faculty at the University of California, San Diego, and was awarded the Presidential Fellowship, Northwestern University’s highest honor for graduate students.

 

His research examines the transnational networks of Ghanaian and African intellectuals whose work reshaped African Studies, Black Studies, Black Internationalism, and economic development thought following African independence. His scholarship examines the global circulation of Nkrumahist and Pan-Africanist thought across the U.S., the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. 

 

Gyamfi’s work has been supported by numerous fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, the SSRC Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship, and the Fulbright Fellowship. He has conducted extensive research across Ghana, Senegal, Grenada, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, France, the U.K., and the U.S.

 

In addition to his scholarship, Gyamfi serves on the Board of Directors of the West African Research Association, the Ghana Studies Association (as Treasurer), and the Ghana Oxford and Cambridge Society.

 

He is also actively engaged in public-facing work, including policy consulting, media interviews, public lectures, exhibitions, and documentary filmmaking.