Shamara Wylie Alhassan, Ph.D. student in Africana Studies
Boston College African and African Diaspora Studies Program Dissertation Fellowship

"This fellowship will provide me the environment and support I need to complete my dissertation. Boston College is home to top scholars in my field. Learning from and collaborating with this community during my last year of graduate studies is an amazing and unparalleled opportunity." 

Alhassan’s dissertation is entitled Rastafari Women’s Intellectual History and Activism in Jamaica and Ghana. Her research explores spirituality, gender, authenticity, activism, and radical economic, social, and political change in Africa and the Diaspora.  As a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship, she conducted extensive ethnographic research with Rastafari women in Ghana.  

Prior to graduate school, Alhassan earned a B.A. in Africana Studies and Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College and M.S.Ed. with a concentration in Childhood Education from Hunter College.