Postdoctoral Researcher

E: betty_ackah@sfu.ca

Betty Bozoma Blay Ackah, (Ph.D) Simon Fraser University, is a postdoctoral researcher with SFU’s Bridge Research Consortium. Her current research work focus on the contextual dynamics of dis/misinformation generated and spread on the internet, analyzing social media data to understand public engagement with racism and hate speech, and examining the (in)equitable impacts of public health policies and interventions on different sociocultural groups during health crises. Her research expertise spans many areas including diversity and marginalization narratives on social media and the role of information communication technologies in social change.

EDUCATION

• PhD, Communication, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2014 - 2021. Thesis - Blockchain and Gender Digital Inequalities in Africa: A critical afrofemtric analysis. Supervisor: Peter Chow-White
• MA, International Development Studies, Ohio University, 2012
• MA, Spanish Language and Culture, Ohio University, 2012
• BA (Hons.), Political Science and Spanish, University of Ghana, 2007

RESEARCH

• Mis/disinformation on social media platforms
• Health communication among marginalized populations
• Digital inequalities
• Subaltern approaches in ICT innovation and ICTs for social change
• African activisms on gender injustice

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Ackah, B. B. (2023). Afrofemtrism: A critical examination of the relationship between gender, technology, and society. Communication, Culture & Critique, 16(4), 266–273. 10.1093/ccc/tcad032

Ackah, B. B. (2023). Ghana’s blockchain scene on WhatsApp: A space for convergence and divergence. Journal of Digital Social Research, 5(2), 55-79. 10.33621/jdsr.v5i2.141

Al-Rawi, A., Ackah, B. B. B., & Chun, W. H. K. (2023). The Intersectionality of Twitter Responses to Black Canadian Politicians. Social Media + Society, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231157290

Ackah, B. B., Woo, M., Ukah, U. V., Fazal, Z. A., Stallwood, L., Okpani, A., Adu., P. (2022). COVID19 vaccine hesitancy in Africa: A scoping review. Global Health Research and Policy 7:21. 10.1186/s41256-022-00255-1

Rahman, A., Stewart, N. K., Ackah, B. B, Hauck, B. (2022). Dialogues for equity: Precarious parent-scholars in times of crisis. Journal of Applied Communication Research 50:6, 730-747. 10.1080/00909882.2022.2140595

Adams, P., Frizzo-Barker, J., Ackah, B. B., & Chow-White, P. (2019). Meetups: Making space for women on the blockchain. In Ragnedda, M., & Destefanis, G. (Eds). Blockchain and Web 3.0, 48- 61. London: Routledge

Adjei, J., Adu, P., & Ackah, B. B. (2019). Revisiting the healthy immigrant effect with diabetes risk in Canada: Why race/ethnicity matters. Ethnicity & Health 25(4), 495-507. DOI: 10.1080/13557858.2019.1567697

Chow-White, P.A., Ackah, B. B., & Adams, P. (2018). Digital divide. Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/

Ackah, B. B., Francis, J., & Walters, B. (2017). Visible minorities in governance positions in Metro Vancouver. MITACS Report