Peter Narh is an Environmental Social Scientist at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. He researches African land and natural resources conservation, administration, and governance. He holds a PhD in Development Studies (Environmental governance option) from the University of Bayreuth in Germany.
Since the past few years he researches environmental resilience in Africa, with focus on social groups, technologies, sociopolitical institutions, and relations in natural resources livelihoods, conservation, and governance. His research sites are Ghana and Kenya. He collaborates closely with academic and community colleagues across Africa, including in Mali, Kenya, and Tanzania.
He serves as the Editor in chief of the Contemporary Journal of African Studies (CJAS), hosted at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. He is also the West Africa editor of the Africa Yearbook, published yearly by Brill.
Peter is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley, from January to May 2026.
PhD in Development Studies (Environmental governance specialization), University of Bayreuth, Germany
MPhil in Development Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
BA in Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana
- Environmental social infrastructures and technologies
- Natural resources relations and land sustainabilities
- Environmental resources conservation
Current project membership
- Personal research: Youth experiences of labour, technology, and environmental resilience in Ghana.
- Member of research team: Transregional research on the changing nature of precarious work in Africa and the Arab region, Project is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York.
- Member of research team: Domestic Security Implications of UN Peacekeeping i(D-SIP), Project is funded by the Danish Institute for International Studies.
- Member of research team: Oil and Gas implications for urban space in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. Project is funded by Ghana Gas Company.
Doumbia, L., Narh, P., & Tangara, D. (2025, September 16). Rethinking Collaboration in Social Anthropology: Co‑Producing Knowledge Outside Boxes. Boasblogs – Co‑Producing Knowledge. https://boasblogs.org/coproducingknowledge/rethinking-collaboration-in-social-anthropology/
Narh, P (2025). Social justice and infrastructure approach to youth development in Ghana. Contemporary Journal of African Studies Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025), pp.103-141. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/contjas.v12i1.4
Narh, P. (2024). A Social pathway to land governance and production in rural Ghana (Peter Narh), in: Land governance and conflict in West Africa through Interdisciplinary empirical lenses (Narh, P. and Doumbia, L., eds.), MIASA Working Paper No 2024(1), pp. 9-22: https://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/42777
Nolte, K., Coulibaly, M, and Narh, P. (2024). Foreign and Domestic Interest in Agricultural Land in West Africa. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.818
Collins Adu-Bempah Brobbey and Peter Narh (2024). Politics of news-sharing in contemporary mass media channels in Ghana: Reflecting indigenization of communicative acts and protocols. Vol.21 (2) Ghana Social Science Journal. https://journals.ug.edu.gh/index.php/gssj/issue/current
Undergraduate level
- UGRC220, Appropriate Technology for Development in Africa, University of Ghana Accra city campus
- UGRC 220, Appropriate Technology for Development in Africa, University of Ghana Takoradi city campus
- UGRC220, Appropriate Technology for Development in Africa, UG Main campus
Graduate level
- AFST727, Topics in Research Methods
- AFST712, Water Resources, Livelihoods, and Development
Editor in chief, Contemporary Journal of African Studies (CJAS)
Reviewer for:
- Geoforum
- Extractive Industries
- Discover Global Society
- Social Science Research Council Fellowship Applications
- Editorial Board of the Contemporary Journal of African Studies (CJAS)
Meaning of life for Peter is living in harmony with nature. This provides a deep sense of peace and happiness, and a reason to live.
* I like gardening and creating living spaces