RESEARCH INTERESTS

Contemporary African history, with a particular focus on West Africa and, specifically, Ghana. 

His areas of study encompass a diverse range of topics, including:

• Women
• Military
• Legal history
• Gender and sexuality
• Marginalization of women
• Oral history as a method for understanding historical memories
• U.S. women during the Antebellum era

BIOGRAPHY

Yasir Arafat Ibrahim is currently a PhD student in the History Department at the University of Chicago. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, where he explored the causes leading to the decline of Ghana Airways as part of his undergraduate research. Following this, he obtained a Master’s Degree in History from Indiana State University.

His Master’s thesis focuses on the position and experiences of Ghanaian women during the administration of the Provincial National Defense Council (PNDC) under Chairman Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, spanning the years 1981 to 1992. In this work, he contends that the PNDC regime functioned as a participatory democratic government rather than a strictly military regime, emphasizing the involvement of women in the government.

As Yasir embarks on his research journey at the University of Chicago, for his first-year research paper he aims to expand on his previous work by investigating the policies and programs implemented by the PNDC to enhance women's welfare. He is particularly interested in highlighting how this regime was the first to introduce initiatives that included and promoted women's welfare in Ghana. Yasir is dedicated to amplifying the voices and experiences of women through his scholarship, ensuring that their stories are not only acknowledged but celebrated.