Maya Mesola
Areas of Interest: Maya Mesola (previously Maya N. Vaughan-Smith) is an anthropologist and photographer. Her masters dissertation project was on the social standing of Nankani women within the context of shifting demographic landscapes, with a particular focus on polygamous marriage, fertility, household cooperation, and child survival in Northern Ghana. Her dissertation topic centers on the politics and culture of fertility surrounding the provision of IVF, and other assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in sub-Saharan Africa. Her socio-cultural interests are the Nankani in northern Ghana, the Ewe in eastern Ghana, Togo and Benin and the global intersections between Ghana, Europe, the United States and China. She speaks French, and Mandarin Chinese and has lived in Ghana, China, and Zambia for research and study and travels frequently to the Philippines, and Italy to visit her relatives. She lives in Park Slope- Brooklyn, NY with her wife and confidante Rovie Mesola.
Status: Post field
Previous Degrees: MA in Anthropology-Brown University; Certificate in Demography-Princeton University; MPP in International Economic Policy-University of Michigan; BA honors in Chinese language and literature, political science and economics-Rutgers University
More photography and fieldnotes
Photos from the field:
Contact Information: Maya_Vaughan-Smith@brown.edu
