Research expertise: political economy of development, Africana studies, comparative politics, identity, gender, entrepreneurship

Adaugo Pamela Nwakanma, UCI political science assistant professor, studies gender, political behavior and economic empowerment. Her current research looks at gendered pathways to political power, with a specific focus on social and economic factors that shape men and women's access to the political sphere through actions including interest in voting, running for elected office, engaging in protest, being part of local community organizing or other forms of political action.

Her work – funded by the National Science Foundation – has been published in journals such as Perspectives on Politics and Politics, Groups, and Identities, as well as edited volumes such as the Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies and Routledge's African Scholars and Intellectuals in the North American Academy: Reflections of Exile and Migration. Her interdisciplinary research has earned her recognition by the American Political Science Association, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the African Studies Association. Her work has also been featured in public media outlets such as Break the Boxes, Collateral Benefits, and Voyages Africana.

Nwakanma earned her Ph.D. in political science at Harvard University and was previously a Leading Edge Fellow at the American Council of Learned Societies. She also recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute. She’s excited to join the UCI faculty and the Department of Political Science particularly for its reputation for supporting junior faculty and their professional and personal development. She’s looking forward to collaborating with faculty and students who are working on cutting edge projects that explore society from different lenses, disciplinary backgrounds, and methodological approaches.