Jane Parish

Biography

Biography

Jane Parish is an anthropologist whose research looks at the West African diaspora in Europe and the United States. Conducting fieldwork among Ghanaian immigrants in London, Liverpool, Paris, New York and Detroit, she looks at how conflicts about wealth, accumulation and identity, are negotiated through witchcraft discourses at Akan spirit shrines. Publishing extensively on these topics in peer reviewed journals, her most recent work is with Akan shrine priests in Brooklyn, Harlem and The Bronx and shows how shrines seek to reconcile the lavish consumption and extravagant lifestyles found in Manhattan with the failing American dream of their Black African and African American clients living in America’s rust belt.

Research and scholarship

Research and scholarship

Research interests include: West African witchcraft, conspiracy theories, moral obligation, trust and secrecy among extended kin networks. My PhD looked at anti witchcraft shrines in Ghana.

Since then my major research themes have been:

• Witchcraft and occult discourses amongst the Africa diaspora looking especially at West African communities in Liverpool, Paris and New York
• West African anti witchcraft shrines in Paris and New York
• Conspiracy theories and the global economy

Teaching

Teaching

• SOC-10013 Modernity and its Darkside - Module Leader
• SOC-20033 Witchcraft, Zombies and Social Anxiety - Module Leader
• SOC-30025 Streets, Skyscrapers and Slums

Publications

Publications