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Thilde Langevang

Associate Professor

Subjects
Entrepreneurship Creativity Qualitative methods Poverty Africa

My Re­search

My research explores the intersections of entrepreneurship, livelihoods, and socio-economic change in the Global South, with a focus on youth and women in Africa. I study how individuals and communities navigate precarity, resource scarcity, and institutional constraints, and how these challenges shape both everyday livelihood practices and longer-term entrepreneurial aspirations. With a background in human geography, I examine how place and space influence entrepreneurship, and how entrepreneurs in turn shape their environments. While my work often begins at the micro-level, emphasizing agency and resilience, I also analyze how livelihoods and entrepreneurship are embedded in wider socio-economic and institutional dynamics operating at different scales. My research builds on fieldwork in Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania and draws on interviews and participatory, visual and arts-based qualitative methods. Collaboration is central to my research approach: I work closely with African scholars, communities, and policymakers to co-create knowledge and foster meaningful impact on practice and policy. 

4 September 2025

Ghana’s Films Don’t Often Make It to Netflix

Local Solutions May Be the Answer

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July 2025

The Relational and Redistributive Dynamics of Mutual Aid

Implications of Afro-Communitarian Ethics for the Study of Creative Work

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26 June 2025

"Squeezing Money Out of a Rock"

Diverse Economies of Contemporary Theatre in Ghana

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Recent research projects

Ad­van­cing Cre­at­ive In­dus­tries for De­vel­op­ment in Ghana (ACIG)

A col­lab­or­at­ive and in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary re­search pro­ject in­vest­ig­at­ing the dy­nam­ics of cre­at­ive work and cre­at­ive entrepreneur­ship in Ghana
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En­han­cing re­si­li­ence of Tan­zani­an coastal com­munit­ies (ECO­FISH)

A col­lab­or­at­ive and in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary re­search pro­ject ex­amin­ing the mech­an­isms, pro­cesses and link­ages between cli­mate change, fish­er­ies and coastal live­li­hoods in Tan­zania
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HOT­SPOT of mul­tiple stressors: Re­search-based man­age­ment of the Gulf of Guinea

A col­lab­or­at­ive and in­ter­dis­cip­lin­ary pro­ject in­vest­ig­at­ing the im­pact of coastal de­grad­a­tion on the live­li­hoods of fish­ing com­munit­ies in Ghana.
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