Charlotte Bednarski

Division:

Sociocultural

Adviser(s):

Louisa Lombard

Degree(s):

BA in Global Studies and French, University of Richmond (2020); MA in African Studies, Yale (2022)

Charlotte Bednarski is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology. She studies sociocultural anthropology with a focus on politics and religion in West Africa. Charlotte completed an MA in African Studies at Yale in 2022.

Her MA thesis focused on the formation of a new political party, L’Appel Citoyen pour la Réussite de la Transition, during the ongoing political transition in Mali. It showed how uncertainty about the future of governance provided an opportunity for political movements and actors of all backgrounds to explore political futures that might have seemed unrealistic in the recent past.

In 2022-2023, Charlotte completed a fellowship at the University of Ghana, where she conducted ethnographic research about Ghana’s National Muslim Conference and its relationship with Parliament.

As a PhD student, Charlotte continues to study statemaking, political imagination, and religion in West Africa.