Nathanael Ojong
Assistant Professor
Office: 324 Founders College
Phone: 4167362100 Ext: 22866
Email: nojong@yorku.ca
I am associated with the International Development Studies program. I completed my Ph.D in Development Studies at the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies (Switzerland). I am interested more broadly in questions related to the livelihood dynamics of marginalized groups of people in sub-Saharan Africa.
As an interdisciplinary scholar, I draw on economic sociology and economic anthropology to investigate the everyday practices of low-income people in sub-Saharan Africa. In my book, ‘The Everyday Life of the Poor in Cameroon' (with Routledge), I propose a rethinking of how we understand poverty by revealing how the poor navigate different spaces and use social networks to meet everyday needs. I show how social networks enable low income Cameroonians to meet their needs while remaining sites of power and agency, embedded in economic, socio-cultural and gendered dynamics.
Degrees
Ph.D., Development Studies, Graduate Institute of International & Development StudiesM.A., Development Management, University of Westminster
B.A. (Hons.), Political Science, University of Buea
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
Manuscript reviewing for journals:
Journal of Rural Studies
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
International Quarterly of Community Health Education
Forum for Development Studies
Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance
Healthcare
African Review of Economics and Finance
Journal of Trust Research
Forum for Social Economics
Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship
SN Business & Economics
Research Interests
(with Simba A) ‘Diaspora networks: a social capital source for entrepreneurship in low-income and emerging economies’, In: Hack-Polay D., Siwale J. (eds) African Diaspora Direct Investment. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Microcredit's Real Revolution [La vraie révolution du microcrédit]. African Review of Economics and Finance, 9(1), 293 -296.
(with Simba A and Kuk G) Bricolage and MSEs in emerging economies. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1177/1465750320969621
Indigenous land rights: where are we today and where should the research go in the future? Settler Colonial Studies 10(2): 193-215.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Pathology of the Economic and Political Architecture in Cameroon. Healthcare, 8(2): 1-16.
(with Simba A) Fostering micro-entrepreneurs' structural and relational social capital through microfinance. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 31(1), 1-20.
Healthcare Financing in Rural Cameroon. Societies 9(4), 1-12
Informal borrowing sources and uses: insights from the North West Region,
Cameroon. Third World Quarterly, 40:9, 1730-1749
Trust, cultural norms and financial institutions in rural communities. Review of Social Economy, 76(1), 19-42.
(with Simba A) Trust-Building Mechanisms in Group-Based Microfinance: A Cameroonian Perspective. Forum for Social Economics, DOI:10.1080/07360932.2018.1479648
(with Obeng-Odoom F) Dynamism and resilience of financial institutions in Cameroon. Journal of Economic Issues, 51(1), 181-200.
(with Simba A) Engaged scholarship: encouraging interactionism in entrepreneurship and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) research. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24(4), 1009-1027.
Gender, the state, and informal self-employment: Perspectives from the mobile telecommunication industry in Cameroon. International Journal of Social Economics, 44(11), 1456-1470.
Remittances, mobile phones and informality: Insights from Cameroon. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 8:3: 299-308.
Credit unions as conduits for microfinance delivery in Cameroon. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics 85(2): 287–304.
Les fragilités de la microfinance au Cameroun. Techniques Financières et Développement, 106, 71-78.
Livelihood Strategies in African Cities: The case of residents in Bamenda, Cameroon. African Review of Economics and Finance, 3(1), 8-24.
Social Finance for Social Economy, Working Paper No. 67, Social Finance Program, International Labour Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
(with Fonteneau B et al. ) Social and Solidarity Economy: Our common road towards Decent Work. Reader for the Social & Solidarity Economy Academy 2011. Turin: International Labour Organization.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2020 | AP/SOSC3800 6.0 | A | Development Studies and Research Methods | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2020 | AP/SOSC2800 6.0 | B | Development: Comp. & Hist. Perspective | SEMR |
| Winter 2021 | GS/DVST5120 3.0 | M | Research Methods for Development | SEMR |
I am associated with the International Development Studies program. I completed my Ph.D in Development Studies at the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies (Switzerland). I am interested more broadly in questions related to the livelihood dynamics of marginalized groups of people in sub-Saharan Africa.
As an interdisciplinary scholar, I draw on economic sociology and economic anthropology to investigate the everyday practices of low-income people in sub-Saharan Africa. In my book, ‘The Everyday Life of the Poor in Cameroon' (with Routledge), I propose a rethinking of how we understand poverty by revealing how the poor navigate different spaces and use social networks to meet everyday needs. I show how social networks enable low income Cameroonians to meet their needs while remaining sites of power and agency, embedded in economic, socio-cultural and gendered dynamics.
Degrees
Ph.D., Development Studies, Graduate Institute of International & Development StudiesM.A., Development Management, University of Westminster
B.A. (Hons.), Political Science, University of Buea
Appointments
Faculty of Graduate StudiesProfessional Leadership
Manuscript reviewing for journals:
Journal of Rural Studies
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
International Quarterly of Community Health Education
Forum for Development Studies
Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance
Healthcare
African Review of Economics and Finance
Journal of Trust Research
Forum for Social Economics
Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship
SN Business & Economics
Research Interests
All Publications
(with Simba A) ‘Diaspora networks: a social capital source for entrepreneurship in low-income and emerging economies’, In: Hack-Polay D., Siwale J. (eds) African Diaspora Direct Investment. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Microcredit's Real Revolution [La vraie révolution du microcrédit]. African Review of Economics and Finance, 9(1), 293 -296.
(with Simba A and Kuk G) Bricolage and MSEs in emerging economies. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1177/1465750320969621
Indigenous land rights: where are we today and where should the research go in the future? Settler Colonial Studies 10(2): 193-215.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Pathology of the Economic and Political Architecture in Cameroon. Healthcare, 8(2): 1-16.
(with Simba A) Fostering micro-entrepreneurs' structural and relational social capital through microfinance. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 31(1), 1-20.
Healthcare Financing in Rural Cameroon. Societies 9(4), 1-12
Informal borrowing sources and uses: insights from the North West Region,
Cameroon. Third World Quarterly, 40:9, 1730-1749
Trust, cultural norms and financial institutions in rural communities. Review of Social Economy, 76(1), 19-42.
(with Simba A) Trust-Building Mechanisms in Group-Based Microfinance: A Cameroonian Perspective. Forum for Social Economics, DOI:10.1080/07360932.2018.1479648
(with Obeng-Odoom F) Dynamism and resilience of financial institutions in Cameroon. Journal of Economic Issues, 51(1), 181-200.
(with Simba A) Engaged scholarship: encouraging interactionism in entrepreneurship and small-to-medium enterprise (SME) research. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24(4), 1009-1027.
Gender, the state, and informal self-employment: Perspectives from the mobile telecommunication industry in Cameroon. International Journal of Social Economics, 44(11), 1456-1470.
Remittances, mobile phones and informality: Insights from Cameroon. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 8:3: 299-308.
Credit unions as conduits for microfinance delivery in Cameroon. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics 85(2): 287–304.
Les fragilités de la microfinance au Cameroun. Techniques Financières et Développement, 106, 71-78.
Livelihood Strategies in African Cities: The case of residents in Bamenda, Cameroon. African Review of Economics and Finance, 3(1), 8-24.
Social Finance for Social Economy, Working Paper No. 67, Social Finance Program, International Labour Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
(with Fonteneau B et al. ) Social and Solidarity Economy: Our common road towards Decent Work. Reader for the Social & Solidarity Economy Academy 2011. Turin: International Labour Organization.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2020 | AP/SOSC3800 6.0 | A | Development Studies and Research Methods | SEMR |
| Fall/Winter 2020 | AP/SOSC2800 6.0 | B | Development: Comp. & Hist. Perspective | SEMR |
| Winter 2021 | GS/DVST5120 3.0 | M | Research Methods for Development | SEMR |
