Elizabeth Mantebeah, Commonwealth Scholar from Ghana

MA Heritage Management, University of Mauritius

Ghanaian Commonwealth Scholar Elizabeth Mantebeah graduated with a Distinction in MA Heritage Management from the University of Mauritius in 2015. Elizabeth’s studies were funded by the CSFP endowment fund. She is the second such Commonwealth Scholar to graduate from the University of Mauritius.

Elizabeth, aged 26 at the start of her MA in 2013, had previously obtained a BA in French, Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana. Prior to starting her MA, Elizabeth drew on her knowledge of French while employed as Coordinating Assistant to the Head of the Cultural Department at the Alliance Française in Accra.

She was inspired to study heritage management by volunteering on a tourism project at home in Ghana organised by the youth organisation AIESEC. Elizabeth aims to use the knowledge gained during her studies in Mauritius to further develop the Ghanaian tourist industry, seeing this sector as a key one for job creation and revenue generation in the country.

Elizabeth said: ‘My studies at the University of Mauritius were interspersed with varied field work, presentations, conferences, and seminars, the course structure was one of a kind that sought not only to mentally develop us but socially, culturally, politically and economically moulded us.’

As part of the MA Elizabeth benefited from sharing a classroom with professionals in the field of heritage management who made up the majority of her cohort. She chose modules in heritage conservation management, sustainable development, heritage value assessment, legal frameworks and heritage economics.

Her dissertation focused on the memorialisation of the slave trade in Mauritius and the question of community empowerment resulting from the breaking of silence on the subject of slavery. She chose this subject due to its topicality both to her host country and to Ghana, where slavery memorialisation is also of great relevance.

During her MA she gained additional experience by volunteering as a Research Assistant in the Department of History and Political Science. She continued her involvement with AIESEC in Mauritius and was particularly involved in the organisation’s local Caring for the Elderly project.

Now back at home in Ghana, Elizabeth believes that her Commonwealth Scholarship has ‘resulted in the development of an all rounded, open minded and critical personality, a necessary asset in every professional life.’