Support Dr. Erika Koss: Coffee Research & Forthcoming Book!

Celebrate with me! Partner with me in my forthcoming book!

This month, I celebrate the culmination of 7 years of work as a doctoral candidate in International Development Studies (IDS) at Saint Mary’s University (SMU) in Nova Scotia, Canada! My graduation ceremony took place on 16 May 2024!

From my first semester and move to Canada in Sept 2017, my PhD life & degree were primarily self-funded, with some support from SMU along the way. For the past 7 years, I have been living between two cities -- Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada & Nairobi, Kenya -- as I conducted my field work research in Kenya that includes 163 interviews, archival research in the USA and Kenya, and a comprehensive, interdisciplinary literature review. I have been a Research Associate in IDS at the University of Nairobi (an unfunded position) since 2019.

This all culminated in my 379-page dissertation titled: “‘Coffee Depends on Women’: The Gendered Coffee Paradox of Kenya’s Coffee Industry,” which I defended successfully in April 2024, and is now available as an open access scholarly document for free download. There I focus on the gender gaps & challenges for women in coffee, as well Kenya’s colonial coffee history from a feminist point of view. (Please sign up for my Substack newsletter if you want to read more about this study, including excerpts).

Now as Dr. Erika Koss, I wish to transform the dissertation into a book!

My 2024 GoFundMe campaign focuses on raising support as I expand and rewrite the dissertation into a book. This requires further time and research in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi) and Ethiopia -- all focused on women's stories in coffee and my own coffee story -- and continuing to live full-time in Kenya with my younger son.

As a celebration of "7" as the number of fullness, completion, & healing, this campaign will run for 77 days and seeks to raise $7,777 USD as a symbol of my 7 years as a doctoral student.

For every donation through this Go Fund Me campaign, I will purchase certified coffee seedlings for rural women mothers in Kenya who were among my original 163 dissertation research participants.

The ultimate goal: to rework my completed dissertation into a book that expands its academic lingo into a readable nonfiction book that features more women’s stories throughout East Africa, as well as my own.

To receive updates about this project, follow my new Substack newsletter, as well as news about my writing & teaching:

erikakoss.substack.com

To learn more about my story and my work, check out my Instagram @AWorldinYourCup and website www.AWorldinYourCup.com.

Asante sana!