Is Dr. Ceesay a Political Scientist? He Answers the PhD Debate Himself

Dr. Ismaila Ceesay finally addresses the question many Gambians have been asking: what exactly is his academic background, and is he really a "political scientist"? In this candid segment of Dialectic Space, he walks through his full educational journey — from failing common entrance and dreaming of becoming a "semester boy," to selling his own bed and knives in Sweden to fund a Master's in the UK, to earning his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2016. In his own words, Dr. Ceesay clarifies that by training, his PhD used social anthropology and ethnographic methodology — research conducted along the beaches and cyber cafés of The Gambia studying youth migration and "involuntary immobility." He also unpacks the intellectual questions that shaped his academic path: why Africa struggles to develop despite its potential, how colonial-era borders created unstable "arbitrary states," and why his research shifted from African state formation to migration studies. This is Dr. Ceesay, unfiltered, addressing his own credentials, his methodology, and the journey behind the doctorate — straight from the source. 🎙️ Dialectic Space — real conversations with the people shaping Gambian public life. #DialecticSpace #Gambia #IsmailaCeesay #PhD #GambianPodcast