Tessa Pijnaker is working as a Lecturer at the Department of Cultural Anthropology. She teaches courses such as ‘Introduction to Cultural Anthropology’, ‘History and Theory in Anthropology’ and ‘Globalization and Sociocultural Complexity’. She is also a thesis supervisor for master's students. 

Tessa Pijnaker's research focuses on digital development, middle class / elite formation and racial (techno)capitalism in sub-Saharan Africa. Her PhD research (AHRC-funded, University of Birmingham) focused on how digital entrepreneurs and hub and incubator managers in Accra, Ghana, engaged in everyday technopolitics to maintain or improve their class status. She also has an interest in video game development, in particular in how video games can be used to represent the histories and aspirations of people in the Global South.