Edmund Abaka
Edmund Abaka | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ghana |
| Alma mater | University of Cape Coast; York University |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, photographer, academic |
| Employer | University of Miami |
| Known for | Research on African economic history and Atlantic slave trade |
| Notable work | "Kola is God's Gift": Agricultural Production, Export Initiatives and the Kola Industry of Asante and the Gold Coast, c. 1820–1950; Culture And Customs of Ethiopia; House of Slaves and "Door of No Return": Gold Coast/Ghana Slave Forts, Castles & Dungeons and the Atlantic Slave Trade; W. E. B. Du Bois on Africa (editor) |
Edmund Abaka is an American historian and photographer of Ghanaian origin, currently affiliated with the University of Miami located in Coral Gables, Florida. He has been recognized as a Fulbright scholar.
Early life and education
Originally from Ghana, Abaka pursued his undergraduate education at the University of Cape Coast. He obtained both his master's degree and doctorate in African history from York University in 1998, with his doctoral dissertation concentrating on the economic history of Africa, particularly the kola nut trade within Asante and the Gold Coast regions.
Research
Abaka’s scholarly interests began with an examination of West Africa’s kola nut sector, exploring its cultivation, commercial networks, and economic significance between the 1800s and mid-1900s. More recently, his investigations have shifted toward themes of slavery and collective memory, focusing on the architectural significance and human narratives connected to forts, castles, and dungeons along the Atlantic shoreline. He has brought attention to the often-neglected experiences of “castle slaves,” Africans who were enslaved and compelled to labor inside these edifices, whose stories have largely been undocumented.
Selected publications
- "Kola is God's Gift": Agricultural Production, Export Initiatives and the Kola Industry of Asante and the Gold Coast, c. 1820–1950. Ohio University Press, Athens, 2005. (Western African Studies)
- Culture And Customs of Ethiopia. 2007
- House of Slaves and "Door of No Return": Gold Coast/Ghana Slave Forts, Castles & Dungeons and the Atlantic Slave Trade. University of Wisconsin Press
- W. E. B. Du Bois on Africa (edited alongside Eugene F. Provenzo)