Many Black Women of this Fortress
Graça, Mónica and Adwoa, Three Enslaved Women of Portugal's African Empire
Presents rare evidence about the lives of three African women in the sixteenth century — the very period from which we can trace the origins of global empires, slavery, capitalism, and anti-Black violence. These women advocated for themselves and exercised spiritual and female power in the face of Portuguese colonial rule.
"A remarkable book that recovers from the Portuguese archives the life histories of three women who lived in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in present-day Ghana. Konadu presents a lucid, riveting and transformative portrait."
—Toby Green, King's College London"A fascinating picture of the entangled early modern world, providing an important new window onto the daily lives of three Black women in sixteenth-century coastal West Africa."
—Bronwen Everill, University of Cambridge"A refreshing, remarkable excavation of the kind of life stories typically lost to history. Methodologically creative and bold in reach."
—Paddy Docherty, author of Blood and Bronze"The focus on micro-historical accounts makes the text accessible and suitable for an upper-level undergraduate audience."
—Journal of World History"These women have been vibrantly brought to our attention, and their narratives prove that European colonial history is only partially understood when African women are excluded."
—African Studies Review
Africa's Gold Coast Through Portuguese Sources, 1469-1680
The Portuguese produced the earliest records for regions in West Africa, none more important than the Gold Coast. This edited volume provides a unique collection of sources written in Portuguese, Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish for Africa’s Gold Coast, from the late 15th to 17th century. Students, scholars, and professionals with an avid interest in early modern African, Atlantic, and world history will benefit from the English translations.
“This is an important volume that offers translations to documents that were not accessible until now to an Anglophone audience…. This volume will interest anyone interested in the earlier centuries of the Atlantic World formation. Kwasi Konadu brings needed attention to the earlier centuries of contact between local populations and Europeans, a crucial issue for any understanding of the same trade…. In many ways, Konadu challenges the notions that African history is characterized by the lack of earlier written documents. As he clearly shows, there is a rich collection of written documents located in Portuguese.”
—History: Reviews of New Books
Our Own Way in This Part of the World
Biography of an African Community, Culture, and Nation
Centers healer and blacksmith Kofi Dɔnkɔ's life story in a communography of his Ghanaian community and nation from the late nineteenth century through the end of the twentieth, shaped by colonialism, decolonization, and spiritual forces.
"Konadu’s Our Own Way in This Part of the World... provides us with a powerful model for thinking within and thus beyond the boundaries of the nation-state, viewing the past through the lens of extraordinary individuals and communities."
—Jennifer Hart, American Historical Review"By revealing Dᴐnkᴐ's story, Konadu has accomplished something innovative, a book worth reading for anyone who wants to challenge themselves to rethink the field of African Studies."
—Jonathan Roberts, Journal of African History"Konadu refers to his work as a 'communography' and offers a portrait of the community of which Kofi Dɔnkɔ was a hub. This approach creates a deeply grounded history."
—Gregory Mann, Choice"Konadu makes an important contribution to an everyday and social history of twentieth century Ghana."
—African Studies Quarterly"Kwasi Konadu has written an important book for understanding social change at the local level in Ghana. His emphasis on spirituality, healing, and education among the Bono people is a model for people-centered histories of African societies."
—Benjamin Talton, author of Politics of Social Change in Ghana"This is an innovative and outstanding book."
—Trevor R. Getz, author of A Primer for Teaching African History
The Ghana Reader
History, Culture, and Politics
Covering 500 years of Ghana's history, The Ghana Reader provides a multitude of historical, political, and cultural perspectives on this iconic African nation. Readers will encounter selections written by everyone from farmers, traders, and the clergy to intellectuals, politicians, musicians, and foreign travelers. The Ghana Reader conveys the multiple and intersecting histories of Ghana's national development.
"Highly recommended. All levels/libraries."
—Choice"The Ghana Reader is a treasure trove of information."
—Journal of Global South Studies"[A] wonderful introduction to Ghana and its people."
—Foreign Affairs"[A] versatile and accessible teaching tool."
—African Studies Review"The book appeals to a broad range of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences and is exemplary of the kind of text that can foster transdisciplinary teaching and scholarship."
—African and Black Diaspora"[The Ghana Reader] thoroughly succeeds in providing varied and contrasting illuminations of... Ghana."
—African Studies Quarterly"The Ghana Reader does full and eloquent justice to Ghana’s rowdy and cacophonous history."
—Charles Piot, Duke University"An important and timely book."
—Jesse Shipley, Dartmouth College
Transatlantic Africa
Transatlantic Africa examines the internal workings of African societies in the transatlantic era, and emphasizes the global context and the multiplicity of African experiences during that period, while interpreting the process of transatlantic slaving and its consequences through African and diasporic primary sources. By integrating African views with critical interpretations, Transatlantic Africa balances intellectual rigor with broad accessibility.
"Transatlantic Africa is a welcome, and in many ways, novel addition to the significant literature on slavery in the Atlantic World.... It deserves a place on both graduate and undergraduate syllabi dealing with African, Atlantic, and World History."
—Journal of African History"The numerous sources parsed in Transatlantic Africa cover a wide range of African places and societies and will be a useful guide for any teacher thinking about replacing overfamiliar slave narratives in the classroom."
—World History Connected"This is a very innovative and forward-thinking text.... The imperative to uplift African (and diasporic) voices, life-worlds, knowledge systems and cosmologies as part of slavery and slave trade historiography is long overdue."
—Abena Asare, Stony Brook University"This is an important work.... [Using] an impressive array of documentary evidence [it] offers a new analytical lens with which to consider the Atlantic slave trade. By examining the perspectives of Africans and their discourse on the transatlantic system, it is an ideal text for courses on world history, the Atlantic World, or slavery in Africa."
—Hilary Jones, Florida International University"This volume will be of benefit to scholars as well as students interested in understanding the influence of the African diaspora in world history."
—Ibrahim Hamza, Virginia Commonwealth University
The Akan Diaspora in the Americas
The Americas Diaspora in the Americas examines the Akan experience in West Africa and in the English, Danish, and Dutch colonies of the Americas. It demonstrates how this cultural group went beyond the diasporic themes of maroonage, resistance, and freedom. Locating the Akan variable in the African diasporic equation allows scholars and students to better understand how the diasporic quilt came to be and is still evolving.
"[A] path-breaking contribution to the study of African diasporas in the Americas... [with] interdisciplinary breadth, methodological rigor, bold and imaginative concepts, and historical depth."
—New West Indian Guide"[A] meaningful contribution to the dialogue about the nature of African culture and its transfer and transformation in the Americas."
—John Thornton, Boston University"[A] significant contribution to studies of the African diaspora in the New World.... This is an engaging and illuminating study."
—James Miller, George Washington University"[The book] demonstrates that an Atlantic history that does not give equal weight to both sides of the ocean cannot have much credibility."
—Slavery & Abolition"There is much to appreciate in this impressively researched text."
—Journal of African HistoryJournalistic Writings
“Ciara’s Beninese Citizenship: Marketing Ploys Can’t Heal the Past” (2025)
“The 13th Amendment’s fatal flaw created modern-day convict slavery” (2022)
“Black Lives Matter: How far has the movement come?” (2021)
“Tulsa and the Open Question of Justice, 1921–2021” (2021)
“Understanding Gun and Police Violence Lies Between History and Power” (2021)
“Esclavage: ce que les États-Unis peuvent apprendre de l'Afrique en matière de reparations” (2021)
“What the US can learn from Africa about slavery reparations” (2021)
“The Civil Rights-Black Power Nexus in African American History” (2009)
Select Articles and Book Chapters
[ Click to download the PDF, where available]
“Akan Societies and Monetary Systems in the Trans-Saharan and Trans-Atlantic World,” in Beyond the Empires: Histories of the Atlantic World (16th to 19th Centuries).
“I Have Defiled Those Black Women”: Slavery, Belief, and Violence on Africa’s Gold Coast,” in Cambridge History of Black Women in the United States, vol. 1.
“A Manden Myth in the Akan Forests of Gold,” African Economic History 50, no. 2 (2022): 64-86.
“From Africa to the Americas” & “Transatlantic Slaving (Diet) and Implications for Health in the African Diaspora,” in Legacy of the Crossing (2017).