Mary Owusu

Education

• PhD History, Dalhousie University, Halifax, 2020
• M. Phil. History, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, 2004
• BA Hons. History, University of Cape Coast, 2000

Biography

Dr Owusu studied for her undergraduate and MPhil degrees at the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast and earned her Ph.D. in History from Dalhousie University, Halifax. She has held research fellowships at the University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany (ZKF Research Residency); Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada (Killam Fellowship); Baldwin Wallace University, Ohio, U.S.A. (Fulbright Fellowship) and University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (Cadbury Fellowship). Her research which focuses on marginalised issues and personalities foregrounds African geo-spatial contexts as richly eclectic and incubators of global hybridity. She teaches classes on World History, Historical methods and Historiography as well as histories of Africa and its Diaspora.

Research Interests

• Global/ African Intellectual History and Historiography
• Colonialism, Nationalism and Postcolonialism
• Development History
• Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• African Nova Scotian History
• History of the Black Atlantic

Selected Publications

Cosmopolitan Nationalism in Ghana: Founding Fathers, Nation-building, and Transnational Thinkers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.

“A Mid-Victorian Cosmopolitan Nationalist: James Africanus Beale Horton Reconsidered,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana New Series No. 19 (2019-2020), pp. 87-111.

“Opposition to Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People's Party 1951 – 1960” with Kwarteng K., in Bea Lundt and Christoph Marx. (eds), Kwame Nkrumah 1909 - 1972: A Controversial African Visionary, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag (2016), pp. 67-88.

“Atlantic Slavery: Lost in Trans- lation”, with Stabler S, in African Journal of Teacher Education, Vol3, No 2 (2013): AJOTE: International Connections and Teacher Preparation. http://gir.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/issue/view/162.

“Human Activity, Climatic Change and Elephant Depredation: A Historical Overview up to the Twentieth Century” with Kwarteng K, in Oloyede I. (ed) Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Edited Proceedings, Second University of Cape Coast and University of Ilorin Joint International Conference. Ilorin, Ilorin: Unilorin Press (2012), pp. 125-136.

“Living on the Fast Lane on an Empty Stomach? Oil Palm Commodification and its Implication on Food Security in Ghana (1807 -2007)” in Cape Coast Journal of Humanities (2011), pp. 17-28.

“Populorum Progressio versus Environmental Degradation: A Re-examination of the Agrarian Revolution in the Ghanaian forest belt” with Kwarteng K, in Kwadwo Opoku Agyemang (ed) Culture, Science and Sustainable Development in Africa, Compilation of Refereed Papers from the First University of Cape Coast and University of Ilorin Joint International Conference, Cape Coast: Cape Coast University Press (2011), pp. 229-237.

Prempeh II and the Making of Modern Asante, Accra: Woeli Publishing 2009.

Catalogues

“Colonial Data on European Encounters with African Women in the Era of Imposition.” Africa and the New Imperialism: European Borders on the African Continent, 1870-1914 (2023). Adam Matthew Digital. Online repository. https://www.africaandthenewimperialism.amdigital.co.uk/

Published/Broadcast Docuseries Interview

Interview by Gus Casely-Hayford. BBC Lost Kingdoms of Africa Series 2 (1 of 4) The Kingdom of Asante. Kumasi. 2010. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqoeoh https://vimeo.com/79289273

Selected Presentations

“Reflagging the Distempers of Decolonisation. African Socialists and the De-Construction of Europe versus African Thought” ZKF Public Talk, Konstanz: Bischofsvilla + online, University of Konstanz, May 28, 2025.

“Africanising Democracy? Governance, Democracy and Elections in Ghana,” with Isaac Odoom, Sylvia Bawa, Dennis Dogah, Canadian Association of African Studies, Montreal: McGill University, June 15, 2024.

“ITU’s Implementation of the U4SSC KPIs in Cities: U4SSC KPIs in Action – Kyebi, Ghana), Seventh Meeting of United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC), Virtual: June 20, 2023.

“Decoding Distempers: Intellectual History and Local Governance in Ghana” Canadian Association of African Studies, Toronto: York University, June 1, 2023.

“Women as Intellectuals: Nation-building, Knowledge-making, and the Writing of History” Ottawa (Virtual): Carleton University Brown-Bag Series, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, April 6, 2022.

“Decolonization of Academia: Learnings from African Nova Scotian History” Ottawa: Sociology and Anthropology Students Association and Institute of African Studies Students Association Interdisciplinary Panel, on Pan-Africanism amongst the African Diaspora and the Feasibility of the Decolonization of Academia Through an Application and Engagement with Pan-African Praxis/Thought, Carleton University, November 4, 2021.

“Silence of the Archives: An Anti-Colonial Study of Africville.” paper presented at Africentric Praxis to Affective Transformation: The Way to Make Change Felt. Halifax (Virtual): Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute, May 28 & 29 2021.

“The Experience of 4 African/Black Women Meeting,” with Evelyn Kissi, Anita Ewan and Rita Nketiah, Toronto: Tubman Talk, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Oct 22, 2020.

“Cosmopolitan Nationalism on the Gold Coast 1887-1920,” 19th Annual Africa Conference, Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, March 29-31, 2019. (Winning Essay: 2019 Barbara Harlow Award for Excellence in Graduate Research).

“Valuable Hints to Europeans for the Preservation of Health in the Tropics”: Intellectual Discourses of a mid-Victorian British Medical Army Officer” Canadian Association of African Studies Conference, Kingston: Queen’s University, May 2018.

“Imagining Africa” Jamestown New York: State University of New York - Jamestown Community College, USA. 2012.

“Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World” Cleveland Council for World Affairs Winter/spring 2012 Teacher Development Workshop, Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Council for World Affairs, 2012.

“Freedom Justice and Equality: Africa and the USA from World War II to Mandela” Mark Collier Enduring Questions Lecture Series, Berea, Ohio: Baldwin Wallace College, USA. 2011.

“Red Gold: Tradition, Modernity and Oil Palm in Ghana’ Fourth Cadbury International Conference, Birmingham: Centre for West African Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. May 2007.