"[A] particularly informative and path-breaking contribution to the study of African diasporas in the Americas.His illuminating study effectively challenges basic presuppositions of standard African diasporic narratives.His masterful and well-written investigation has interdisciplinary breadth, methodological rigor, bold and imaginative concepts, and historical depth.This is an important and intellectually refreshing study and I recommend it with much enthusiasm.' --New West Indian Guide "Lately, the study of the African Diaspora has taken a cultural turn, and the social and demographic aspects of it are being replaced by studies of religion, medicine, language and the like. These studies are beginning to move us away from the focus on slavery as a legal and social institution, and on things like plantation management that grew out of the study of social history. This book is squarely in company with this new set of books. Konadu's strength is his competence on Akan culture and his ability to see, convincingly, Akan roots in cultural manifestations in the Americas without stretching the evidence.

He makes a meaningful contribution to the dialogue about the nature of African culture and its transfer and transformation in the Americas."--John Thornton, professor of history, Boston University "In its specific emphasis upon the Akan people, rather than more generalized notions of the African diaspora, The Akan Diaspora in the Americas makes a significant contribution to studies of the African diaspora in the New World. Dr. Konadu's premises and argument are sound, and are buttressed by careful, meticulous scholarship. This is an engaging and illuminating study." --James Miller, George Washington University.