Research Bio

G. Ugo Nwokeji is a historian whose research focuses on Atlantic slavery, African social transformations, and the global dimensions of race and labor. He studies how African societies engaged with transatlantic and internal slave trades and how these interactions shaped political economies and identities across West Africa and the Americas. Nwokeji’s work reconstructs African perspectives within global history, emphasizing agency, migration, and cultural exchange. His scholarship challenges conventional narratives by foregrounding African intellectual and institutional contributions to modernity.

He is a professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley and former Director of the Center for African Studies. At Berkeley, he teaches African and Atlantic history and mentors students in comparative and diasporic approaches to historical research.

Research Expertise and Interest

Atlantic slave trade, historical demography, African history and political economy, oil and gas policy