Mary Owusu teaches African history at the Department of History at Carleton. Her research interests lie in the areas of African intellectual, political and development histories, with a focus on Ghana. Her current research explores the intellectual history of female intellectual thought in the Gold Coast/ Ghana. Her methodological approach challenges the errors and gaps in African intellectual history that presents intellectualism as an endeavour solely undertaken by a few brilliant men.
Publications
Books
Owusu, Mary A. S. Cosmopolitan Nationalism on the Gold Coast: Founding Fathers, Nation-Building and Transnational Thinkers (forthcoming Cambridge University Press)
Owusu, Mary. A. S., Prempeh II and the Making of Modern Asante, Accra: Woeli Publishing, 2009, pp. 159.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Botchway, D. N. Y. M., A History of the Faculty of Arts (University of Cape Coast) 1962-2006, Accra: Media Graphics for Faculty of Arts, University of Cape Coast, 2007, pp. 158.
Journal Articles
Owusu, Mary. A. S., “A Mid-Victorian Cosmopolitan Nationalist: James Africanus Beale Horton Reconsidered,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, New Series, No 19 (2019-2020), pp. 87-111.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Bosiwah, L., “Constructions of Masculinity Among the Akan” Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 1, No. 2, (2015), pp. 131-137. http://www.aiscience.org/journal/jssh.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Stabler, S., “Atlantic Slavery: Lost in Trans- lation”, African Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 3, No 2: (2013) AJOTE: International Connections and Teacher Preparation. http://gir.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/issue/view/162
Owusu, Mary. A. S., “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, Vol. 3. (2011), pp. 17-28.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Botchway, D. N. Y. M., “The Asante Factor in the Alliance Matrix of Pre-colonial Ghana: A historical re-evaluation up to 1874,” Abibisem International Journal of African Culture and Civilisation, Vol.3, (2010) pp. 1-22.
Book Chapters
Owusu, Mary. A. S., “Cosmopolitan Nationalism on the Gold Coast 1887-1920,” (book chapter, accepted for publication) in Falola, Toyin & Abikal Borah, Writing African Identities, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield 2022.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Kwarteng, K., “Opposition to Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party 1951 – 1960” in Bea Lundt and Christoph Marx. (eds), Kwame Nkrumah 1909 – 1972: A Controversial African Visionary, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, (2016), pp. 67-88.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Kwarteng, K. O., “Human activity, Climatic change and Elephant Depredation: A Historical Overview up to the Twentieth Century” 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.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Kwarteng, K. O., “Populorum Progressio versus Environmental Degradation: A Re-examination of the Agrarian Revolution in the Ghanaian forest belt,” 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.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., & Kwarteng, K. O., “The Desparacidos: A Study of Forest Culture and Local Knowledge in the Development Agenda of Southern Ghana,” in Kuupole D., Botchway D., (eds.), Polishing the Pearls of Ancient Wisdom: Exploring the Relevance of Endogenous African Knowledge Systems for Sustainable Development in Postcolonial Africa. A Reader, Cape Coast: Cape Coast University Press, (2010). pp. 85-98.
Owusu, Mary. A. S., “The Mis-education of the Ghanaian: A Critique of the Ghanaian Education System” in Amenumey, D. Challenges of Education in Ghana in the Twenty-first Century, Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, (2007), pp. 91-101.