Ofosuwa M Abiola, Ph.D. - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Dr. Ofosuwa M. Abiola is an Africanist historian specializing in the history of the dances and cultures of Africa and the Diaspora. She received her PhD from Howard University and is an Associate Professor of Africana Dance History at Howard. Abiola's research interests include the history of traditional dance in Africa; research paradigms in Africana (African and African diaspora) dance history; the African dance aesthetic; and the significance of Africana dance in society and the global community. Her research seeks to accentuate Africana dance narratives and their capacity to immerse all who engage them in the collective experiences of people throughout the world.

​Abiola's latest publication, Afrikinesis: A Paradigm for Research on African and African Diaspora Dance, won the 2024 Ruth Lovell Murray Honorable Mention book award. Additional publications include, Fire Under My Feet: History, Race & Agency in African Diaspora Dance; History Dances: Chronicling the History of Traditional Mandinka Dance; a short-form documentary visual companion to it titled, History Dances: African Dance Systems as Methodologies; and an introductory textbook for undergraduate students, Historical Perspectives on Dance in Africa. Publication works in progress include, Unwitting Witnesses, Pivotal Moments, and the Invisible Field of African Dance History; Voiceless Shouts: Danced Conversations on Women, Identity, and Activism in Africa and her Diaspora; and the forthcoming digital peer-reviewed journal At the Cutting Edge.

Abiola received numerous grants, awards, and fellowships from national and international institutions including: the Outstanding Dance Education Researcher Award from the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO); a National Trust for Historic Preservation Grant ($150,000.00), the Mary Ellen Multi-Country Research Award; a Council of American Overseas Research Centers Fellowship (CAORC); Department of Education grant; a U.S. Department of State grant; and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (NEH); among others. In addition to the NEH fellowship, Abiola was also awarded a grant from NEH ($100,000.00) to establish an Africana Theatre and Dance Collection in Howard University's historic Founder's Library. During her tenure as Archivist for the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Abiola established their first archival system.

Abiola was invited to Recife, Brazil, by the U.S. State Department to mount her African dance ballet, RITES, and to be a speaker in the International Cultural Summit in Brazil, hosted by a joint venture of the U.S. Consulate in Brazil and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, to facilitate the launch of the Smithsonian's first International Engagement Program.

She was featured on ABC's Good Morning Washington, in the Afro-American Newspaper, and on the American Historical Association's (AHA) Perspectives on History as a Spotlight Scholar among others.

Dr. Abiola founded and served as Director of the international conference, The Nankama African Dance Conference, where participants and presenters from Africa, the African Diaspora, the US, and representatives from the US State Department attended.
Phone: (202) 806-6218
Address: Howard University
Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts
Office: Graduate School, 4th and College Streets, Rm. 104
Washington, DC 20059

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