Anani Dzidzienyo
Biography
Anani Dzidzienyo was a Ghanaian historian and political scientist, and one of the first African researchers to specialize in Brazil. He was a mentor to generations of scholars of racial relations in the country. Dzidzienyo was an Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University. He specialized in the study of race in Latin America and the encounters between Latina American and Africans, as well as on the life and work of George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah. He presented papers, and organized and participated in international conferences on blacks in Latin America. He was also a member of the International Advisory Committee, African Diaspora Research Project. He taught courses on Blacks in Latin American History and Society, Afro-Brazilians and the Brazilian polity, Comparative Politics of Africa and Latin America, and the Afro-Luso-Brazilian Triangle. His publications include The Position of Blacks in Brazilian Society (MRG report, 1971, 1978, 1979), Activity and Inactivity in the Politics of Afro-Latin America (SECOLAS, 1978), "Africa-Latin America Relations: A Reconsideration of Mobility" (1985), and "Brazilian Race Relations: Old Problems/New Ideas?"(1993). Dzidzienyo passed away in October 2020 at the age of 78.
