Biography
Hanserd studies West African, African American and Atlantic culture and history. Specific interests include African cosmologies, cultural practices, and oral histories. In the Americas, Maroons, free-black and slave struggles for freedom and identity are central topics. His work highlights a range of historical and contemporary topics related to African, Caribbean, and African American history and life. Recent publications include 500 African Voices: Catalog of Published Narratives by Africans Enslaved in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1586-1936 by American Philosophical Society in 2023, and Identity, Spirit, and Freedom in the Atlantic World: The Gold Coast and the African Diaspora by Routledge Press in 2019. Hanserd is editing African Indigenous Systems by Sub-Saharan Publishers and currently pursuing other writing projects. His other interests include visual and audio pathways of African diaspora, international scholarship, and public history. Hanserd is a member of the African Studies Association, Ghana Studies Association, and presented his research on numerous panels and symposia
Degrees
B.A., History Drake University 1995
M.A., History Northern Illinois University 2000
Ph.D., History Northern Illinois University 2011