Biography

Trained as both historian and computer engineer, Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi’s research into the history of West African cities combines a set of interdisciplinary interests in maps, mapmaking, and digital humanities. Her 2024 book, Imagine Lagos: Mapping History, Place and Politics in a 19th Century African City, explores the city’s 19th-century history, rebuilding its past as a series of encounters: between men and women, between the past and present, enslaved and free, Eko (the old town) and Lagos, and between the land and lagoons. The maps and data sources are available online at imaginelagos.com

She has published academic work on Lagos, digital humanities, women and space, and mapmaking, and in 2019, her maps and research were featured in Journey of an African Colony, a Netflix documentary. Her research has been funded by the Andrew Mellon, Woodrow Wilson and Hellman foundations. She teaches classes on Africa, urban history, digital storytelling and maps at Howard University, where she is an Associate Professor of History. Prior to joining Howard, she was an Andrew Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Rice University’s Humanities Research Center, and Associate Professor of History at UC Riverside. She received her PhD in History from NYU in 2016. 

For more on her maps and visualizations of Lagos, visit newmapsoldlagos.com