First Book Fund is instrumental to publication of innovative scholarship

Ohio University Press is proud to announce the release of “Imagine Lagos: Mapping History, Place, and Politics in a Nineteenth-Century African City.”

The book was made possible with funding from the Ohio University Press First Book Fund, which helps cover publication expenses for first-time authors in the fields of African and Appalachian studies.

The book’s author, Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi, is an associate professor of history at the University of California, Riverside and at Howard University. Adelusi-Adeluyi’s first book investigates the spatial history of Lagos, reimagining it as a series of encounters: between men and women, between past and present, between enslaved and free, between the living and dead, and finally, between land and lagoon. Written from a digital humanities perspective, Adelusi-Adeluyi combines historical sources, maps, and a walking cartography supplemented with digital maps to create new perspectives on the Nigerian city.

The Ohio University Press First Book Fund was established by Press Director Emerita Gillian Berchowitz, with generous support from Jeffery D. Chaddock, BSC ’88, philanthropist and private wealth advisor/CEO of Envisage Wealth; Steve Howard, retired professor in OHIO’s School of Media Arts and Studies and former director of the University’s African Studies Program; and Jean Allman, Derek Peterson and Allen Isaacman, series editors for the Ohio University Press New African Histories series. Many authors and friends of the Press have joined in supporting this fund.

The fund is earmarked to support publication expenses for first-time authors in African and Appalachian studies. First-time authors often do not yet have access to institutional research support and publication subventions, the critical financial resources that help cover expenses such as editorial services, image permissions, production costs, and/or specialized marketing of selected titles.  

“The First Book Fund enables Ohio University Press to publish fresh voices that enrich our understanding of global and local issues that are too often overlooked by mainstream scholarship,” says Press Director Beth Pratt.

Pratt adds, “Adelusi-Adeluyi has done important work through digital analysis and creative use of cartography. The First Book Fund provides the support to make the work of this groundbreaking scholar available.”

For more information and a donation link for the First Book Fund, visit https://www.ohioswallow.com/first-book-fund/.

“Imagine Lagos” is now available for purchase through Ohio University Press and other book retailers. For more information, visit the book’s web page.

About Ohio University Press

Founded in 1947, Ohio University Press is the oldest scholarly press in Ohio. The Press publishes a wide range of scholarly and trade books, with a focus on bringing important new voices and ideas to readers around the world. From academic monographs to regional guides to internationally acclaimed literary works, the Ohio University Press is an essential member of its many communities: scholarly, literary, and geographic.