Helena Osei-Egyir PhD Candidate
Supervisor: Dr. Jim CliffordMy dissertation, “The Deep Water ‘Frontier’: Takoradi Harbour and Timber Extraction in the Gold Coast (Ghana), 1940s-1980s,” examines the environmental and social history of Ghana’s timber boom and plywood manufacturing, from the final years of colonial rule through the first decades of independence. I argue that Takoradi Harbour was both a colonial vision of progress and the primary infrastructure for resource extraction, reshaping urban and forest lands, and people’s relationships to them. Tracing networks of capital and labour, I explore how multiple actors, including chiefs, farming communities, timber producers, Syrian and Lebanese merchants, and colonial officials shaped, contested and profited from the timber boom.
Research Area(s)
- commodity history
- forest history
- Environmental History
- urban history
Publications:
Adu-Gyamfi, Samuel, & Helena Osei-Egyir. (in press). “Indigenous Healers and Forests in Ghana: Preserving Mfantse’s cultural heritage through roots and herbs.” In Healers and Politics in Modern African History, 1800s to the present, ed. by Hokkanen, Markku, Musa Sadock, Philip J. Havik, & Benson A. Mulemi. Manchester University Press, 2026: 247-277.
Adu-Gyamfi, Samuel, & Helena Osei-Egyir, “Redefining Indigenous Forms of Education: The Modelling of Technical/Vocational, Trade and Agricultural Schools on Indigenous Knowledge in Colonial Asante.” In Education in Ghana: History and Politics, ed. by Amoako Gyampah, Akwasi Kwarteng & E. A. Agyeman. Langaa RPCIG, 2023.
Adu-Gyamfi, Samuel, & Helena Osei-Egyir. “A Decolonial History of African Female Education and Training in Colonial Asante, 1920-1960,” ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics 22, no. 2 (2023): 218-238. https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.22.2.2023.3949
Adu-Gyamfi, Samuel, Helena Osei-Egyir, & Benjamin Dompreh Darkwa. “Ship Technology, Slavery, Repatriation and Air Transportation: Continuity and Change,” History of Science and Technology 13, no.1 (2023):121-148. https://doi.org/10.32703/2415-7422-2023-13-1-121-148
Conference Presentations (Select):
Osei-Egyir, Helena. “The Cost of Progress: Takoradi Harbour and Coastal Dispossession in Twentieth-century Gold Coast (upcoming).” University of Liverpool. November 2-4, 2026.
Clifford, Jim, & Helena Osei-Egyir, “Takoradi Harbour, Timber and Ghana’s Postwar Plywood Boom.” Presented by Dr. Jim Clifford at the European Society of Environmental History Climate Histories Conference. July 18-22, 2025.
Workshops and Seminars
FAO, ECOWAS, Sverige. “Sub-Regional National Forest Inventory Capacity Development Workshop”. CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana. Kumasi. June 24-29, 2024.
Design for Change Espana, “Design for Change Methodology.” Department of Geography-University of Alicante, March 21 2024