Agency and Acquired Plant Knowledge among Enslaved Laborers: The Acclimatization of Vanilla and Cloves in the Indian Ocean World

Edward A. Alpers is a research professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also taught at the Universities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1966–68), and the Somali National University, Lafoole (1980). In 1994 he served as president of the African Studies Association (USA). Alpers has published widely on the history of East Africa and the Indian Ocean. His major publications include Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa (1975), East Africa and the Indian Ocean (2009), and The Indian Ocean in World History (2014). He has coedited many volumes including Sidis and Scholars: Essays on African Indians (2004), Slavery and Resistance in Africa and Asia (2005), Slave Routes and Oral Tradition in Southeastern Africa (2005), Resisting Bondage in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia (2007), Cross-Currents and Community Networks: The History of the Indian Ocean World (2007), Changing Horizons of African History (2017), and Connectivity in Motion: Island Hubs in the Indian Ocean World (2018). A Primer for Teaching Indian Ocean World History, coauthored with Thomas F. McDow, was published in 2024. Professor Alpers served as chair for sixty-two PhD dissertations.