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Raymond E. Dumett
Professor, Department of History
Office Phone: (765) 494-4153
Office Fax: (765) 496-1755
Email: rdumett@purdue.edu
Specialization: Global History. African, British Empire History.
Professor Dumett received his Ph.D. from the University of London. At Purdue he teaches a range of courses on the history of Africa and on imperialism and colonialism. His areas of research specialization include the economic history of West Africa, in such fields as mining, agriculture, trade and transportation; and he is particularly interested in the interactions between indigenous African entrepreneurship, labor, government policy, and the impact of the Atlantic economy. In addition to his work on 19th and 20th century legitimate trade and commerce, he has also written on slavery and abolition.
Professor Dumett's major works include: El Dorado in West Africa: The Gold Mining Frontier, African Labor and Colonial Capitalism in the Gold Coast, 1875-1900 (1999); Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Imperialism: The New Debate on Empire (1998); West African Cultural Dynamics: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives, co-ed. with B.K. Swartz (1980): and Problems of Rural Development: Case Studies and Multi-disciplinary Perspectives, co-ed. with L.W. Brainerd (1975). He has published articles in many of the leading journals in African history, British history, and interdisciplinary and comparative history.
Professor Dumett is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. His El Dorado in West Africa received an award as an "Outstanding Academic Book" from the American Library Association for the year 1990. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Cape Town, the University of British Columbia, the University of Washington, and he was a visiting senior member at Linacre College, Oxford.
