Essien’s interdisciplinary research focuses on comparative histories of slavery, reverse migrations, race and cultures in Africa and the African Diaspora/Atlantic world. He is the co-author of Culture and Customs of Sudan (2009), co-editor of Pan-Africanism and the Politics of African Citizenship and Identity (2013) and has published other articles in peered reviewed journals. His manuscript, Brazilian-African Diaspora in Ghana: The Tabom, Slavery, Dissonance of Memory, Identity and Locating Home will be published by Michigan State University Press in 2016. His next projects include “Collaborators, Traitors and Opportunists in Ghanaian History: Elmina Chief Kweku Andoh’s Contributions to Colonialism in Ghana”; and the history of Chinese immigrants / expatriates in Ghana.