The Kola Nut in the Atlantic World: Colonial Violence, Consumption Cultures and Diasporic Mobilities

Dr Shantel George (Glasgow) | MARCH 1, 2023 | From the late nineteenth-century, British explorers, bioprospectors and homoeopathic chemists fervently reported the ‘discovery’ of the African kola nut, which was slated to supersede chocolate, tea and coffee, bolster imperial ambitions, and offer ‘miraculous’ health benefits. For African and African-descended peoples, however, the kola nut was not new, having cultivated, consumed, and, from at least the thirteenth century, established trading networks in the nut.

Yet, few studies examine Africans as distributors and consumers of global commodities, failing to recognise the impact of Africans throughout the life histories of commodities. This talk charts the complex history and wide-ranging influence of the African kola nut, focusing on Nigeria, Jamaica and Britain from 1500 to 1900. It uses this investigation as a case study to emphasise and explain the long-neglected role of Africans as distributors and consumers of global commodities and to highlight the relationship between consumption cultures and imperialism in late-nineteenth-century Britain.