Titi Akinade

Titi Akinade is a doctoral student in Environment and Anthropology studying the environmental history of Nigerian oil palm plantations. Her research explores how the advent and subsequent transformations of the plantation economy have altered environmental epistemologies and ontologies in southwestern Nigeria. Through examining the plantation as a race making institution, she is interested in placing the capture and forced migration of West African people and plants into the same analytical frame to reconcile palm oil’s vilified persona and its role in racial capitalism. Drawing on Yoruba oral literature and multispecies ethnography, she also seeks to interrogate dominant “development” regimes and reimagine alternate futures beyond economic models that privilege resource extraction.

Titi holds a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Development and Middle Eastern and African Studies from Columbia University. She has worked at the intersection of climate and culture across institutions including farms, museums, and media nonprofits.