Amie Edwards is a second-year Ph.D. Candidate in the College of Design Construction and Planning, School of Architecture. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from the Art Institute of Jacksonville, FL, in 2016 and a Master of Architecture from the University of Florida in 2020. Her Ph.D. research is on African Architecture and Identity. The study focuses on the meanings embedded in Asante’s cultural elements of the Golden Stool, Kente Cloth, and Adinkra symbols and their connection with the 19th Asante Palace of Kumase, Ghana, according to Asante’s oral history. Through the Center of African Studies FLAS fellowship, a close study of the Akan Twi language supports a deeper understanding of the palace’s socio-cultural expression and spatial narrative. Amie presented her Ph.D. research to UF DCP 2020 Research Symposium, Georgia Tech Concave Divergence in Architectural Research Symposium 2022, and the Vernacular Architecture Forum Conference 2021 and 2022. Amie is an Adjunct Lecturer for The Survey of Architecture History online course and is currently a part of a team of faculty reorganizing the UF Architecture History course to include more content on Africa and Women Architects.
Amie received the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship 2022 to continue her research in Kumasi, Ghana. Amie endeavors to continue to teach and expand the architectural discourse on African imperial structures and their cultural meaning.