Akinwumi Ogundiran facts for kids

Akinwumi Ogundiran (born in 1966) is a well-known professor. He teaches history at Northwestern University. He is an expert in archaeology, anthropology, and cultural history. His work mainly focuses on the Yoruba people of West Africa. He also studies the history of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora, which means people of African origin living in other parts of the world. He was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, and moved to the United States in 1993.

Education

Akinwumi Ogundiran studied at several universities. He earned his first degree with top honors from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria in 1988. Then, he received his master's degree from the University of Ibadan in 1991. In 2000, he completed his PhD at Boston University. His PhD research was about how communities changed and interacted in the Yoruba region of Nigeria between 1200 and 1900 AD.

Career and Research

Professor Ogundiran started his career as a news editor in Nigeria in 1991. He taught at universities in Nigeria before getting his PhD. After that, he began teaching at Florida International University in Miami.

From 2008 to 2018, he led the Africana Studies department at UNC Charlotte. There, he was a Chancellor's Professor. Later, he became a professor at Northwestern University.

His research explores the history of the Yoruba world in West Africa. He looks at how early communities formed and how societies became more complex. He focuses on the period from 1000 to 1800 AD. He also helps with research projects about the history of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora. Other areas he studies include Black Intellectual Thought, how societies can last over time, and cultural heritage.

Major Research Projects

From 1997 to 2000, Professor Ogundiran led the Eka Osun Project. This project studied how different regions interacted in the Ilare District of Nigeria. It also looked at historical landscapes and how people remembered the past from 1200 to 1900 CE.

Between 2003 and 2011, he directed the Upper Osun Archaeological and Historical Project. This project explored the cultural history of Atlantic Africa. It focused on how this history was experienced in the Yoruba region. It also studied the history of the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove.

More recently, he has been leading the Archaeology of Old Oyo Metropolis project. This project studies the economy and society of the Oyo Empire, which existed from 1570 to 1836.

His research has received support from important organizations. These include the National Humanities Center, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He also received funding from the American Philosophical Society and National Geographic. In 2018, he was a Yip Fellow at Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge.

Publications and Awards

Professor Ogundiran has written and edited many books and articles. One of his books, Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic, was recognized as an "Outstanding Academic Title" in 2015. His most recent book, "The Yoruba: A New History" (2020), has won several awards. These include the 2022 Vinson Sutlive Book Prize and the Isaac Delano Prize in Yoruba Studies.

He has also received several honors. In 2007, he got a Certificate of Special United States Congressional Recognition for his excellent service. In 2018, UNESCO-Affiliated Centre in Nigeria gave him a Research Excellence Award. He also received the 2021 First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal Award. This is the highest award for research at UNC Charlotte.

Professor Ogundiran is a Member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (MNAL) and Phi Kappa Phi. He is also an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians of London.

From 2019 to 2023, he was the editor-in-chief of the journal African Archaeological Review. He is currently the President of the Society of Africanist Archaeologists.

Selected publications

• Archaeology and History in Ilare District, 1200-1900 (2002)
• Precolonial Nigeria (2005)
• Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora (2007)
• Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa (2012)
• Crises of Culture and Consciousness in the Postcolony: What is the future for Nigeria? (2012)
• Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic (2014)
• The Yoruba: A New History (2020)