Nigerian academia celebrates as Professor Olutayo Adesina, a distinguished historian at the University of Ibadan, and Abubakar Sani, former head of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), have been chosen for the prestigious 2023 British Academy Global Professorship.
The esteemed scholars are part of a select group of eight professors tasked with conducting research on various critical topics, including devising food system models to address climate challenges and delving into the history of West African communities through museum collections.
Joining Adesina and Sani in this academic endeavor are Tetyana Antsupova, Paul Behrens, Sandrine Berges, Karine Chemla, Saloumeh Gholami, and Ayelet Landau.
The British Academy Global Professorship is a substantial investigator-led award designed to attract internationally recognized established scholars to work in the United Kingdom and undertake cutting-edge research projects in diverse yet relevant areas of interest.
Professor Adesina, who also serves as the president of the Society of Nigerian Archivists, will focus his research on the “interplay of nationalist historiography, academic social science, and vernacular knowledge as mutually constitutive social epistemologies.”
His inquiry will explore the extent to which the work of academic historians and social scientists at the University of Ibadan was influenced by indigenous, vernacular epistemologies.
On the other hand, Professor Sani, a deputy director at the ABU Zaria Institute for Development Research and Training, aims to embark on a project that integrates archaeology, museum practice, and stakeholder engagement to study extensive and under-researched collections from significant Nigerian sites.
His research will draw on archaeological, ethnographic, and archival data held in British and Nigerian museums, with the hope of yielding “new understandings of African history and of UK/Nigerian research histories, through academic outputs, online resources, exhibitions, and outreach in the UK and Nigeria.”
According to the British Academy, the awards are expected to span four years, with each selected awardee receiving £900,000 to execute their respective projects.
