How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For a work that has had as along a gestation as this one, it is quite in order that I have garnered a lot of debts along the way. While the work developed I moved around a lot, and as much as possible, I shall thank my benefactors according to where I met them and where they came to affect the shape or direction of this work. The oldest antecedent of all the chapters of this book came out of the original project for which I was awarded a Rockefeller Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, back in 1990. There I met Kofi Anyidoho. If I could claim nothing else from my stay but Professor Anyidoho’s friendship and his interest in and sponsorship of my work ever since, it would have been well worth it. Fortunately, Ithaca was also a place where I was blessed to interact with some old friends and make new ones. I would like to thank David Lyons, whose friendship and mentoring had a greater impact on me than I think he realized. I also thank Anne Adams; Biodun Jeyifo; Jim Turner; Robert Harris , Jr.; Abdul Nanji; and the late Don Ohadike. Yetunde Laniran always managed to save me from the terror of computers and their quirky ways. In 1991, I moved to the Philosophy Department at Loyola University in Chicago. I was the beneficiary of the kindness and professional support of so many colleagues during the many years I spent there. As the individual acknowledgments in different chapters show, the bulk of the research that has been gathered in this book was done while the department at Loyola served as my home base. My Chicago years were productive but they also were some of the most difficult periods of my life so far, both personally and professionally. I am forever thankful for the support of my Chicago family, who never let me really discover how bad my situation then was until I left and was able to look backward with some detachment. I thank Hugh Miller and his family; David Schweickart, David Ingram, Thomas Sheehan, and the rest of the Heartland Café Sunday morning group; Julie Ward and her husband, Ezio Vailati, “my countryman”; Holly Graff; David Ozar; Ardis Collins; Sue Cunningham ; Andrew Cutrofello; Jennifer Parks; the late Hans Seigfried; Ken Thompson; Heidi Malm; Patricia Huntington; Tom Carson; Diane Suter; Cheryl Johnson-Odim and her family; Susan Cavallo; Judith Wittner; Ayana Karanja; Clement Adibe and x Acknowledgments his family; Chiji Akoma and his family; Charles Mills; Bernard Walker; Leslie Brissette ; and Jeanne Huchthausen. The graduate students who participated in my seminar on Modernity and Colonialism at Loyola University in 1998–1999 deserve mention. Among them, Shannon Shea, who later served as my research assistant, must be cited for special thanks. She was an invaluable assistant and tracked down materials for me at crucial stages in the evolution of my research. Kory Schaff and Katrina Sifferd read earlier versions of chapter 5 and gave me helpful feedback. Colleen Sweeney, Carole Heath, Cynthia Brincat, Carmela Eppright, David Gandolfo, Judy Massey-Dozier, and Lenora Jean Daniels, along with those I just mentioned, are all former graduate students whom I am honored and proud to now call friends. When I was invited to spend a most fruitful week as a Visiting Distinguished Minority Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Professors Tess Onwueme and Obika Gray were incredible hosts. The community there provided the original audience for the precursor of what is now chapter 2. I thank them for providing me with enough activities in one week to try out many new ideas. I also thank Masako Arisawa, then of Menomonee, Wisconsin, now of Kobe, Japan, for her continuing friendship. I was invited to Bayreuth in 1999, where I served as a Visiting Professor at the Institut für Afrikastudien, Universität Bayreuth. I would like to thank my host, Professor Dr. Dierk Lange and his family; Dr. Peter Probst and his family; and Professor Dr. Ulrich Berner of the Religious Studies Department for their hospitality and generosity. I also thank Gabriele Weisser, Heike Wildemann, Diatou Sylla, Lucia Dogbe, Thorstein Parchent, and Kristin Scherer. Professor Dr. Eckard Breitinger’s friendship and generosity remain ever green in my heart. The Nigerian academic community I met in Bayreuth was a welcome surprise and a source of strength and inspiration. I take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the support...