A professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS) and faculty associate of the Program in the Environment (PitE) at the University of Michigan, Omolade Adunbi, has been appointed as the new director of the African Studies Center (ASC).
ASC is the only African studies program that incorporates STEM, social sciences, and the humanities.
“I am excited to be appointed as the next ASC director. It is noteworthy that I am following in the footsteps of accomplished scholars and administrators, Professor Kelly Askew (ASC founding director), and my predecessor, Professor Andries Coetzee,” Adunbi said.
His appointment became effective July 1, 2022, but Coetzee is to stay on as associate director until December 2022.
The Nigerian political and environmental anthropologist said he considers it an honour to lead arguably the most vibrant African Studies Center in North America and, of course, the world.
“These are big shoes to fill, but I am excited that they have built a solid foundation for the center, which I intend to build on. I have a three-pronged approach in my job as ASC’s director -consolidation, cooperation and collaboration,” Adunbi added.
The new director is an active and innovative researcher with varied experiences that include human, environmental and prodemocracy activism. His research interest interrogates the dynamics of power, citizenship, natural resource extraction, claim-making, and militancy in Nigeria.
He received his PhD in anthropology from Yale University and his undergraduate degree in philosophy in Nigeria, where he lived and studied before coming to the United States for his graduate education.
Adunbi is the author of numerous articles in journals such as Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, Africa, Journal of the International Institute at Cambridge, African Studies Review, Extractive Industries and Society, Journal of Material Culture, Information and Society, and Political and Legal Anthropology Review.
He serves on the editorial board of various journals such as Africa, Current Anthropology, Social Analysis, Political and Legal Anthropology Review.
I don’t want to believe that the author of this story is being mischievous. Omolade Adunbi is a Full Professor at the Department of Afro-American and African Studies, University of Michigan. Assistant Professor is a starter.