Akinwumi Ogundiran

Akinwumi Ogundiran (born 1966) is an archaeologist, whose research focuses on the Yoruba world of western Africa, Atlantic Africa, and the African Diaspora. He is Chancellor's Professor and Professor of Africana Studies, Anthropology & History at UNC Charlotte.[1]

Akinwumi Ogundiran
Academic background
Alma mater	Boston University
Academic work
Discipline	Archaeology
Institutions	UNC Charlotte

Education

Ogundiran received a BA from Obafemi Awolowo University in 1988, followed by a MSC from the University of Ibadan in 1991. In 2000, he received a PhD from Boston University.[1] His thesis was titled Settlement cycling and regional interactions in central Yorùbá-land, AD 1200-1900 : archaeology and history in Ìlàrè district, Nigeria.[2]

Career

Ogundiran taught at the Department of History at Florida International University, Miami.[1] From 2008 to 2018 Ogundiran was Chair of the Africana Studies department at UNC Charlotte, where he is currently Chancellor's Professor and Professor of Africana Studies, Anthropology & History.[1] His research addresses the archaeology of social complexity and cultural history in the Yoruba world of western Africa, especially questions of community formation and identities during the period 1000-1800 AD. Ogundiran has also facilitated collaborative research projects on the archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora. Other areas of work include Black Intellectual Thought, social sustainability, historiography and cultural heritage.[1]

From 1997 to 2000, Ogundiran directed the Eka Osun Project which studied regional interactions, historic landscape and social memory in Ilare District, Nigeria (1200–1900 CE).[3] More recently, the Upper Osun Archaeological and Historical Project has investigated the politics and culture of the Oyo Empire, the cultural history of Atlantic Africa as experienced in the hinterlands of the Yoruba world, and the landscape and history of the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove.[4] His research has been funded by the National Humanities Center, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, among others. In spring 2018, he was a Yip Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge.[4][3]

Ogundiran has authored and edited numerous monographs. In 2015, his monograph Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic was awarded the Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015. He was awarded a Certificate of Special United States Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Service in 2007.[1] In 2018, he received the Award of Excellence from Nigeria's Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding.[1]

He is currently editor-in-chief of the journal African Archaeological Review.[5]

Selected publications

• Archaeology and History in Ilare District, 1200-1900 (Cambridge Monograph in African Archaeology 55, 2002)
• Precolonial Nigeria (Africa World Press, 2005)
• Archaeology of Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora (Indiana University Press, 2007)
• Power and Landscape in Atlantic West Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
• Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic (Indiana University Press, 2014)

References

1. "Akin Ogundiran". Akin Ogundiran. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
2. "BU Library". buprimo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
3. Ogundiran, Akinwumi O. (2002). Archaeology and History in Ìlàrè District (Central Yorubaland, Nigeria) 1200-1900 A.D. Oxford, UK: British Archaeological Reports. doi:10.30861/9781841714684. ISBN 978-1-84171-468-4.
4. Adekola, Kola (2014), Smith, Claire (ed.), "Ogundiran, Akinwumi", Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, New York, NY: Springer New York, pp. 5558–5559, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2349, ISBN 978-1-4419-0426-3, retrieved 2020-06-21
5. "African Archaeological Review". Springer. Retrieved 2020-06-21.