Posnansky, Merrick

Posnansky, Merrick,

Ezid

Obituary Delievered at Professor Obichere's Memorial Service

eScholarship - University of California

UCLAUfahamu: A Journal of African StudiesTitleObituary Delievered at Professor Obichere's Memorial ServicePermalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/3b50059jJournalUfahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 29(1)ISSN0041-5715AuthorPosnansky, MerrickPublication Date2002DOI10.5070/F7291016561Copyright InformationCopyright 2002 by the author(s). All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Contact the author(s) for any necessary permissions. Learn more at https://escholarship.org/terms Peer reviewedeScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of CaliforniaObituary delivered at the memorial servicefor Professor Boniface ObichereMarch 2/. /997Merrick PosnanskyOne of the ironies of being an UCLA Africanist is Ihal il is often easierto get to know one's colleagues in Africa than at UCLA, and so it wasfor me. I first met Boniface when I was teaching at the University ofGhana and he was a visiting scholar in 1970. I had, however. known ofBonifuce's legendary prowess as an entertaining and stimulatingteacher from my niece who had been a member of one of his firs!UCLA classes. It was partly through my 1970's contact with him thatI ultimately came to UCLA when Boniface was director of the AfricanStudies Center. I remain forever grateful for his initiative. I was to meeland talk with Boniface several times more in Africa- He was at thaitime one of a new generation of African historians, trained in theWest, stimulating their colleagues in Africa with a new vision and adynamic approach moving from the highly localized myths oforigin.descriptions of state formation and of early trade and stale politicsthai had so characterized an earlier generalion of West Africansschooled largely in the universities of Africa. Boniface invigoratedhis colleagues in the historical dialectic involved with the feedbackfrom past to present and present to past, particularly in the examina-tion of oil. mililary rule and dictatorship in Africa. He enlivened bothhis conference remarks and more popular lectures with anecdoteswhich made his contributions that much more memorable and amus-ing. He was at his inteUeclUal summit at a conference that he orga-nized on mililary rule at the University of Ghana in the lale 1970'swhich altracled scholars from all over Africa at a time when mililarydiclalOrship was at its peak.Boniface, as had previous ASC directors before him. madeUCLA an household name, a lrusted commodily in African scholar-ship. He used his office 10 aUract some of the most fonnidable Africanscholars to UCLA and many of the contacts he made have grown intoinvaluable networks for a younger generalion of UCLA Africanists.Always. when I went back to West Africa. whatever the country.someone was sure to ask when Professor Obichere would be visiling.He was respecled and admired and welcomed because of Ihe spirit he66 UFAHAMUbroughllO specialist conferences in Africa. many organized throughthe aegis of UNESCO or similar imemalional or regional agencieswhere his expenise in Dahomean history and some of the broaderissues of African hislOf)' made him a bridge between Francophoneand Anglophone academics. It is for Ihis inler-African. pan-Africancontribution that Boniface will be long remembered as well as for hislively inlerest in the African diaspora. of which he was always willing10 share his knowledge. I was proud to give leclUres with him insymposia dealing with the African impact all American culture fIrsl inthe Cenler for African American Studies in the mid 1980's and laler ma panel I organized for the Quincemennial conference at UCLA in1992. I was personally grateful for the many limes he agreed 10 serveon the MA and doctoral commiuees of my studenls researching thearchaeology of the slave trade era. Boniface. we mourn you but yourlegacy will live.

English

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3b50059j

Obituary Delievered at Professor Obichere's Memorial Service

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Ezid

eScholarship - University of California