Kenneth Dike

Kenneth Onwuka Dike
Oil portrait of Kenneth Onwuka Dike as a young man, painted by Robert Sivell
Born17 December 1917
Awka
Died26 October 1983
NationalityNigerian
Alma materDurham University
OccupationEducationist
Children5

Kenneth Onwuka Dike // ⓘ (17 December 1917 – 26 October 1983[1]) was a Nigerian educationist, historian and the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of the nation's premier college, the University of Ibadan.[2][3]

During the Nigerian civil war, he moved to Harvard University.[4] He was a founder of the Ibadan School that dominated the writing of the History of Nigeria until the 1970s.[5]

Dike was a pioneer in the movement towards utilising oral traditions in a multi-disciplinary approach in African historiography.[6]: 212  He is credited with "having played the leading role in creating a generation of African historians who could interpret their own history without being influenced by Eurocentric approaches."[7] He has been called the "godfather of African history".[8]

  1. ^ "Kenneth O. Dike Dies In a Nigerian Hospital". The New York Times. 13 November 1983. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. ^ J. Gus Liebenow (1986). African Politics: Crises and Challenges. Vol. 388 of A Midland book. Indiana University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-253-3027-55.
  3. ^ Richard A. Joseph (2014). Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria. Vol. 56. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-107-6335-37.
  4. ^ "Kenneth O. Dike Dies In a Nigerian Hospital". The New York Times. 13 November 1983. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  5. ^ Utilisateur, Super. "Kenneth Onwuka Dike (1962 - 1967)". ias-ibadan.org. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  6. ^ Horáková, Hana; Werkman, Katerina (2016). "African historians and the production of historical knowledge in Africa: Some reflections". Knowledge Production in and on Africa. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-643-90798-1.
  7. ^ Keith A. P. Sandiford, A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora, Hansib Publications, 2008, p. 151.
  8. ^ Awortu; Uebari Samuel (2015). "African Intellectual Revolution In the 20th Century: A Review of Kenneth Onwuka Dike's Contributions to African History" (PDF). International Journal of African and Asian Studies. 13.