Abosede George | |
---|---|
Born | Abosede Ajibike George |
Awards | Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize, African Studies Association Women's Caucus, 2015; 2019 Paula J. Giddings Best Article Award |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Rutgers University Stanford University |
Thesis | “Gender and Juvenile Justice: Girl Hawkers in Lagos 1925-1950” |
Academic advisors | Richard Roberts |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Barnard College |
Website | barnard |
Abosede George is the Tow Associate Professor of History at Barnard College [1] and Columbia University in New York. She teaches courses on African migrations,historical mapping,urban history,African history,childhood and youth studies,girl studies,women's studies,and migration studies [1] gender,and sexuality in African History. She is the incumbent President of the Nigerian Studies Association,an affiliate organization of the African Studies Association. [2]
Her book,Making Modern Girls:A History of Girlhood,Labor,and Social Development was published in 2014 by Ohio University Press and received the Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize in 2015 from the Women’s Caucus of the African Studies Association,as well as Honorable Mention from the New York African Studies Association.
Abosede George obtained her B.A. in history from Rutgers University in 1999. She proceeded to Stanford University where she earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history in 2002 and 2006 respectively. [3]
George began her teaching career in 2003 at Stanford University as a Teaching Fellow. In 2006,she moved to Trinity College as an assistant professor of history and international studies. George joined the faculty of Barnard College and Columbia University in 2007. [1] Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of African urban history,history of childhood and youth in Africa,and women,gender,and sexuality in African History. [1] From January to May 2011,she was a visiting assistant professor at her alma mater,Rutgers College –Rutgers University. [4]
George has published widely on subjects such as girlhood in African/colonial cities,urbanism and social reform in colonial Africa,among others. Her articles have appeared in several first-tier,peer-reviewed academic journals,including the Journal of Social History , Women’s Studies Quarterly ,and the Scholar and Feminist Online . George was one of the seven historians engaged in the AHR Conversation themed “Each Generation Writes Its Own History of Generations”. [5] Her book,Making Modern Girls:A History of Girlhood,Labor,and Social Development,which was published in 2014,won her the 2015 Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize as the best scholarly book. [6] Lately,she won the 2019 Paula J. Giddings Best Article Award for her article “Saving Nigerian Girls:A Critical Reflection on Girl-Saving Campaigns in the Colonial and Neoliberal Eras”. [7]
Her publications have appeared in the American Historical Review,the Journal of Social History,Comparative Studies in South Asia,Africa,and the Middle East,Meridians,Women’s Studies Quarterly,the Journal of West African History,and the Washington Post among other outlets. She is the founder of The Ekopolitan Project,a digital forum dedicated to historical research on migrant communities in nineteenth- and twentieth century Lagos,West Africa.
George maintains faculty affiliations with the Africana Studies Program at Barnard,the Institute for African Studies at Columbia (IAS),the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW),and the Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference (CCASD). [8] She is a member of the following professional organizations:African Studies Association,Society for the History of Childhood and Youth,and Nigerian Studies Association where she is the current President. [1] She is equally a member of the Board of Directors of the Lagos Studies Association,of which,together with Saheed Aderinto and Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi,she is a foundation member. [9]
Beyond academia,Abosede George has undertaken a number of creative,historical projects. For instance,the 2018 Lagos Photo Festival featured George's audio piece project which reworks the archives of a court case from the late 1800s in Lagos,Nigeria. An audio booth was provided in which visitors would sit in and listen to the trial and testimonies from the court case Ayebomi vs. Regina. [10] The work received coverage by Vogue Italia. [11]
Queen's College,Lagos,is a government-owned girls' secondary (high) school with boarding facilities,situated in Yaba,Lagos,Nigeria. Often referred to as the "sister college" of King's College,Lagos,it was founded on October 10,1927,when Nigeria was still a British colony.
Ifi Amadiume was born on April 23,1947. She is a Nigerian poet,anthropologist,and essayist. At the age of 46,she joined the Religion Department of Dartmouth College,New Hampshire,US,in 1993. During her life she has authored and contributed to a total of 13 works.
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The Thing Around Your Neck is a short-story collection by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,first published in April 2009 by Fourth Estate in the UK and by Knopf in the US. It received many positive reviews,including:"She makes storytelling seem as easy as birdsong";"Stunning. Like all fine storytellers,she leaves us wanting more".
Iyaloye Oyinkansola "Oyinkan" Abayomi,Lady Abayomi was a Nigerian nationalist and feminist. She was the head of the Nigerian Girl Guides and founder of the Nigerian Women's Party.
Oyèrónkẹ́Oyěwùmí is a Nigerian gender scholar and full professor of sociology at Stony Brook University. She acquired her bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan,Nigeria and went on to pursue her graduate degree in Sociology at the University of California,Berkeley. Oyěwùmíis the winner of the African Studies Association's 2021 Distinguished Africanist Award,which recognizes and honours individuals who have contributed a lifetime of outstanding scholarship in African studies combined with service to the Africanist community.
The People's Union was an association in Lagos,Nigeria created in 1908 to promote the welfare of the city's residents regardless of race or religion. Its leaders included educated and traditional elites. An early goal was to stop a project to bring piped water into the city. All residents would pay taxes to cover the costs,but the wealthy Europeans and Africans with piped houses would be the main beneficiaries. The union lost popular support when the educated elites accepted a compromise on the water project in 1915. The People's Union was revived to fight an election in 1923 and continued until 1928,but could not compete with the more populist Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP).
Mabel Dove Danquah was a Gold Coast-born journalist,political activist,and creative writer,one of the earliest women in West Africa to work in these fields. As Francis Elsbend Kofigah notes in relation to Ghana's literary pioneers,"before the emergence of such strong exponents of literary feminism as Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo,there was Mabel Dove Danquah,the trail-blazing feminist." She used various pseudonyms in her writing for newspapers from the 1930s:"Marjorie Mensah" in The Times of West Africa;"Dama Dumas" in the African Morning Post;"Ebun Alakija" in the Nigerian Daily Times;and "Akosua Dzatsui" in the Accra Evening News. Entering politics in the 1950s before Ghana's independence,she became the first woman to be elected a member of any African legislative assembly. She created the awareness and the need for self-governance through her works.
Oloori Kofoworola "Kofo" Aina Ademola,Lady Ademola MBE,MFR,OFR was a Nigerian educationist who was the president of the National Council of Women's Societies in Nigeria and was the head of the women's organization from 1958 to 1964. She was the first black African woman to earn a degree from Oxford University,studying at St Hugh's College,and also an author of children's books.
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