What I Am Thinking About Now: Professor Olakunle George (English)

The presentation will focus on Ajayi Crowther, first African Bishop of the Church of England. Crowther belongs in a class of blacks that emerged in West Africa after Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807. Known to Africanist historians as "recaptives," they were rescued from slave ships intercepted by anti-slavery squadrons on the Atlantic after 1807. Recognized as one of the founders of modern Nigeria, Crowther translated the King James Bible into Yoruba and compiled primers of many other languages. His writings show typical nineteenth-century condescension towards Africa, but he also complicates European missionary discourse -- often against the grain of his authorial intention. The talk will explore the conceptual implications, and political legacies, of this tension.

What I Am Thinking About Now is an on-going informal workshop/seminar series to which faculty and graduate students are invited to present and discuss recently published work and work in progress.