Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has described the award bestowed on US-based Nigerian Professor Saheed Aderinto as well deserved and
commendable.
In a congratulatory message to Prof. Aderinto, she said the award has
brought glory to not only Nigeria but to the entire African continent.
Saheed Aderinto, a Nigerian Professor of History at Florida International University, won the 2023 Dan David Prize worth $300,000.
The NIDCOM boss said the academic excellence of Prof. Aderinto is worth
of emulation by all, especially with teeming Nigeria young academicians
in the Diaspora.
While commending Prof. Aderinto for the excellence performance, she said
the Commission and the entire country is proud of his achievement and
encourage him not to rest on his oars.
The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognises and
supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other
disciplines that shed light on the human past.
It is considered to be the “largest history prize in the world.”
The 2023 winners were announced on February 28, with Aderinto, who is a
Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies, making the list.
Each of the nine winners, will receive $300,000 to recognise their
achievements and support their future work.
The selection committee praised Aderinto’s work “for situating African
history at the cutting edge of diverse literatures in the history of
sexuality, non-humans, and violence, noting that it is exceptional to
see a single person leading scholarship in all of these fields.”
Aderinto was born in Ibadan in 1979. In 2004, he received his Bachelor’s
in History from the University of Ibadan and his Ph.D. from the
University of Texas, Austin in 2010.
In the same year, he started his teaching career at Western Carolina
University where he became a full Professor of History in 2021. He later
moved to Florida International University in 2022.
He has published 8 books, 37 journal articles and book chapters, 41
encyclopedia articles, and 21 book reviews.
His recent book ‘Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa’ examines
the role of animals in Nigerian history. He is also presently writing a
book and making a documentary on Fuji music.
Aderinto is also the founding President of the Lagos Studies Association
and a senior research fellow of the French Institute for Research in
Africa.
The Dan David Prize is “the new MacArthur-style ‘genius grant’ for
history.”
Selection is by nomination and the awards ceremony will hold in Israel
in May.
