About

Bekeh Utietiang Ukelina, Ph.D. 

210-E Old Main
SUNY, Cortland, NY 13045

Email: Bekeh.ukelina@cortland.edu

EDUCATION 

Ph.D. History, West Virginia University, Morgantown, 2014. 

Dissertation: Planning Development: International Experts, Agricultural Policy, and the Modernization of Nigeria, 1945-1967.

Examination Fields: Africa, African American, Modern Europe, and British Imperial. 

M.A. Religion and Culture, The Catholic University of America, Washington DC, 2007.

B.A. Philosophy (With Honors), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2002.

Graduate Certificate in Digital Public Humanities, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA,  2017. 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Current: Associate Professor, History and Africana Studies, State University of New York, Cortland, NY.

Current: Interim Director, Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies, State University of New York, Cortland, NY. 

Current: Managing Editor, Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies. 

2014-2017 Instructor, Department of History, Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, WV.

2012-2014 Lecturer, Department of       History, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV.

2008-2014 Instructor, Department of Social Sciences, West Virginia University at Parkersburg, Parkersburg, WV. 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Scholarly Books, Articles, & Chapters:

Published “Making a Nation Modern: CIS and Nigeria’s First National Development Plan” Journal of West African History, 7,2 (Fall, 2021). 

Published With Tori Omega Arthur, “Gateway to Africa: The History of Television Service in Late Colonial Nigeria” Africa Bibliography, Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Published “The Mis-education of the African Child: The Evolution of British Colonial Education Policy in Southern Nigeria, 1900-1925” Athens Journal of History, 2021.

Published With Tokunbo Laotan-Brown & Conrad Kuzooka, “Marginalised Heritages: Building Bridges to recognition and Protection”, Historic Environment, 32,1 (Fall, 2020). 

Published “Editorial: Media Activism, Sexual Expressions, and Agency in the Era of #MeToo” Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies, 12:1 (Fall, 2019). 

Published Twentieth Century Youth Protest Movements: Learning through Sources. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2020. 

Published The Second Colonial Occupation: Development Planning, Agriculture, and the Legacies of British Rule in Nigeria. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. August, 2017. 

Published “Editorial: Media Activism, Sexual Expressions, and Agency in the Era of #MeToo” Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies, 12:1 (Fall, 2019). 

Published “Africa for Africans: Black Nationalism and the UNIA’s mission civilisatrice in Africa” Calabar Journal of Politics and Administration (November, 2018): 5-25. 

Published “Historicizing Development: Nigeria’s 1945 Colonial Plan” The Journal of Pan African Studies 8,9 (December, 2015): 5-25. 

Published “New Evangelization in Africa: Learning from the Culture of Love in the Early Church” in Stan Chu Ilo, Joseph Ogbonnaya & Alex Ojacor, eds. The Church as Salt and Light: Path to an African Ecclesiology of Abundant Life. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2011.  

Published Afridentity: Essays on Africa. Silver Spring, MD: Africa Reads Books, 2007.

Forthcoming Books, Articles, & Chapters:
Accepted   Old Wine in New Bottles: The New Scramble for Africa. Edited by Bekeh Ukelina, Leuven University Press. (Released in the Fall of 2022). 
Accepted “Nigerian Relations During the Cold War” in Routledge Handbook on Nigeria. 

Book Reviews:

Published Review of Salau, Mohammed Bashir, Plantation Slavery in the Sokoto Caliphate: A Historical and Comparative Study. Journal of West African History, 7.1 (Spring, 2021). 

Published Review of Carol Gilligan and David A. J. Richards, Darkness Now Visible: Patriarchy’s Resurgence and Feminist Resistance. Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies, 12:1 (Fall, 2019).

Published Review of Eller, Anne, We Dream Together: Dominican Independence, Haiti, and the Fight for the Caribbean Freedom. Journal of Global South Studies, 34, 2, Fall 2017. 

Published Review of Getz, Trevor R., Cosmopolitan Africa: C. 1700-1875. Middle Ground Journal, Spring, 2016

Published Review of White, Christopher M., A Global History of the Developing World. H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. November, 2014.

Published Review of Maguire Robert & Freeman, Scott (eds.), Who Owns Haiti? People, Power, and Sovereignty. Journal of Global South Studies, 35, 2, Fall 2018.  

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS & AWARDS

Received

2022 Gerda Henkel Stiftung (12 Month Grant)

2022 DAAD HAW.International (3 Month Visiting Professorship, Fulda University of Applied Sciences)

2019 SUNY Russia Programs Network Award, St. Petersburg, Russia.

2019 Small Grant, SUNY, Cortland. 

2019 FRP Grant, SUNY, Cortland.  

2018 Small Grant, SUNY, Cortland. 

2018 HD-REDI Grant, History Department, SUNY, Cortland. 

2017 HD-REDI Grant, History Department, SUNY, Cortland. 

2017 Small Grant, SUNY, Cortland. 

2013 Dissertation Research Fellowship, Eberly School, WVU, Morgantown.

2012 Department Doctoral Research Fellowship, WVU, Morgantown.

2012 Department Grant to Develop Online Courses, WVU, Morgantown.

2011 History Department Research Mini-grant, WVU, Morgantown.

CONFERENCE ACTIVITY

Panels Chaired/Organized

2022 Who Owns Africa: China, Euro-American Institutions and the New Scramble for Africa. African Studies Association of African 4th Biennial Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, April 11-15.

2019 Educating “the Natives”: British Colonial School System in Nigeria. 44th Annual Conference of the New York African Studies Association, York College, City University of New York, April 12-13.

2019 The Politics of Development in Africa. The Professor Robert M. Maxon Lifetime Achievement and Academic Legacy African Conference, West Virginia University, Morgantown, March 28-30.  

2018 Where Do We Come From? African Origins of Human Life and Migration. 43rd Annual Conference of the New York African Studies Association, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, April 13-14. 

2017 African Migrations: National Security and the Politics of Representing the Movements of Persons. African Studies Association of African 2nd Biennial Conference, Accra, Ghana, October 12-14.

2015 Britain in the 21st Century: Contemporary Issues. Midwest Conference on British Studies, Detroit, MI, September 25-27.

2013 Invisible, Yet Hyper-Visible: Black Identity and the Struggle for Freedom in America, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Jacksonville, FL, October 3-6.

Papers Presented

2022 Philanthropic Colonialism and the New Scramble for Africa. African Studies Association of African 4th Biennial Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, April 11-15.

2019 Making a Nation Modern: US Social Scientists, Cold War Politics, and Nigeria’s First National Development Plan, 1962-1967. African Studies Association of African 2nd Biennial Conference, Nairobi, Kenya, October 26-26. 

2019 Portraits of African Migrants to the United States: Identity, Place, and Contributions. 44th Annual Conference of the New York African Studies Association, York College, City University of New York, April 12-13.

2019 Education along “Native Lines”: Race, Citizenship, and British Colonial Policy in Tropical Africa. The Professor Robert M. Maxon Lifetime Achievement and Academic Legacy African Conference, West Virginia University, Morgantown, March 28-30.

2018 Crowdsourcing and Digitizing Humanist Date: The African Development Digital Archive. Archives in the Age of Digital Humanities, University of Evora, Portugal, October 24-25. 

2018 Africa for Africans: The UNIA, the League of Nations, and the ‘Civilization’ of South West Africa. Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Indianapolis, IN, October 3-7.

2018 The Miseducation of the African Child: Migration and the Legacies of the Colonial School System in Nigeria. 43rd Annual Conference of the New York African Studies Association, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, April 13-14. 

2017 British Agricultural Development Policy in Nigeria: Contradictions and Conflicts. North American Conference on British Studies Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, November 2-5. 

2017 Out of Africa: African Migrations and the Legacies of Colonialism and Neoliberal Economic Policies. African Studies Association of African 2nd Biennial Conference, Accra, Ghana, October 12-14.

2015 Triangulating Development: Anglo-American Relations in Late Colonial and Early Postcolonial Nigeria. Midwest Conference on British Studies, Detroit, MI, September 25-27. 

2014 Development as History: Development Planning in Late Colonial Nigeria, 1945-1955, Annual International Conference on Humanities and Arts in a Global World, Athens, Greece, January 3-6.

2013 Black Catholics in America and the Struggle for Freedom, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Jacksonville, FL, October 3-6.

2012 The Impact of African American Identities on Decolonization in Nigeria, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Pittsburgh, PA, September 26-30.

Public Presentations

2021 Localizing Cultural Heritage and the SDGs in Nigeria.  ICOMOS Working Group on Cultural Heritage and the SDGs, Zoom, January 21.

2020 Landscape, Knowledge and sense of Place: What Does Indigeneity Mean in the African Context.  ICOMOS Webinar Series, Zoom, November 13. 

2020 The State of the Black World & Global African Leadership in Government and the Business World. University of Nairobi Class of 2001 Meeting, Zoom, June 6.

2019 The British Colonial School System in Nigeria as Panopticon. St. Petersburg Institute of Linguistics, Cognition, and Culture, St. Petersburg, Russia, August 2.

2019 Late Colonial Development Policy: The Legacies of British Rule in Nigeria. St. Petersburg Institute of Linguistics, Cognition, and Culture, St. Petersburg, Russia, July 25, 2019. 

2019 Was Slavery a Choice? Historians Respond to Kanye West. State University of New York, Cortland, NY, February 7. 

2018 Efforts on Africa’s Development in the 21st Century. PTAH Global Initiatives, New York City, October 4, 2018. 

2018 Resuscitating Empire: Development and Decolonization in Late Colonial Africa. Martin Atangana African and African American Public Lecture Series. York College, City University of New York. February 22. 

2018 The New Negro Movement and Decolonization in Africa. State University of New York, College at Cortland. February 14. 

2015 Recreating Nigeria in the Image of America: The Role of the United States in the Modernization of Nigeria. Marshall County Public Library, Moundsville, WV. October 19. 

2015 Understanding the Historical Roots of Boko Haram Terrorist Movement in Nigeria. Global Viewpoint Series, Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, WV. October 26. 

Courses Taught: 

History of African Development

Africa, Human Origins to 1800

Africa, 1800 to Present

Slavery in World History

African Development: The Past of the Present

The Politics of Migration and Development 

The World to 1500

The World Since 1500

Twentieth Century History

Historical Methods

West Africa Before 1885

West Africa After 1885

Why Global History Matters

Introduction to African American Studies

Current Service:

Board President, Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Nigeria

Board President, African-Caribbean Institute for Global Engagement

Board Secretary, Africa Reads Books, Inc. 

Managing Editor, Wagadu, A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies, Cortland, NY. 

Member, Clark Center for Global Engagement, SUNY – Cortland. 

Member, Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice, SUNY – Cortland. 

Member, Publications Committee, New York African Studies Association. 

Member, Africana Studies Committee, SUNY – Cortland. 

Chair, Africana Studies Social Committee, SUNY – Cortland. 

Advisor, Phi Alpha Theta, SUNY – Cortland.

Advisor, History Club, SUNY – Cortland.

Editor, History Department Newsletter, SUNY – Cortland. 

Member, History Department Curriculum Committee, SUNY – Cortland. 

Member, History Department Search Committee, SUNY – Cortland. 

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

New York African Studies Association 

Transnational Africa Association 

African Studies Association of Africa

Nigerian Political Science Association