Research
Dr. Bekeh Ukelina’s research examines the ideologies and practices of development in Africa, south of the Sahara. He focuses primarily on understanding how the interlocking layers of exploitation in the colonial period and the neoliberal policies of the post-political independence period have shaped African relations with the Global North and created conditions of underdevelopment on the continent. Ukelina’s work is policy-relevant as it helps development experts tasked with designing and implementing policies and schemes to identify some of the pitfalls during the planning process, thus leading to better outcomes for inhabitants of Africa who are often living in terrible conditions partly because of planning failures.
His current book project with Leuven University Press is entitled, A Civilizing Mission? The Evolution of British Colonial Education Policy in Nigeria.
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 Who Owns Africa? Neocolonialism, Investment, and the New Scramble. 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.
