Kenneth Dike
Kenneth Dike (1917-1983) was an
African historian noted for setting up the Nigerian National Archives and for
serving as roving ambassador for Biafra during Eastern Nigeria's bid for
secession.
Kenneth Onwuka Dike was born
December 17, 1917, in Awka, (East Central) Nigeria. He attended Dennis Memorial
grammar school in nearby Onitsha and went on later to first Achimota College in
Ghana and then to Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. He received his Bachelor
of Science degree at the University of Durham, England. His M.A. degree was
from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and he earned his Ph.D. in history
from the University of London.
As both historian and leader of the
University of Ibadan's post-graduate school in Nigeria, Dike is said to have
"Nigerianized Nigerian history" (Michael Crowder). Through his work,
he gave the world an understanding of the way trade was carried out along the
Niger river and in the Niger Delta during the 19th century. Perhaps Dike's best
known book is Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta 1830-1890 (1956). In this
work, Dike examined the "detailed process by which the existing native
governments were gradually supplanted by British consular power and following
it the Crown Colony administration." The work, based on his doctoral
dissertation, looked at how economic change affected the political and social
life of 19th century Nigeria. The 1950s proved to have been Dike's most
productive scholarly years—preceding his university administrative career and
later political activity in the interest of an independent Biafra.
In 1953 his Report on the Preservation
and Administration of Historical Records in Nigeria was published. This work
had to do with setting up the Nigerian National Archives which he later served
as director. In this same documentation and preservation vein, Dike served for
a time as well as chair of the Nigerian Antiquities Commission. Then in 1957 A
Hundred years of British Rule in Nigeria appeared, followed in 1958 by The
Origins of the Niger Mission.
From 1960 until late 1966 Dike was
vice-chancellor at Ibadan—i.e., he was that university's chief administrative
officer. Prior to assuming that post he had been director of the Institute of
African Studies at Ibadan in addition to being director of the National
Archives. His combined administrative/academic skills also led to his appointment
as chair of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
His resignation as Ibadan's
vice-chancellor came in December 1966, at the beginning of the Nigerian civil
war. As an Ibo and an Easterner, his role as a head university administrator in
Western Nigeria became untenable. A long struggle to keep his position was lost
to a Yoruba opponent, and Dike made the critical decision at that point to opt
for "a new life in an independent Eastern state" (John de St. Jorre).
Dike joined fellow Ibo people in Eastern Nigeria who were seeking secession and
to form a separate nation. This new nation was to be called Biafra, named for
the Bight of Biafra at the mouth of the Niger river. The name of this body of
water separating the eastern and western parts of Nigeria has since been erased
from maps of the reunified nation.
From Ibadan Dike, as a former
vice-chancellor, went home to become Biafra's roving ambassador. He acted in
this capacity from 1967 to 1970, travelling extensively and speaking out on
behalf of the Biafran position in the civil conflict. In 1969 he appeared in
the United States before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. His
remarks during this visit were quoted widely in a Washington Post article
entitled "Biafra explains its case" (April 13, 1969). Dike proved to
be one of Biafra's top emissaries. He was a visible and important component in
negotiations at various stages throughout the conflict. His voice rang out
loudly pleading for Biafran recognition. During the war years he held a new post
as vice-chancellor at Nsukka University in Biafran territory. Nsukka was known
for hosting a core group of "international stars of the Ibo elite"
referred to as an "Nsukka secessionist group" (de St. Jorre).
By 1968 Dike's position with regard
to Biafra had become unshakable. Prior to that time Eastern Nigerian attempts
to achieve a loose confederation with the West had his support. These
overtures, however, had been rebuffed by the West. As a result, Dike felt that
"after so much sacrifice we are not prepared to go back…." Biafra's
eventual and necessary unconditional surrender was certainly a blow to this
determined intellectual. Still, during the final days of the secession effort
he served as Biafra's representative at cease-fire negotiations in Abidjan,
Ivory Coast.
During the postwar years, in the
1970s, Dike went into exile and took up an academic position at Harvard
University in the United States. At Harvard from 1971 to 1973 he was chair of
the Committee on African Studies. Then in 1973 he was appointed the first
Mellon Professor of African History at Harvard. He continued to teach there
until 1978, when he found it possible to return to Nigeria.
Back in Nigeria he again went into
administrative work, this time as president of Anambra State University.
Anambra is located in Enugu in the Eastern part of the reunited nation
northeast of his birthplace, Awka. Dike was accompanied by his wife Ona when he
returned to Nigeria. Dike died in an Enugu hospital on October 26, 1983, at the
age of 65. At the time of his death, one daughter, Nneka, and one son, Emeka,
lived in Nigeria's capital city, Lagos, on the Western coast. Three other
children (two daughters, Chinwe and Ona, and one son, Obi) remained in the
United States, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Further
Reading on Kenneth Dike
There is no published biography of
Kenneth Dike. His historical work is quoted and used widely in Michael
Crowder's The Story of Nigeria (1973), published in London by Faber and Faber.
The books mentioned in this biographical article, particularly his Trade and
Politics in the Niger Delta 1830-1890 (London, 1956), are available in many
university libraries in the United States. Readers interested in Dike's role as
a Biafran emissary may read of him in Raph Uwechue's Reflections on the
Nigerian Civil War (1971); in N. U. Akpan's The Struggle for Secession
1966-1970 (London, 1971); and in John de St. Jorre's book The Nigerian Civil
War (London, 1972).
Read more at http://biography.yourdictionary.com/kenneth-dike#9U7gltdhQeMbivjQ.99
No comments:
Post a Comment