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Adell
Patton, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of History, University of Missouri-St.
Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
Field: U.S. Studies - History
Host: University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria
Dates of Grant: July 5 - 26, 2002
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Ambassador Howard F. Jeter
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In July 2002 I traveled to Nigeria through the auspices of the
Fulbright Specialist Program and nomination by The Honorable
U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Howard F. Jeter. This was my first
visit to eastern Nigeria.
During my stay, I gave the keynote address on "Ethnicity,
Citizenship, and Democracy in America With Africa Compared"
at the American Studies Association of Nigeria (ASAN) 9th Annual
Conference in Calabar. I attended each of the sessions and served
as moderator for the final round-table discussion of major issues.
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Professor Patton and Professor S.O.O. Amali, University
of Jos, and President of ASAN. 8-9-02
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This conference allowed me to reunite with two of my former classmates
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Professor S. O. O. Amali
from the University of Jos, who also serves as president of ASAN
and Nigerian Ambassador to Argentina, and Professor Ukon Edet
Uya from the University of Calabar.
At Calabar, with Uya's guidance, I visited the museum's slave
exhibit, viewed slave auction and holding sites, and photographed
the sites of the Calabar and Cross Rivers, from where more than
a million slaves were shipped to the Western Hemisphere in the
17th and 18th centuries.
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Mrs. Kristen Kane
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The public affairs officers-Kristen Kane, U.S. Consulate, Lagos;
Dehab Ghebreab and James Molom, U.S. Embassy, Abuja-who took turns
accompanying me arranged for me to speak on "The Advantages
of Cultural Diversity in America" at the University of Jos,
where I also served as editorial consultant to the ASAN papers
for the U.S. Embassy, and to Ahmadu Bello University, where I
first conducted research in 1972.
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Professor Patton and Mrs. Dehab Ghegbreab, U.S. Embassy-Abuja,
Public Affairs Officer, ASAN Conference, Calabar, Nigeria.
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Next, I traveled to the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution
in Abuja, the Nigerian Society for Information Arts & Culture
in Ibadan, the Ibadan University Department of History, and the
University of Lagos Department of History.
This was my most productive trip to Africa because I was able
to give something back. I introduced to ASAN the most recent outstanding
U.S. history surveys and critiqued fifteen papers. The lectures
were well received and I appeared on Nigerian Television Authority
three times. In the future I plan to teach a graduate seminar
on the ASAN theme: "Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Democracy
in America With Africa Compared." The University of Missouri-St.
Louis (UMSL) also benefited from the added international visibility.
Many Nigerian students expressed interest in studying at UMSL.
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