African Burial Ground Project Director, Prolific Author Earn Lifetime Achievement Awards at African Studies Conference

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An anthropology professor from The College of William and Mary and a history professor from the University of Texas at Austin are the recipients of inaugural lifetime achievement awards presented during the 1st Public Scholars in African Studies International Conference on Globalization. The conference was held Oct. 29-31, 2009, at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Michael L. Blakey, Ph.D., the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology at William and Mary, received the Africana Studies Distinguished Public Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors Blakey particularly for his 12-year role as scientific director of the New York African Burial Ground Project.

Toyin Falola, Ph.D., the Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History at UT Austin, received the Africana Studies Distinguished Global Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award that recognizes an individual who can more accurately be described as the “quintessential scholar’s scholar,” and someone whose scholarship has had a significant impact on the global academy.

IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz presented both awards during the awards dinner held Oct. 31, 2009, at University Place Conference Center and Hotel on the IUPUI campus.

Both Blakey and Falola received unanimous votes from the subcommittee that evaluated the dossiers and portfolios of award nominees.

Blakey embodies the very notion of public scholarship, particularly with his work to move the New York African Burial Ground Project “from a national secret to a national monument,” according to IUPUI Professor Bessie House-Soremekun, Ph.D., the conference organizer.

Blakey’s methodical work as a bio-archaeologist was central to the Burial Ground Project, in terms of understanding the people, their lives, and where they came from. His 200-person team worked with the remains of more than 400 individuals and a million non-burial artifacts

The William and Mary professor arranged and participated in lab tours, site visits and community forums about the burial ground project. He gave numerous media interviews and public lectures, and was a focal point in a PBS series broadcast in 1996.

It was particularly fitting that Falola received the Global Scholar Lifetime Achievement award at this time because this is the year that he has achieved his goal of publishing more than 100 books, House-Soremekun said.

“A genre-bender of extraordinary talent, (Falola’s) contributions are wide-ranging and have covered all aspects that we label as Africana Studies, from history to literature, economics to political economy, religion to culture, and even the creative zones of poetry and the memoir,” House-Soremekun said.

During the conference Falola presented a luncheon keynote speech on the topic “Africana in the Margins: The Past and Future of Globalization.”

The theme of the Public Scholars in Africana Studies conference was “Rethinking Economic Development in the Context of Globalization: Entrepreneurship, the Knowledge Economy, and Sustainable Development. About 575 people participated, House-Soremekun said.

His Royal Majesty, Oba (King) Michael Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, Okukenu IV, Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Nigeria, was the keynote speaker for the awards dinner. Gbadebo discussed “The Changing Role of Nigeria in the 21st Century Knowledge Economy.”

The conference featured outstanding scholars from universities and colleges representing Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. IUPUI conference sponsors included the IUPUI 40th Anniversary Celebration Committee; the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI; the Office of the Assistant Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research; Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Lifelong Learning; the Committee on African and African American Studies; the Office of the Vice Chancellor for International Affairs; the African American and African Diaspora Studies Program; and the Olaniyan Scholars.