| Urhobo
Historical
Society |
Culled from:
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Ulf Himmelstrand (1924-2011)
And the
Development of Sociology at the University of
Ibadan and in Nigeria
By Peter Ekeh
State
University
of
New
York
at
Buffalo
On June 8, 2011, a
remarkable Swede,
whose life experiences had a large chapter set in Nigeria, died
peacefully in
his hometown of Uppsala at a ripe age of 87. Ulf Himmelstrand will be
laid to
rest on July 12, 2011, in his beloved hometown. Uppsala and Sweden have
much
for which to honour his memory. He was a notable sociologist who was
Head of
the Department of Sociology at the famed Uppsala University for a
number of
years. Himmelstrand served as the President of the International
Sociological
Association and brought ISA’s World Congress to Uppsala in 1978.
The University of Ibadan
and the
academic profession of Sociology in Nigeria have their own important
grounds
for mourning and honouring this distinguished Scandinavian academic. Up
until
Nigeria’s year of Independence in 1960 and for a few years afterwards,
the
profession of Sociology in Nigeria was miniscule and was not much more
than courses
in colonial social anthropology taught at the University of Ibadan and
the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka. Among the bold strategies for raising the
University of
Ibadan to world-class standards by the great Kenneth Dike, Ibadan’s
first Vice
Chancellor, was his plan to decolonize social anthropology and usher
standard
Sociology into the University. Working with a team of Rockefeller
Foundation
personnel, Kenneth Dike recruited a 40-year old Swedish sociologist
with a
formidable name of Ulf Himmelstrand as the first Head of a full-fledged
Department of Sociology at the University of Ibadan. He arrived for his
new
duties in September 1964.
Undoubtedly,
Himmelstrand had a difficult assignment. Almost by the terms of his
fresh mandate,
he had to ignore much of the existing curriculum in what was previously
known as
the sub-Department of Sociology. He introduced many new Sociology
courses most
of which were taught in Nigeria for the first time. Himmelstrand had
few
academic staff to work with in this pioneering venture. The British
lecturers
in the old sub-Department of Sociology left before his arrival in
September
1964. The only hold-over from the old order was a Japanese
anthropologist, Masao
Yamaguchi. Himmelstrand arrived at Ibadan at about the same time as two
young
Nigerian sociologists – Albert Imohiosen and Francis Okediji – who were
fresh
from graduate schools in the United States. Helpfully, there were two
Rockefeller
Foundation-sponsored Visiting Professors: Sanford M. Dornbusch
(from Stanford University) and A. Paul Hare (Haverford
College, Pennsylvania). That was the
core of the Sociology team that Himmelstrand led in his first year as
Head of
Sociology. In the following two years others were added.
Judging by results, Ulf
Himmelstrand
and his small team did brilliantly well. Many more students were
attracted to
the Department of Sociology. The curriculum was indeed decolonized,
resulting
in mainstream Sociology that was far more respectful of Nigeria’s
cultures. But
it would be minimizing Ulf Himmelstrand’s achievements at Ibadan to
confine the
measurement of his work to the curriculum and his prodigious teaching.
Right
from his first year at Ibadan, Ulf Himmelstrand brought to the
University what most
excites a University administration: an international research
programme and a
handsome funding to match. In the “Summer”
(long
vacation) of 1965, the Department of Sociology hosted an international
workshop
on research on political culture that brought to Ibadan famed social
scientists
from the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia, including the leaders of
the
research programme: Sidney Verba (Stanford University) and Robert
Sommers (University
of California, Berkeley). The Nigerian section of that research was
headed by
Himmelstrand and was the first large-scale social science research in
Nigeria.
Its fieldwork covered all the Regions of the country in 1965-67.
Happily, this
tradition of large-scale research has survived in the Department of
Sociology
at Ibadan.
There is a noteworthy area
of Ulf
Himmelstrand’s work in Nigeria that has begot enduring results. It is
his
mentorship of so many young people who were in search of future careers
in
Sociology and the Social Sciences. It is only fair that I should
narrate my own
case as a starting example of how much Himmelstrand touched the lives
of
Nigerian academics. I graduated from the University of Ibadan’s Faculty
of
Social Sciences, with a specialty in Sociology, in 1964. Having led in
the
Faculty in the final examinations, I received special favours in the
matter of
further studies. My good teacher in the sub-Department of Sociology,
Dr. P. C.
Lloyd, was especially kind to me. He arranged admission for me to study
Social
Anthropology with the famous Lucy Mair at the London School of
Economics. In
addition, he had a good scholarship package from the British Council
worked out
for me. I was quite excited. However, one
afternoon I was
summoned to the Office of the Dean. The American Joseph Black
served
both as Dean of the Social Sciences and Head of the Rockefeller
Foundation in
Nigeria. He told me that he had just discussed my case with the
Vice-Chancellor
and that Kenneth Dike was not happy that I was being “lured” away to
study
Social Anthropology in England. (Actually, it was all my choice.) He
said that
the VC wanted the Department to move away from Anthropology to
Sociology and
would want me to reconsider my choices. Joe Black assured me that the
Rockefeller Foundation would give me a full scholarship for my graduate
studies
in Sociology if I were to so choose after discussing with the incoming
Swedish
Professor of Sociology.
After initial confusion
and fear that
I might hurt the feelings of my good teacher, P. C. Lloyd, who had
already left
Ibadan for England, I did wait for Ulf Himmelstrand with some
apprehension –
because I had never met a Scandinavian in my life. He turned out to be
a warm
and kind man. He told me that the English had contributed a great deal to human learning and were top-rated in many
fields, but not
in Sociology. He promised to cover with me some of the areas that I
should have
studied and that he would help with admission into a good University in
the
United States. He did help me to enter Sociology at Stanford University
where
his friend Sidney Verba was a well known Professor. On my own I drifted
to
Berkeley after just one year at Stanford – and Himmelstrand supported
my move.
Remarkably, both Ulf and his wife showed great interest in my young
wife and, subsequently,
in our children. We became great friends. I visited Ulf and his wife
several
times at Uppsala. Ulf took great pride in my work as I became a
recognized
scholar. On my part, I credit him with redirecting me away from Social
Anthropology to Sociology, although the initial impetus came from
Kenneth
Dike’s desire to make Ibadan a great University.
I am sure that my account
of
acquaintance with this remarkable man can be repeated, with variations
of
course, by numerous other Nigerians whose lives and careers were
touched or
even remolded by Ulf Himmelstrand. He was a passionate man who threw
his
support on behalf of the progress of young persons wholeheartedly. In
my
generation of Ibadan Sociology alumni, I can think of Stephen Imoagene, Ekundayo Akeredolu-Ale,
Samson Oke,
Simi Afonja, Adesuwa Emovon, Martin Igbozurike, and Layi Erinosho as Nigerians whose
careers were shaped in
some way by Himmelstrand. There may be many more beneficiaries of Ulf
Himmelstrand’s mentorship whose personal acquaintance I have not been
privileged to make. Many of these Nigerians visited with Himmelstrand
in Sweden
in later years as they sought to upgrade their career opportunities. In
the
early 1980s, while he was a Visiting Professor of Sociology at the
University of Nairobi, Kenya, Himmelstrand
came back to the University
of Ibadan to recruit from a younger generation of Ibadan scholars for a
book
project. That was how fresher and able scholars like Adigun Agbaje and
Eghosa
Osaghae became associated with Ulf Himmelstrand in the authorship of
his
important book African Perspectives on
Development (1994).
Ulf Himmelstrand’s circle
of personal
ties in Nigeria was much wider than his network of students. He became
life-long friends with several of his colleagues at Ibadan. His
friendship with
fellow Ibadan academics like the late Professor Tunji Aboyade (in
Economics
Department) was deep and abiding. His ties with Albert Imohiosen
continued over
long periods, extending to the end of Ulf’s life. One has a sense that
Himmelstrand regarded Nigerians as people whose friendship was
especially
valuable to him.
The Civil War terminated much that was
good at the University of Ibadan. Kenneth Dike’s tenure as
Vice-Chancellor was
cut short by circumstances of the coming war. I am not fully sure, but
I
suspect that Himmelstrand’s departure from Ibadan back to Uppsala in
1967 was
sooner than he originally planned – probably hastened by the onset of
Civil
War. However, he was very much unlike many other expatriates who turned
their
back on Nigeria following their departure from the country. Ulf
Himmelstrand
was emotionally attached to Nigeria. He became important in offering
explanations for the complexities of the Nigerian crisis to
Scandinavian
publics, for whom Nigeria was a distant land. He maintained his ties
with
Nigerians by frequent correspondence, in many instances in his strong
handwriting.
This was a man who always carried a piece of Nigeria with him.
By some fortunate happenstance, I was in
Uppsala for the European Conference on African Studies a week following
Ulf
Himmelstrand’s death. At the conference I met several Nigerians who
knew Ulf Himmelstrand
very well and were saddened by the news of his death. I met Julie Ikomi
who has
been friends with the Himmelstrands for decades. And I met Dr. Mohamed
(from
Kano) who took his PhD from Ulf Himmelstrand in the Department of
Sociology of
Uppsala University. I visited Mrs. Karin Himmelstrand in their home on
June 16,
2011. She and her son Jonas Himmelstrand (who was eleven years old when
they
arrived in Nigeria in 1964 and attended International School, Ibadan)
received
me warmly. There was also a welcoming Nigerian ambience in the
Himmelstrand home.
Nigerian art works predominantly decorate this home in the heart of
Scandinavia. On the wall is proudly displayed a send-off group
photograph by
the Nigerian Sociological Association, with Ulf and Karin at the centre
and
surrounded by Nigerian friends. Karin told me that Ulf would very much
want the
Nigerian community to be involved in his final rites. She invited any
of Ulf’s
former students and associates to please send notes and records of
their
memories of Ulf Himmelstrand to her before the funeral rites on July
12, 2011.
I suggest that these should be sent through the Sociology Department at
the
University of Ibadan.
MAY ULF
HIMMELSTRAND’S SOUL REST IN
BLESSED PEACE