The 2023 Dan David Award, valued at $300,000, bestowed on US-based Nigerian professor, Saheed Aderinto, has been described as commendable and well-deserved.
Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Dispora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, stated this in a congratulatory message to the awardee.
This was as she said the award has brought glory to, not only Nigeria, but to the entire African Continent.
The commendation by Dabiri-Erewa was contained in a release e-signed by the Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit NiDCOM, Abuja, Abdur-Rahman Balogun.
Saheed Aderinto, a professor of History at Florida International University, won the 2023 edition of the Dan David Prize.
The NiDCOM boss said the academic excellence of Professor Aderinto is worthy of emulation by all, especially given the teeming Nigeria young academicians in the Diaspora.
Commending Professor Aderinto for the excellenr performance, Dabiri-Erewa said the Commission and the entire country is proud of his achievement and encourage him not to rest on his oars.
The Dan David Prize is a major international award recognising and supporting outstanding contributions to the study of History and other disciplines that shed light on the human past.
The Dan David Prize is “the new MacArthur-style ‘genius grant’ for history.”
Selection is by nomination and the awards ceremony will hold in Israel in May.
Said to be the “largest history prize in the world”, the 2023 winners were announced on February 28, with Aderinto, who is a professor of History and African Diaspora Studies, making the list.
Each of the nine winners will receive $300,000 to recognise their achievements and support their future works.
The selection committee praised Aderinto’s work “for situating African History at the cutting edge of diverse literatures in the history of sexuality, non-humans and violence.
The committee also noted that “it is exceptional to see a single person leading scholarship in all of these fields.”
Aderinto, born in Ibadan in 1979, had his Bachelor Degree in History from the University of Ibadan in 2004 and his Ph.D from the University of Texas, Austin, in 2010.
In the same year, he started his teaching career at Western Carolina University where he became a full Professor of History in 2021.
The globally renowned scholar later moved to Florida International University in 2022.
Professor Aderinto has published eight books, 37 journal articles and book chapters, 41 encyclopedia articles and 21 book reviews.
His recent book, “Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa”, examines the role of animals in Nigerian history.
A Yoruba music enthusiast, Aderinto is also presently writing a book and making a documentary on Fuji Music.
Aderinto is also the founding president of the Lagos Studies Association and a senior research fellow of the French Institute for Research in Africa.
