Olufemi Vaughan
Chief Olufemi O. Vaughan is a Nigerian academic whose research and teaching focuses on African Political and Social History, African Politics, Diaspora Studies, African Migrations and Globalization, Religion and African States. He is currently the Alfred Sargent Lee '41 and Mary Ames Lee Professor of African Studies at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Early life and career. Olufemi O. Vaughan was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, before moving to the United States. He obtained his B. A. in 1980 and M. A. in 1983 in Government from St. John's University. Vaughan received his PhD in Politics from  Oxford University in 1989, where his research was influenced by three distinguished Africanists: Anthony Kirk-Greene, Terence Ranger, and Gavin Williams. He was Professor of Africana Studies and History at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where he also directed the International Studies Program, the College for Global Studies, and was associate dean and associate provost from 1990 to 2008. Vaughan was Geoffrey Canada Professor of Africana Studies and History at Bowdoin College, Maine, from 2008 to 2017. At Bowdoin, he also directed the establishment of an Africana Studies Program. Olufemi Vaughan was appointed Alfred Sargent Lee '41  and Mary Ames Lee Professor of African Studies at Amherst College in 2017. Scholarship and research. Olufemi Vaughan's scholarship and research revolves around five interrelated themes in African political and historical studies: Traditional socio-political structures in modern African states; Governance and development in African states; African migrations and globalization; State-society relations and political legitimacy in Nigeria; and Religion and State Formation in Nigeria. He is the author and editor of ten books and over eighty scholarly articles and reviews, including "Nigerian Chiefs: Traditional Power in Modern Politics, 1890s–1990s", considered a seminal work on the study of traditional  authorities in contemporary African states, "Religion and the Making of Nigeria", an acclaimed work on the foundational role of Christianity and Islam in the formation of the Nigerian state and society, and "Chiefs, Power, and Social Change: Chiefship and Modern Politics in Botswana, 1880s–1990s". His articles and reviews have appeared in scholarly journals such as the "Journal of African History, African Affairs: Journal of the Royal African Society, Journal of Asian & African Studies, Politique Africaine, Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, American Historical Review", "Journal of Modern African Studies", "Canadian Journal of History", "Canadian Journal of African Studies", "African Studies Review , "and "The International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society. " Awards and honors. Vaughan is the recipient of major research and teaching awards including a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship, a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Fellowship, two Ford Foundation Research fellowships, Distinguished Scholar's Award, Association of Global South Studies, Cecil B. Currey Book Prize, Association of Global South Studies, for his book, Nigerian Chiefs, Nigerian Studies Association Book Prize for his book Religion and the Making of Nigeria, and a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Olubadan of Ibadan Land (the oba --- traditional ruler  --- of his hometown, Ibadan in Nigeria) awarded him the honorary title of Aare Onigege Ara of Ibadan in March 2017. Vaughan was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in April 2022.