In Memoriam — Professor Pius Adesanmi (1972-2019)

Abstract

News of the tragic death of Professor Pius Adesanmi in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on 10 March 2019 alongside all the 156 passengers and crew (representing some 35 nations) sent shock waves around the world. Nigerian-born Professor Adesanmi was until his death the director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University. He was also a close friend to one of us (Temitope). Professor Adesanmi was an outstanding and highly decorated scholar who was a recipient of the inaugural Penguin Prize for African writing in the non-fiction category in 2010. He also received the prestigious Canada Bureau of International Education (BIE) Leadership Award in 2017. Professor Adesanmi was a distinguished teacher, public intellectual, speaker, columnist, satirist, and writer. Professor Adesanmi, a brilliant post-colonial scholar, was very much at the peak of his career and the prime of his life. Statements from top administration officials of Carleton University, Ottawa speak to the texture of his scholarship and the quality of our loss. For instance, a statement by Benoit-Antoine Bacon, the president and vice-chancellor of Carleton University notes that “Pius was a towering figure in African and post-colonial scholarship. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all those who knew and loved him, and with everyone who suffered a loss in the tragic crash in Ethiopia”. Carleton’s Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Pauline Rankin also states that Professor Adesanmi “worked tirelessly to build the Institute of African Studies, to share his boundless passion for African literature and to connect with and support students. He was a scholar and teacher of the highest caliber who leaves a deep imprint on Carleton.” Professor Adesanmi was a true 21 century Pan-Africanist who enjoyed spectacularly broad and transnational followership. His articles and posts on social media were part of the daily diet of many people around the world. He was a thorn in the flesh of Africa’s political class, especially the Nigerian political elite. Everyone who knew Adesanmi was struck by his decency, humor, intellect, and capacity to connect with others. Muyiwa Balogun-Adesanmi, the widow of Adesanmi, notes that Professor Pius Adesanmi’s “public persona was matched with an uncommon grace, devotion to family and contagious love in the private sphere...‘Bola was a real gentleman, a fine father, and an amazing husband.” Our inaugural editorial was a tribute to James J. Hentz, the founding editor-in-chief of African Security. A piece written by James Hentz has been published in Small Wars and Insurgencies (also from the remarkable stable of Taylor & Francis). Hentz problematizes simplistic portrayals of the ascendance and spread of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin. He argues that the Boko Haram conflict should be understood through the lenses of three concentric circles. The three circles comprise the particularities of the local origins, a pan-regional Islamic movement, and external influences and alliances. Hentz’s posthumous article is an invaluable contribution to scholarship on Boko Haram. This issue of African Security contains four timely articles. First, Anne Speckhard and Ardian Shajkovci draw on interviews with Al-Shabaab members and their families to interrogate the motivations for joining the terrorist group. The article also provides AFRICAN SECURITY 2019, VOL. 12, NO. 1, 1–2 https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2019.1611713