Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Two Africanist Giants Join Their Ancestors . . .

I join other senior colleagues and contemporaries as well as the entire African Studies literati in mourning the passage of two illustrious teachers of African literature. Prof Dan Kunene I remembered from ALA meetings and Prof. Fr. Ilesanmi I knew as one of our teachers from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). There is no doubt that their departure has left a vacuum. The two scholars will be sorely missed. May their souls find equitable balance in the higher realms. In saying 'So long', we remember their works and their collegial character.

May our academic discipline continue to flourish after these great men.

Dele Layiwola

 

Prof. Dele Layiwola Institute of African Studies University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria

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From: kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2016 8:15 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Two Africanist Giants Join Their Ancestors . . .

dan kunene was a wonderful, quiet, but persistent man. he was best known to us, in afr lit, as a staunch, consistent supporter of african language literatures, which he devoted his lifework to. he always tried to have the ala dedicate itself to at least a couple of panels on afr lang lit, and in his case, of course, it was south african.

i think of dan as a model for us of a man who was able to continually stress the importance of his valuable agenda, without alienating anyone: even when few people attended the panels, he gave us the understanding of their importance, and i believe they were able to grow thanks to dan. he wasn't alone, of course. many of our members also believed in oral literature, african language literature, the need to keep alive the scholarship in it. i think of bob cancel who, like so many others, studied at u wisc with their great africanist faculty, of which kunene was a stalwart member. recently aliko songolo was honored at asa for his scholarship, and guess what: he mentioned all the students at wisconsin who inspired him. dan inspired many many students. and befriended many more scholars at the ala.  a wonderful man.

ken harrow

On 6/1/16 1:48 PM, John Mbaku wrote:

May their souls rest in peace and may our Ancestors receive them well. 

On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 7:37 AM, 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Daniel P. Kunene (1923-2016): Retired Professor, African Languages and Literature (University of Wisconsin-Madison) - pioneer scholar, famous for Heroic Poetry of the Basotho, poet, linguist, anti-apartheid activist . . .

Rev. Fr. T. M. Ilesanmi (1940-2016): Retired Professor, African Languages and Literatures (Lgs & Linguistics), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria - literary critic, musician, liturgist, clergy, fun to be around . . .

Two weeks; two losses; too much . . . way too much!

May those who know them be comforted.

Michael O. Afolayan

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--   kenneth w. harrow   professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu

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