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Professor
Olu Ogunnika
oneVillage Foundation Board Member and Organizational
Consultant
[email protected]
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Professor Olu Ogunnika was born to a Christian
traditional African family in a Yoruba semi-urban town of
Ipetu Ijesha. His father Gabriel Ogunnika was a chief in the
town and he was the last of the male children born to his
fourth wife. Professor Ogunnika's family was highly devoted
to the Christian way of life but also in agreement with traditional
African values and so he grew up within this syncretic orientation
of Africanism blended with the Christian doctrine. not only
did he not see any conflict in this practice as a youth but
has seen it as useful in his generating sociological methods
and ideas in relation to his life's work.
Professor went to elementary school education in the town
of Ipetu-Ijesha and finished high school
in the city of Ibadan, the largest native
city in Africa. While his experience in the city conflicted
with that of his previous little community he was able to
blend the two together obtaining a Bachelors Degree at the
University of Lagos, the then capital of
Nigeria. Later he went on to the US and received a Masters
Degree at New York University and the PhD
from the New School for Social Research in
New York. His earlier experiences in moving to and adjusting
to live in Ibadan proved useful when he made
even the bigger step of adjusting to life in the US and NYC.
This background formed the basis of his belief in joint methodological
approach between sociology and the science of history. He
also obtained a MBA degree from the New York Institute
of Technology which equipped him with the quantitative
tools to deal with the modern society and also with the critical
mind needed to query and attempt the modification of the system.
He was attracted to the ideas of professors Lyman
and Vidich of the New School while pursuing
my doctorate degree. Their ideas reinforced his belief in
critical humanistic approach to Sociology. He also enjoyed
the ideas in such books as Vidich’s Sociology on Trial
and Lyman’s Sociology of the Absurd and from Lyman’s
The Black America in Sociological Thought: A Failure
of Perspective. All these enable him to design a
hybrid methodological approach to study history and sociology.
This approach is based on the idea that for one to understand
the society, one needs to understand the ways of life of not
only his own people but that of others. All the people of
the world have something to contribute towards the world’s
progress. He also gained a lot from Professor Akiwowo
in his idea “towards Sociology for one world”
and was fascinated to Akiwowo’s ability to introduce
traditional African (Yoruba) knowledge into the understanding
of the complex modern industrial society.
Today as a professor of Sociology his intellectual effort
is now geared towards how the peoples of the world will have
an increasing understanding of themselves through appropriate
communication systems and techniques. This agrees with the
concept of the movement from indigenism to globalization in
Akiwowo "One World" Sociology.
He says this will enable the people of the world to understand
themselves through one language without necessarily dropping
off their own particular language. The new technology in communication
will therefore be of importance and benefit to the peoples
of the world irrespective of place, language or culture.
Fore more information Download
Professor Ogunnika's CV
Contact:
Address: 1149 Simpson Street,
Bronx, NY 10459
Cell: (646)-533-9466
Email: [email protected]
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