'Africa Reimagined' - a seminar with Prof Richard Joseph

 17:00 27th June 2023 - McGregor Matthews Room, New College

We are pleased to invite you to what we hope will be a periodic series of webcasts of our Fellows and Honorary Fellows, building on the successful experiment of when Professor Oliver Pybus spoke about the pandemic, in conversation with the Warden. 

On this occasion we are pleased to welcome our Alumnus and Honorary Fellow, Professor Richard Joseph. Richard will share his views and then join a conversation with the Warden, Dr Patrick Okigbo of Nextier, and Godwin Nwangele, President of the Oxford Africa Society. 

The seminar will be followed by a drinks reception. 

The seminar

'Life more abundant' was a major commitment of the anti-colonial movement. Today, entrenched autocracies, militant Islamism, military coups, domestic warfare, forced migration and the morphing of external intervention overshadow fragile progress in democracy and development. Frank assessment needs to be conducted on why the outcomes have differed so much from the aspirations. 

Professor Richard Joseph will share ideas on an appropriate academic response to these issues, and areas where they may be hope. 

The talk on 27th June 2023 coincides with the Rhodes 120th Anniversary Reunion. On this occasion, he will launch the Arima Project - named after his birthplace, Arima, in Trinidad and Tobago. The title also serves as an acronym for 'Africa Reimagined'.

If you would like to attend the in-person event, book your tickets to Africa Reimagined here. 

The event will also be livestreamed on the New College YouTube channel. Watch Africa Reimagined live online here. 

The speakers

Professor Richard Joseph

Professor Richard Joseph is an Oxford Scholar-Activist, who came up to New College in 1966 after his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College, and a year on a Fulbright Scholarship in Grenoble, France. 

He returned to the United States in the summer of 1967 to work in Mississippi with the Civil Rights leader, Mrs Fannie Lou Hamer. Upon learning that he was a Rhodes Scholar, and what it signified, Mrs Hamer encouraged him to return to Oxford to continue his postgraduate studies. From then, scholarship and activism merged. 

In January 1968, Joseph's supervisor, David Goldey of Lincoln College, referred him to Thomas Hodgkin of Balliol to study African politics. Under Hodgkin's supervision, he wrote a DPhil dissertation on the struggle against colonialism in French-ruled Africa, which became the definitive book on the subject: Radical Nationalism in Cameroon, the Social Origins of the UPC Rebellion. His direct experience of colonialism in Trinidad, and racial discrimination after emigrating to the United States in 1958, converged with the Hodgkin family tradition of engaged scholarship. 

After completing his doctoral studies at Nuffield College, Joseph held teaching positions in Africa. In January 1974, he joined the University of Khartoum, Sudan, as a lecturer in political science. Two years later, he moved to a similar position at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Professor Joseph is now Emeritus John Evans Professor of International History and Politics at Northwestern University and non-resident Senior Advisor of the United Institute of Peace.

For a half-century, Joseph has engaged in academic research, writing, teaching, and policy work concerning Africa. The pursuit of social justice is a thread that runs through his life and career. In recognition of these achievements, he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of New College in June 2021. 

Dr Patrick Okigbo

Patrick Okigbo is the founder and principal partner at Nextier in Abuja, an advisory firm with a focus on energy and public policy issues. Previously he has been special assistant to the former President, Goodluck Johnson. He has held various positions in the private sector in the USA and Nigeria. He is a sought-after commentator on sub-Sahara African issues, especially in relation to entrepreneurial development and the promotion of profession values. 

Godwin Nwangele

Godwin is a Rhodes Scholar and a DPhil candidate in Engineering Sciences at the University of Oxford. He is researching how to improve power plant flexibility for renewable penetration in a transitioning energy system. He obtained the MSc in Energy Systems at the University of Oxford in 2021. He studied the multilevel perspective comprising policy, economics, social and technological requirements and implications of the energy transition to maintain sustainable earth. In 2017, he obtained a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

As an undergraduate student, he co-founded Greenage Technologies, a renewable energy company. He created energy systems designs, implemented renewable energy projects and delivered over 300KW of power to schools, hospitals, and small businesses in partnership with USADF and All On.

Godwin is involved in leadership and rights advocacy. He co-organised the Oxford Africa Conference and is the President of the Oxford Africa Society.

Chi Okafor

Chi Okafor is an experienced founder with a demonstrated history of working in the social entrepreneurship industry. She is the CEO of Kendake Honey- an award-winning, socially conscious business that produces sustainably harvested organic honey, from deep-set hives across West African woodlands. 

A recent MBA graduate of the University of Oxford and member of New College where she served as the co-chair of the Oxford Women’s Leadership Alliance, chair of the Oxford Africa Conference and on the secretary’s committee of the Oxford Union. As one of the 25 young women champions for UN Women Beijing +25, she has over 7 years professional experience working on gender-focused projects across communities, governmental and non-governmental organisations. Chi’s passion and commitment to driving gender parity has led to key engagements between the Houses of Parliament London, Senate of Nigeria, United Nations Addis Ababa and TEDx. 

She is also the Founder-President of The Walk with Women and Children; an organisation that leverages off the ‘power of the collective’ to advance the personal, social, health, education and economic rights of girls and women.