AHP Fellows admitted to prestigious post-graduate programmes
Former AHP Fellows René Odanga (Fellow, 2021) and George Evans (Summer Fellow, 2021) have secured admissions into prestigious post-graduate programmes.
René Odanga has been awarded a George F. Woodruff Fellowship to study for a PhD in history at Emory University. René completed his Masters in Africana Studies at Howard University in 2021. While at Howard he was an AHP Fellow in Black Political Thought.
During his fellowship, René worked closely with AHP Director Apeike Umolu to design and deliver a seminar on periodisation in African history. The seminar was attended by leading academics from universities such as University of Oslo and London School of Economics. It was also well-attended by independent researchers and history enthusiasts from the wider public making for an eclectic mix. Taking the lead in guiding the seminar in the exploration of the topic from an East African and North American perspective, René brought unique and valuable insights as a seminar leader.
René also contributed to the AHP’s ongoing work exploring the concept of Pan-African Citizenship. Collaborating with other Fellows, he contributed to valuable conversations on how the concept was tackled by leading thinkers of the twentieth century.
On the topic of education and Pan-African Citizenship, René wrote an impactful and witty article for The Africxn Review on the history curriculum in East Africa.
George Evans has secured admission to the University of Oxford to study an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies. George is currently completing his undergraduate degree in History at the University of Durham where he is specialising is African history. During summer 2021 George was the AHP Kenneth Dike Summer Fellow in African History.
During his fellowship, George supported the Director and other Fellows to advance a number of our flagship projects. Taking the reins of the short course in Teaching Black History in Schools, George took a leading role in the re-design of the course. George also contributed to a series of roundtables on the use of contemporary Black music as a source for the exploration of Black political thought. As part of these roundtables he led a session looking at the work of the British rap artist Dave.
George was also involved in the the AHP’s ongoing exploration of Pan-African citizenship, working with the Director and other Fellows to draft questions and lead in the interviewing of leaders of various African cultural institutions.
On the topic of religion in Africa he wrote an article for The African Review looking at the intersection of the lexicon of family and spirituality in the African tradition.
The AHP is extremely proud to have had both René and George as Fellows and we wish them the best of luck as they take these next impressive steps in their academic careers.
