About Us
I heartily welcome you to the Department of History domiciled in the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University. The Department is one of the oldest academic units in the University, being one of the Departments established at the inception of the University in 1962. The Department offers three and four-year programmes leading to the award of Bachelor of Arts Honours degree (Single Honours). It also runs a number of combined honours programmes in collaboration with selected Departments in the Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Administration. These combined honours programmes are B.A. History and Economics; B.A. History and English; B.A. History and International Relations; B.A. History and Philosophy; B.A. History and Political Science; B.A History and Religious Studies, and B.A. History and Sociology. In addition, the Department collaborates with the Faculty of Education to run B.A. (Education/History) combined honours programme.
The philosophy underpinning our programmes draws from the understanding that studying the past deepens our awareness of the present and equips us with the capacity to make proper judgments. These courses are designed to imbue in students the appreciation of human values, and the skills that will enable them to make critical, objective, perceptive, relevant and applicable analysis of social reality.
The objectives of the B.A. History (Single and Combined Honours) programmes are:
- To give students a thorough understanding of Nigerian history and historiography planted firmly in the context of African history and historiography.
- To educate students on historical movements of global importance from other continents so as to enable them acquire better knowledge of the world and thus promote world peace.
- To make students comprehend the historical forces and developments which have shaped and are still shaping the lives of the peoples of Nigeria, Africa and the entire world.
- To develop in students a sense of commitment and capacity to consciously relate to these forces and development in such ways that Nigerian and African unity, independence and prosperity can be achieved and sustained.
- To provide students with advantages usually associated with historical training viz: critical and analytical faculty and balanced judgment needed for excellence in administration and management.
Since its inception, the Department has been privileged to have seasoned and vibrant scholars, both expatriates and Nigerians, who have contributed significantly to its growth and by extension the University. The Department has at different times organised landmarks conferences whose products are documented for posterity, the same way it has documented landmark developments in the university. Given the tremendous challenges that the teaching and practice of history in Nigeria have faced over the years, the department has creatively reinvented itself through constant reviews of academic programmes in ways that would make the curriculum and the output more relevant to national needs. The B.A. degree programme (single and combined) is intended to make graduates more competitive in the national and international labour markets.
In addition, the Department currently runs three postgraduate degree programmes. These are:
Master of Arts (M.A.) History
Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) History
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) History
The aim of postgraduate studies in the Department of History is to give advanced training to potential academics and to train teachers of History. The programme prepares candidates for jobs in public administration as well as in the private sector of the economy. It is particularly intended to train specialists for appointments in external affairs and international organisations in need of expertise in the field of African studies as well as train interpreters of world affairs (e.g. journalists in media organisations).
Please feel free to contact us.