|
View the H-Africa Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in H-Africa's June 2005 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in H-Africa's June 2005 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the H-Africa home page.
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 8:59 AM Professor Martin Lynn August 31, 1951 - April 15, 2005 Innovative historian of West Africa who shone amid the new generation of scholars of colonialism and its consequences MARTIN LYNN, the Professor of African History at Queen's University Belfast, was a first-rate historian and a pioneer among a new generation of scholars who understand colonialism as being a complex of institutions, behaviours, practices and beliefs which emerged dialectically rather than simply through imposition. He was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and his country of birth became the focus of his scholarship for 30 years, most of which were spent at Queen's University Belfast, where he taught from 1980. A graduate of King's College London, where he also completed his PhD after taking his MA at the Sschool of Oriental and African Studies, he returned to Nigeria to take up an appointment at the University of Ilorin. The approach of his doctoral study on the role of the palm-oil trade in building the economy of West Africa and lubricating Britain's burgeoning Industrial Revolution typified much of his later work where he sought to balance the histories of both colonial and African institutions. His publications and research spanned the 150-year period of informal empire in West Africa to the decolonisation of Nigeria in 1960 - and very few historians command such an enviable sweep of time. With his reputation established, Lynn was commissioned to edit the definitive collection of manuscripts in Nigeria 1943-60, in the British Documents at the End of the Empire project (HMSO, 2001). His standing as a leading African historian was matched by his outstanding contribution as a teacher and colleague in the history school at Queen's at which he progressed from lecturer to reader and, in 2004, to a personal chair. Alongside his responsibilities for teaching modern British history, he also developed his own courses in imperial, African and Chinese history. These not only broadened the curriculum substantially but also became among the most popular with students, thanks in no small measure to his inspirational but rigorous teaching. The clarity and incisiveness of his lectures were legendary. Students' demand for his courses, their assessment of them and their achievements in them, were therefore exceptionally high. Away from archives and classrooms, Lynn was an engaging conversationalist with wide interests and a wry sense of humour. His knowledge of the Nigerian football league tables of the 1940s was unsurpassed. He had a particular passion for cricket, supporting Somerset through thick and thin - mostly thin. He was the chief enthusiast behind the Queen's University staff cricket team. His infectious laughter cheered up many a dull academic conference, but he could always be relied upon to have a well-informed and deeply ethical opinion about events in the world. He loved a good laugh, especially at his own expense, and relished telling how he had sent an article to an academic journal only to have it rejected by the anonymous referee who declared it less good than "the magisterial work of Professor Martin Lynn". His marriage to Alice Clark, a fellow student at SOAS in 1978, triggered a profound exploration of Quaker beliefs with a deepening private spiritual life. This found practical reflection in his work for the Friends' Peace and Service Committee and for Friends in Belfast. Last year he gave an insightful lecture on the Children of Light to mark the 350th anniversary celebrations of Quakerism in Ireland. In his youth Lynn had been a climber. To celebrate his 40th birthday he conquered, in a single weekend, the three highest peaks in the UK, an achievement he repeated when he turned 50. Lynn died of post-operative complications after heart surgery. He is survived by his wife and by their two daughters. Professor Martin Lynn, historian of West Africa, was born on August 31, 1951. He died on April 15, 2005, aged 53. Times,May 18, 2005 -- --------------------------- Toyin Falola Department of History The University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station Austin, TX 78712-0220 USA 512 475 7224 512 475 7222 (fax) www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
|