Adeline Igho Apena

Adeline Igho Apena Ph.D

International Social and Economic Studies including Global Women and Human rights.

Adeline_Igho_Apena
History, International Studies, Women Studies

Ph.D History. Social and Economic History(Africa). University of Lagos. Nigeria.

M.A. History (History of European International Relations). University of London, London School of Economics and Political Science. LSE.

B.A.(Hons) History. University of Ibadan. Nigeria.

Teaching Experience

Broad National and International Teaching Experiences including teaching at University of the West Indies, Kingston Jamaica and University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana..
Class room and online teaching. Undergraduate, Graduate, Evening/Weekend programs.


Curriculum Development

Courses developed/teach include: International Human Rights; Women Sexuality and Global Change; Twentieth Century Europe. Global Context; Women, Children and War; Women in Developing Countries; Women in the African Experience; Caribbean History; Precolonial and Modern Africa and Global history.

Professor/Student Activities

  • Initiated class Students on reach out extension services, collecting used items including old clothes, books for poor children and adult persons in poorer countries like Guyana and Nigeria.
  • Study/Tour to Africa. I have undertaken student study tour of West Africa including Nigeria, Ghana, Republic of Togo and Benin, after courses on Africa, to have a first hand knowledge of Africa, its people and communities.
  • Student Advisement and Mentoring. As mentor/advisor to students, I have been able to encourage students to role play historical events like issues in Civil Rights , in particular during the Black History Month, my services to students led to my being awarded Distinguished Service Award.
  • Conference /Occoasional Forums. As part of my academic and professional activities, I have actively oraganized conferences at both College Level and Associational level. At College level, I have had occasions to organize Student Lunch Hour occasional forums and Program presentations bringing in a wide range of scholars in different fields in History, Women and International Studies. Examples of these are Center for Exploration of international Issues Occasional Forums on: Beijing International Women Conference in 1995, Women’s Rights as Human Rights in 1996, Women and Environment, 1996.

Travelling as Education has been part of learning and education for me. A great part of my life has involved living and working in places distant and near, a personal culture that I so much cherish. Among countries lived and traveled are Brazil, Guyana, Jamaica,Mexico, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Russia, Finland, Puerto Rico, France, Bahamas, the Netherlands, Italy, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Republic of Togo and Benin.


My background is truly global in many contexts, in academic training, professional and life experiences. I have been positioned across broad range of different world societies and cultures(African, European, Caribbean, American). These encounters have determine and equipped me with a truly global world view that also for me has local interpretations and consequences. My life and working positions have been a bridge between many and different cultural worlds and realities, this, been reflective in the courses I have developed and have been teaching over the years, as well as in my professional and community activities.


A Nigerian African woman by birth and upbringing, a US citizen since several years, the trails that I have blazed across different regions of the our global world, living and working have enabled me to draw on all that is positive and constructive in the different value systems that I have had the opportunity to be positioned across time and space. As a convergence of different values, my interactions and activities have been situated within a milieu of differences and commonalities, based on African, European, Caribbean, old world, new world and diasporic.


As my academic and professional activities (teaching/research/professional activities) span African and European Histories, Women and International Studies, across undergraduate and graduate programs including weekend programs, my class room delivery mode is greatly enriched by a mix of pedagogy and epistemology, that over time became distinctly mutually reinforcing and stimulating, a distinction that is possible because I have been able to bridge several different values and learning styles.


My parental background prepared me to cherish some eternal truths that humility is basic to learning and to being educated, to accept and respect others in spite of differences, as we all share common human and social world. Also that education is liberating and ushers freedom we need to progress. These truths were confirmed through my training and education in some of the world renown centers of learning, the Ibadan School of History, a pioneer center for African historical studies inspired huge interest in me for African History/Studies, in particular, also European and the World History. My interest in European and World History was extended and confirmed by training for a Masters Degree(M.A) in History of European International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science of University of London, a world reputed Institution of Higher Learning in International Studies. There would not have been a better institution to prepare for an academic career in International studies than this Center of Excellence, London School of Economics and Political Science. LSE. It prepared me in learning and worldview. The Lagos School of History of the University of Lagos, Nigeria where I earned a Ph.D in Social and Economic History of Africa, made me more well rounded Africanist, and by the emphasis on African Women’s history.


Teaching and Research in two Caribbean Universities, The University of Guyana(Georgetown) and the University of the West Indies(Kingston, Jamaica) was one of richest experiences in my academic and professional life. Apart from incising my knowledge of the African Diaspora in the Caribbean, the opportunity to teach African and World Histories, serve as as Research Fellow in charge of Oral History(University of the West Indies) and work with non for profit women organizations, like the Red Thread, Jamaican Women Associations was transforming for me academically and professionally. This transformation was advanced by participation in College extension services/programs like Living History(a Guyanese Radio program) and University of the West Indies cultural outreach program with Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, where I participated in African Diasporic Retentions, a program that brought community and campus together. My Caribbean experience sharpened my knowledge of African Studies while African Women Studies makes my understanding of Africa more profound.


At the Sage Colleges since 1992, my training, research and professional experiences positioned me to teach a broad range of courses, including Senior Seminar and Global History. Teaching and researching Women in Developing Countries, Women in the African Experience, International Human Rights and World History gives me greatest delight. By far, teaching Africa gives me pleasure and sharing Africa with students is a passion that comes with great satisfaction. Conferencing has been a huge part of my professional experience. These conferences which have been a great learning experience for me, the benefits of which I have channeled my class rooms have taken me to different parts of the world including Russia, Finland, and Brazil, Ghana. As keynote speaker in women world conferences including Women and Earth Human Rights conferences at St Petersburg and Helsinki , I have been opportuned to share experiences on women’s lives globally, especially from the perspective of Human Rights, cultural and economic constraints.


Although I belong to a number of significant professional Associations, the one in which I have made most contribution is New York African Studies Association, serving as its Secretary, Vice president and president.


Hosting annual Conference of the Association at the Russell Sage College in 1998, a conference that brought ancients in African Studies to Troy was milestone in my professional life and career. My research and publications has been in African Studies, including Women in Africa; Global women and, Caribbean.

Research Publications and scholarly Manuscripts

  • Human Challenge of Oil Exploration in Nigeria’s Western Delta. 2006.
  • Female Genital Mutilation and Global Implications. 2006
  • Nigeria and Case for Female Presidency. 2006.
  • Political History of the Isoko People. 2006
  • Africana Women and Liberation.2001
  • Africa and Crises among its peoples. 1998
  • Women in Nigeria. Colonial and Postcolonial experiences. 1998
  • Colonization, Commerce and Entrepreneurship in Nigeria, 1914-1960. The Western Delta. 1997
  • Ethno-linguistic factor in Nigeria’s political History. 1996
  • Female Circumcision and the problem of Cross Cultural Perspective. 1995.
  • Guyanese Women. Responses and Reactions to Structural Adjustment Program. 1995.
  • Africa and its Peoples. 1994
  • Review of UNESCO African Civilizations 11. 1994.

Ongoing research

includes forth-coming publications:

  • African Women. Agents of change and power.
  • Trafficking of Women and Children. Global context.

Excerps of Articles

In June 2006(IPS) reported that recently, Cameroon’s female legislators could be found under a tree in the garden of the country’s parliament , listening to Hannah Kwenti, 17 , the mother of a five month old baby girl and a victim of female genital mutilation.
She says “ I came from Mamfe in South West Cameroon where I was circumcised in January after the birth of Ruth”, she told IPS. “ My parents in-law insisted on it, believing that if it was not done, I could one day be unfaithful to Peter.(my husband).”

The procedure took place just three days after Kwenti had given birth. “ During the excision, I lost a lot of blood and while the pain was convulsing me, the woman there (the circumciser) said, “Stop crying your case is still tolerable. There are some for whom we remove all the stuff there”. Kwenti said that the women who circumcised her said she would “not desire men other than Peter”., while sexually transmitted diseases would “never be her concern”.
“ I wished to die, but God did not want this”, continued Kwenti. “I advise against FGM for your daughter,” Kwenti added, holding her head in her hands. She was in Yaounde to take part in a campaign female legislators organized about the dangers of FGM.
, your case is still tolerable. There are some for whom we remove all the stuff there”. Kwenti said that the women who circumcised her said she would “not desire men other than Peter”., while sexually transmitted diseases would “never be her concern”.
“ I wished to die, but God did not want this”, continued Kwenti. “I advise against FGM for your daughter,” Kwenti added, holding her head in her hands. She was in Yaounde to take part in a campaign female legislators organized about the dangers of FGM.

your case is still tolerable. There are some for whom we remove all the stuff there”. Kwenti said that the women who circumcised her said she would “not desire men other than Peter”., while sexually transmitted diseases would “never be her concern”.
“ I wished to die, but God did not want this”, continued Kwenti. “I advise against FGM for your daughter,” Kwenti added, holding her head in her hands. She was in Yaounde to take part in a campaign female legislators organized about the dangers of FGM.

“In Nigeria, a number of woman have succeeded in high executive positions, politics, judiciary, corporate business, administration, academics, and the professions. What Nigerians have not seen is woman as chief executive of the state. But women need not just be in positions but in power, to bring about the much desired changes for better life. Nigerian history abound with examples of women as agents of change as a result of their positions as chief executives of their states (like queen Amina and Idia). Women are able to collaborate across borders, network with others in spite of gender and cultural differences, to reach their full potential and to realize their goals.”

“Today, the Delta is a place of deepening frustration, and unprecedented restiveness that unpredictably erupts into violence. For a long time, poverty and neglect created a siege mentality as fact of everyday life, especially among the youth who feel condemned to a life of hopelessness and a blind future. Without positive alternatives, youths choose conflict as an escape and empowerment strategy. Desperate human conditions in the Delta entrench conflicts and it slows down or stops economic and social advancements”.