Assistant Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan and 2019 LSA Collegiate Fellow (Afroamerican and African Studies)
About
Dr. Adrian M. Deese is an assistant professor of Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan. He completed a PhD in religious studies at the University of Cambridge in England. His research focuses on religious diversity and interreligious dialogue in nineteenth-century West Africa. He is, broadly, interested in the historical relationship of religion and polity, World Christianity, religious pluralism, and sacred texts in the making of modern Africa. At Michigan, he teaches courses on religion in African history, and the African religious history of the Atlantic World.
Current Work:
Dr. Deese is working on a book manuscript tentatively titled, "A 'City of God': Abeokuta and Early Nigerian Christianity, 1830-1897." The book examines an interreligious dialogue between West African clergymen and kings during a formative period of history. In the nineteenth-century, first-generation Christians attempted to build a nondenominational national church in the city of Abeokuta. In time, their efforts culminated in the Church of Nigeria. A vast body of African-language publications developed from this process, which this study examines. The texts offer unique insight into many of the developments of their generation, including the abolitionist movement, the formation of kingdoms, vernacular literatures, and ethnic nationalism. The book uses the theory of civil religion to argue that the African clergy pursued interreligious dialogue as a mechanism to mediate the values of religious diversity that they anticipated would constitute the the social contract of their nation.
Research Area Keyword(s):
religious studies; African history; diversity
