Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie
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I was born in Ibadan (formerly the largest city in West Africa) in Nigeria and came to the USA in 1993 to get a doctorate degree from Northwestern University. Most of my family is still there (a brother lives in London and a sister lives in Maryland). I have basically been mostly interested in knowledge, which is why I became a professor. The history of human knowledge production is fascinating especially in how human societies prioritize and value specific kinds of knowledge. Most of my work investigates how particular forms of knowledge achieve value and are disseminated. My primary hobby is science and I keep abreast of space exploration and also high theory physics (Unified Field Theory, Quantum physics, revolutionary mechanical design, etc).
Research Interests
I am a polymath. My work covers Classical, Modern and Contemporary African Art; African Daispora Art (including a major focus on African American Art); Critical Theory and Art History Methodologies, Alternative Modernities; and Knowledge Systems Theory. After working in the field of traditional art history in the past decade and a half, I have started moving my work into more contemporary issues, engaging visual culture, and above all, investigating the use and adaptation of indigenous knowledge systems in the production of knowledge. I have also started a publishing company recently to issue books on modern and contemporary African artists. This is because they are so woefully underrepresented in available texts which acts as an impediment to decent pedagogy on the subject.
Teaching Style
I aim for inspirational instruction. Over the course of their time at UCSB, the average student will be provided with a healthy dose of the gospel according to Western knowledge, which aims to explain the world in relation to the West's domination of the rest of the planet. I provide my students with a historical location of the West as a powerful culture but simply one of many other powerful cultures in history. From this viewpoint, I get them to investigate the role and impact of other cultures (mostly the African cultures I focus on) on world history and development. For example, you can probably name any number of white inventors in the USA. But do you know who Elijah McCoy is, and if not why not?
Idea of a Good Time
Travel to new and foreign places...and long-distance driving. Fortunately, my wife also likes these activities although I do quite a lot of traveling to give talks at many institutions.
Most Important Thing to Learn at College
That knowledge is an ever-evolving thing, and things are not always what they seem. A student needs to learn the old Socratic ideal that the only thing one truly knows is that he/she knows NOTHING. This is basically a call to be humble in defining what we know, since knowledge is malleable and subject to historical interpretation. What you know at any given time is subject to how the past or present is interpreted (for example, how does anyone know that there is a God? How equally can you be sure there isn't a God?). I teach my students to learn that every question has many sides. Since they mostly have spent their lives imbibing the prevailing ideology of Western Supremacy, I bring them face to face with what Western knowledge omits in its inscription of white world dominance. This information is not always pretty but hopefully it creates empathy and understanding of those who are foreign to the students. In this age of grave uncertainty (and imperial arrogance) empathy may yet save the human race.
Advice for New Students at UCSB
Great campus. Take advantage of it. To each thing its time: time to party, time to study. Above all, move outside your comfort zone. Engage your fellow students. This is the time of your life. In the future, you will remember how carefree it was, how so full of possibilities, and that such a time will never come again.
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