Peter Ekeh

Peter Palmer Ekeh (1937–2020) was a Nigerian political sociologist and scholar whose work examined colonialism, political institutions, social structures and public morality in Africa. He taught at the University of Ibadan and later at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is particularly associated with his theory of the “two publics” in postcolonial Africa and his analysis of colonialism as an enduring social and political force Quotes The experiences of colonialism in Africa have led to the emergence of a unique historical configuration in modern post-colonial Africa: the existence of two publics instead of one public. Ekeh introduced his “two publics” argument by explaining that colonialism produced a distinctive political and moral structure in postcolonial African societies. He developed the argument using examples from Nigeria. Many of Africa's political problems are due to the dialectical relationships between the two publics. Ekeh was explaining why the coexistence and interaction of the civic and primordial publics were central to understanding political problems in postcolonial Africa. Most educated Africans are citizens of two publics in the same society. Ekeh was describing how educated Africans could simultaneously participate in the civic public associated with the modern state and the primordial public associated with community, kinship and other traditional affiliations. The primordial public is moral and operates on the same moral imperatives as the private realm. Ekeh contrasted the moral obligations operating within the primordial public with the different moral relationship he identified with the civic public. The civic public is historically associated with the colonial administration and has become identified with popular politics in post-colonial Africa. Ekeh was defining the civic public and tracing its historical connection to colonial administrative institutions and postcolonial political structures. The civic public can never be impoverished. Ekeh was discussing the belief that the civic public, because it is associated with the state, possesses resources that can continually be drawn upon. In 1990, I gave a seminar to sociology graduate students at Uppsala University in Sweden, when I was an external examiner, on the theme of a new article of mine that had just appeared in Comparative Studies in Society and History. Ekeh was looking back on his intellectual development and explaining the circumstances in which he later reflected on the origins of his “two publics” thesis. I began my graduate education in the Sociology Department at Stanford University, California, USA in 1965, fresh from University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Ekeh was describing his academic background and the beginning of his graduate studies in the United States. He was explaining the intellectual experiences that contributed to the development of his later sociological thinking. It was a very good piece that discussed complicated behaviours of individuals at different levels of their actions. Ekeh was reflecting on Edward Shils' work and explaining why it was significant to his own intellectual development. Category: Sociologists from Nigeria