Bruce M. Haight

Department of History

Bruce M. Haight

Dr. Bruce M. Haight
Professor
Ph.D., Northwestern University (1981)
West African History: Focus on Islam and Artistic Traditions

Office: (269) 387-5361
Email:

Location
4420 Friedmann Hall

Mailing Address
Department of History
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5334

Selected publications:

BMH and Lamidi Fakeye with David Curl, Lamidi Olonade Fakeye: A Retrospective Exhibition and Autobiography (Distributed by the University of Washington Press, 1996, 2nd printing 1999); Ivor Wilks, Nehemia Levtzion and BMH, Chronicles from Gonja: A Tradition of West African Muslim Historiography (Cambridge University Press, 1986). Articles: Teaching History: A Journal of Method; and the American Anthropologist.

Professional Information

Bachelor of Arts

Kalamazoo College
History. Major Advisor: John Peterson

M.A., Ph.D.

Major Field: African History
Major Advisor: Ivor Wilks, and studies under Nehemia Levtzion, Margaret Priestley-Bax, and John Rowe
Minor Field: History of the Middle East: 622 - 1500
Research Related Field: Political Anthropology. Studies under Ron Cohen

Further Study

NEH Summer Institute at the National Museum of African Art under Rene Bravmann and Douglas Fraser (1979)

Professional Achievements

Received the WMU College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Achievement Award for Professional and Community Service (2004)
Elected as Faculty Representative to the Executive Board of CAMP (Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project) of the Center for Research Libraries (2003)
Invited to the "CRL Historians Conference" at the Center for Research Libraries (3/2002)
Chair of the WMU Faculty Senate Library Committee (2001-2011)
Member of the WMU Library Dean's Search Committee (2001-2002)
Curated retrospective exhibitions of Fakeye's sculpture at Hope College (1996) and Western Michigan University (1987)
Consultant on Fakeye exhibitions:
2009: Wabash College, Western Michigan University & the Kalamazoo Black Arts & Cultural Center
1999/2000: Focus Gallery of the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian
Field research: Nigeria (1989, 1992, 1996, and 1999); Ghana (1972/3, 1969) and Sierra Leone (1966-7)
Research presentations: African Studies Association; the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies; Obafemi Awolowo University of Ile-Ife, Nigeria; the American Museum of Natural History; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Council for Geographic Education; and the Michigan Council for Social Studies
Joint presentations with Fakeye: Western Michigan University (2009); the National Museum of Natural History/the Smithsonian (1999), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998); the University of Iowa and Northwestern University (1997); the Indianapolis Museum (1994); et. al.
Chaired a panel and presented on "Africa in the K-12 Classroom: Lessons From the University and Collaboration in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek" at the Michigan Council for the Social Studies Annual Meeting (2/28/2002)

In December 2009, Lamidi Fakeye, the internationally acclaimed African sculptor with ties to WMU, passed away. Read Dr. Haight's eulogy for Mr. Fakeye.

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