Title: Colonial and Postcolonial Engagements in a New World Order: Nigeria, the UN and the WHO, 1945-1979
PhD Supervisor & 2nd Reader: Nicole Bourbonnais and Aidan Russell
Expected completion date: 2024
Bidemi's research area broadly include the history of politics and health in Nigeria. His current research, titled "Colonial and Postcolonial Engagements in a New World Order: Nigeria, the UN, and the WHO, 1945-1979" examines the history of politics and healthcare in British West Africa focusing on colonial and postcolonial Nigeria as a case study. The project probes into the British West Africa’s reaction to the emergence of the WHO Regional Office for Africa in the post-war period. The project seeks to understand how the British colonial regime engaged with the WHO African Office between 1945 and 1960 and how the relationship changed or redefined when Nigeria assumed self-rule from 1960 to 1979. Bidemi earned his Bachelor (Hons) in History and International Studies (2014) in Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria and proceeded to the University of Ibadan, Nigeria for his master’s degree in 2017. His master's thesis, "A History of Syphilis in Colonial Ibadan, 1919-1960," looked into the Western and indigenous control mechanisms, power politics between the colonial and indigenous doctors, and subsequently, the introduction of Western medicine, Penicillin in 1945 to cure syphilis. Bidemi speaks English and Yoruba fluently with elementary knowledge of French language.
History and Development, looking at Global Exchanges through fellowship/scholarship programs for public health development, education and research, and agricultural development by US-based philanthropic organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Carnegie Corporations in Nigeria towards the end of colonial regime, 1950s to postcolonial period, 1970s.