Name: Chiadikaobi Gregory Okafor
Year in program: 4
ABD Y/N: Spring 2025
Primary supervisor: Dr. Walter Hawthorne
Major field: African History
Minor fields: Comparative Religion and African Diaspora
Link to your personal page or profile: https://hcommons.org/members/gregchiadi94/ and linkedin.com/in/chiadikaobi-gregory-j-okafor-ab641319a
I am a fourth-year Doctoral Candidate in African History, with a particular interest in Catholic missionary growth in Africa.
My dissertation examines the roles the Igbo people of Southeastern Nigeria played in the conversion to, domestication of and the growth of Catholicism in the region. I argue that Igbo people were not just willing converts, but it was their phenomenal efforts that ensured the continual growth of the Catholic faith in Igboland. This thesis challenges a historiography that tends to privilege European missionary contributions to the Christianization of Africa by presenting an alternative approach of studying missionary agency in local mission fields.
Before coming to MSU, I obtained a BA in History and International Studies from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and taught History at St. Johnbosco Seminary, Isuaniocha, and St. Michael’s Model Comprehensive School, Nimo, Nigeria, respectively.
I enjoy watching and playing soccer, as well as making valuable professional connections.