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Leonard Gadzekpo

Leonard Gadzekpo, Associate Professor, Judge Williams Holmes Cook Professor

Dr. Leonard Kodzo Gadzekpo was born in Cote d'Ivoire and grew up in Ghana. He got his first degree from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, and taught in Ghana and Nigeria. He spent four years in Germany as an artist working on religious art pieces for the St. Stepanus Katholische Gemeinde in Oldenburg and studied at Universitaet Oldenburg and Salzburg Universitaet, Austria. From 1990 to 1997 he did graduate studies at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio and earned a M.A. in German, a M.F.A. in Painting and a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies. 

Before coming to SIU Carbondale, he was Assistant Professor of Art and Interdisciplinary Studies at University of Maine, Orono, Maine. As an artist he has been exhibiting in Africa, Europe, and America. He designed nine stained-glass windows for the Warren A. M. E. Church, Toledo, Ohio, completed several triptychs and altar-pieces for the St. Stephanus Katholische Gemeinde, Oldenburg, Germany, and a mural for the St. Thomas Catholic Church at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He is presently working on a series of paintings dealing with the Africana experience in the world. His writing and research focus on comparative study of Africana history and culture. 

Leonard Gadzekpo

Office: Faner 4022
Phone: (618) 453-7152
Email: gadzekpo@siu.edu
Fax: (618) 453-7131

Selected Publications

  • Leonard Gadzekpo. "The African American Experience in a Pluralistic Society". Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. 2010.
  • Leonard Gadzekpo. "African-Ethos Identity: Aspects of Identity among Africans and in the African Diaspora". Lagos Historical Review, Vol.3, 2003. 132-150.
  •  Dibie, Robert and Leonard Gadzekpo. "Managing Public Servants Ethics in Ghana and Nigeria" in Politics Administration and Change. No. 39, January-June, 2003:1-24.
  •  Leonard Gadzekpo. Ghanaian Women and Environmental Policy in The Journal Of African Policy Studies Vol.7 No. 2/3 (2001). 29-44.
  •  "The Black Church, Slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and the Future" in The Journal of Religious Thought Vol.53/54 No 2/1(1997) Washington D.C.:Howard University.95-112. https://historycooperative.org/journals/jah/86.3/rs_1.html