The Department of African Studies and Anthropology is sorry to announce the death of Ken Post.  

When the Centre of West African Studies was established at the University of Birmingham in 1963, its first director, John Fage, attracted a series of academic stars to build and share expertise on Africa. Ken Post had gained his academic credentials by writing a study of the Nigerian federal election of 1959, which were the prelude to independence. In its detailed analysis of constituency politics, this book remains unrivalled. Ken Post went on to publish a more concise volume with Penguin in 1964, which he entitled The New States of West Africa.  This book sold many copies and attracted doctoral and masters studies to Birmingham to work under Ken Post’s direction. Later in his career, Ken Post moved to the Institute of Social Studies, where he continued to teach and research on Africa, and particularly on radical movements. After a long retirement, he became unwell, and died on 12 March 2017.