Joel Gregory: An Appreciation

Abstract

I do not know if this field can be said to have a founder, but Joel was certainly its prophet and its leading practitioner since the mid-1970s. In one sense, his work was a straightforward extension, into one more disciplinary terrain, of the logic of African studies at its best, multivariate and multidisciplinary social science linked with commitment to social justice. At the same time, Joel's approach to the reproduction of human population helped unleash some profound changes in African studies and in demography. He identified the strategic intellectual importance of African historical demography and contributed to that nascent field the originality and the prescience of his approach, plus his ability to lead and orient the work of those around him. He worked in a collective style, so that one cannot separate his work from that of his closest co-workers Dennis Cordell and Victor Pich6, nor from his colleagues such as Mohamed Mbodj and former students such as Lututala Mumpasi. To celebrate Joel's work is to celebrate the work of all in the