Retired Anthropologist Receives High Honors From Sudan
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 10, 2006) − The Sudan government presented
William Adams, professor emeritus of anthropology at
the University of Kentucky, with Sudan’s highest civilian decoration.
Adams was awarded the Order of the Two Niles medal from the president and governing council of the Republic of Sudan in recognition of his ongoing work and contributions to Sudan and its people. He and his wife, Nettie Kesseler Adams, have spent more than 25 years researching in the field and writing about the archaeology and history of parts of Sudan.
Receiving the award was “tremendously moving,” Adams said, because it came from the people of the country and he cares very deeply for them.
One of the most important of Adams’ published works is “Nubia, Corridor to Africa,” which was published in 1977 and again in 1984. The book is considered the essential text about Nubia, and the Nubian people have embraced it as their “national epic.”
Modern Nubia is a region in northern Sudan along the Nile, and the Nubian people are now considered an ethnic group of Sudan and Egypt, but in ancient times Nubia was an independent nation.
Adams received his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1958 and went to work as a director of archaeological salvage operations in Nubia for UNESCO in 1959. Adams and his wife wanted to bring their two sons back to the U.S. after living for seven years in Sudan. He came to UK in 1966 as an associate professor of anthropology to help build a doctoral program.
While at UK, Adams designed and taught more than 33 different classes, served as the department chair and continued his field research. Adams received many awards and fellowships, including Cambridge University’s Foreign Fellow of Clare Hall, the Sudan Studies Association’s Scholarly Achievement Award and the UK College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor award.
Adams retired from UK in 1992 but he continues to research, lecture and publish. His most recent work was published in 2005, “Religion and Adaptation: an Ethno-logical Perspective” and “The West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai, 3: Sites of Christian Age.”
Adams was awarded the Order of the Two Niles medal from the president and governing council of the Republic of Sudan in recognition of his ongoing work and contributions to Sudan and its people. He and his wife, Nettie Kesseler Adams, have spent more than 25 years researching in the field and writing about the archaeology and history of parts of Sudan.
Receiving the award was “tremendously moving,” Adams said, because it came from the people of the country and he cares very deeply for them.
One of the most important of Adams’ published works is “Nubia, Corridor to Africa,” which was published in 1977 and again in 1984. The book is considered the essential text about Nubia, and the Nubian people have embraced it as their “national epic.”
Modern Nubia is a region in northern Sudan along the Nile, and the Nubian people are now considered an ethnic group of Sudan and Egypt, but in ancient times Nubia was an independent nation.
Adams received his doctorate in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1958 and went to work as a director of archaeological salvage operations in Nubia for UNESCO in 1959. Adams and his wife wanted to bring their two sons back to the U.S. after living for seven years in Sudan. He came to UK in 1966 as an associate professor of anthropology to help build a doctoral program.
While at UK, Adams designed and taught more than 33 different classes, served as the department chair and continued his field research. Adams received many awards and fellowships, including Cambridge University’s Foreign Fellow of Clare Hall, the Sudan Studies Association’s Scholarly Achievement Award and the UK College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor award.
Adams retired from UK in 1992 but he continues to research, lecture and publish. His most recent work was published in 2005, “Religion and Adaptation: an Ethno-logical Perspective” and “The West Bank Survey from Faras to Gemai, 3: Sites of Christian Age.”