Harold Scheub (August 26, 1931 – October 16, 2019) was an American Africanist, Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities Emeritus in the Department of African Languages and Literature (now the Department of African Cultural Studies) at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. Scheub has recorded and compiled

oral literature Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used v ...

from across southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Early life and education

Born in

Gary, Indiana Gary ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 69,093 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it Indiana's List of municipalities in Indiana, eleventh-most populous city. The city has been historical ...

, Scheub was aware as a child of racial segregation in Gary. His family, of German descent, experienced harassment during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After attending a Lutheran grade school and local high school, Scheub worked in a local steel mill. He joined the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, serving as a jet mechanic. On leaving the Air Force he was able to take advantage of the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

to fund his college education, and studied literature at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. After a master's degree there, he taught composition classes at

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...

Teaching career

Scheub taught for two years at Masindi Senior Secondary School in

Masindi Masindi is a town in the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. It is on the road between Kampala and the Murchison Falls National Park. It is the site of the headquarters of the Masindi District. Location Masindi is approximately ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. On his return to the United States, he taught again at Valparaiso. Becoming involved in the civil rights movement, he studied Swahili at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in the summer of 1965. Philip Curtin invited Scheub to study for a PhD in the department of African languages and literature at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. He worked with Archibald Campbell Jordan, who encouraged him to study Xhosa and do fieldwork research in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

.Oral History Interview: Harold Scheub

, 2005 He gained his PhD in 1969 with a thesis on the Ntsomi, a performing art practiced by Xhosa women. Political scientist Crawford Young offered Scheub a permanent position at Wisconsin, and he taught there for 43 years until his retirement in December 2013. Scheub did not marry and had no children. He died October 16, 2019, in Madison, Wisconsin, at age 88.

Works

* ''Bibliography of African oral narratives'', 1971 * ''African images'', 1972 * ''The Xhosa Ntsomi'', 1975 * ''African oral narratives, proverbs, riddles, poetry, and song'', 1977 * ''Story'', 1988 * ''The African storyteller: stories from African oral traditions'', 1990 * (with Nongenile Masithathu Zenani) ''The world and the word: tales and observations from the Xhosa oral tradition'', 1992 * ''The tongue is fire: South African storytellers and apartheid'', 1996 * ''A dictionary of African mythology: the mythmaker as storyteller'', 2000 * ''The poem in the story: music, poetry, and narrative'', 2002 * ''African tales'', 2005 * ''The uncoiling python: South African storytellers and resistance'', 2010 * ''Trickster and hero: two characters in the oral and written traditions of the world'', 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheub, Harold 1931 births 2019 deaths Writers from Gary, Indiana Military personnel from Indiana American folklorists African folklore American Africanists Valparaiso University faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni American people of German descent Activists for African-American civil rights