In Fall 1975, I made the journey from Los Angeles to Seattle to pursue a PhD in African art history. I had decided to attend University of Washington because I wanted to study with René Bravmann. Another factor influencing my decision was the presence of Simon Ottenberg, whose seminal book, Masked Rituals of Afikpo (1975) had recently been published. In addition to my coursework in art history, I enrolled in several of Simon's classes dealing with West African ethnography, the anthropology of religion, and aesthetic anthropology. Simon later served as a member of my dissertation committee.
Simon was not a showman. He delivered his lectures in his signature deliberate, meandering manner. But what he may have lacked in performative style, he more than made up for in content. His syllabi were informed by the most current scholarship, his critiques of the literature were always insightful and provocative. I learned a...