# Harold Scheub

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**Harold Scheub** (August 26, 1931 – October 16, 2019)[1] was an American [Africanist](/source/African_studies), 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](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison). Scheub has recorded and compiled [oral literature](/source/Oral_literature) from across southern [Africa](/source/Africa).[2]

## Early life and education

Born in [Gary, Indiana](/source/Gary,_Indiana), Scheub was aware as a child of racial segregation in Gary. His family, of German descent, experienced harassment during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War). After attending a Lutheran grade school and local high school, Scheub worked in a local steel mill. He joined the [US Air Force](/source/US_Air_Force), serving as a jet mechanic. On leaving the Air Force he was able to take advantage of the [G.I. Bill](/source/G.I._Bill) to fund his college education, and studied literature at the [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan). After a master's degree there, he taught composition classes at [Valparaiso University](/source/Valparaiso_University).

## Teaching career

Scheub taught for two years at Masindi Senior Secondary School in [Masindi](/source/Masindi), [Uganda](/source/Uganda). On his return to the United States, he taught again at Valparaiso. Becoming involved in the [civil rights movement](/source/Civil_rights_movement), he studied [Swahili](/source/Swahili_language) at [UCLA](/source/UCLA) in the summer of 1965. [Philip Curtin](/source/Philip_Curtin) invited Scheub to study for a PhD in the department of African languages and literature at the [University of Wisconsin](/source/University_of_Wisconsin). He worked with [Archibald Campbell Jordan](/source/Archibald_Campbell_Jordan), who encouraged him to study [Xhosa](/source/Xhosa_language) and do fieldwork research in [South Africa](/source/South_Africa).[3] He gained his PhD in 1969 with a thesis on the [Ntsomi](/source/Ntsomi), a performing art practiced by [Xhosa](/source/Xhosa_people) women.[4] Political scientist [Crawford Young](/source/Crawford_Young_(political_scientist)) offered Scheub a permanent position at Wisconsin, and he taught there for 43 years until his retirement in December 2013.[5]

Scheub did not marry and had no children. He died October 16, 2019, in Madison, Wisconsin, at age 88.[6]

## 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

1. [Scheub, Harold E.](https://madison.com/news/local/obituaries/scheub-harold-e/article_a2caa84b-f5fc-5c9b-b6b9-efdd7da3516b.html) madison.com October 17, 2019.

1. Benjamin Mueller, [Scholar Who Walked Through Southern Africa to Collect Tales Retires](http://www.chronicle.com/article/Scholar-Who-Walked-Through/145867/?cid=gn), *[Chronicle of Higher Education](/source/Chronicle_of_Higher_Education)*, April 14, 2014

1. [Oral History Interview: Harold Scheub](https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/72609/Scheub_720_index.rtf?sequence=1), [University of Wisconsin](/source/University_of_Wisconsin), 2005

1. Harold Scheub, *The Ntsomi: a Xhosa performing art*, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1969

1. Mary Ellen Gabriel, [Storied professor Scheub retires after 43 years](http://news.ls.wisc.edu/humanities-the-arts/storied-professor-scheub-retires-after-43-years/), December 13, 2016

1. Conklin, Aaron R. ["UW-Madison mourns legendary professor/storyteller Harold Scheub"](https://ls.wisc.edu/news/uw-madison-mourns-legendary-professor-storyteller-harold-scheub). *L&S News*. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved 21 October 2019.

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