Yusufu Bala Usman was born at Musawa, Katsina, in Nigeria, in 1945. He worked in the Department of History, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from 1970 until his death in September 2005. In his numerous historical writings Bala completely changed the paradigm of the study of African history, from one based on “tribal” studies, to a dynamic perspective which shows how present identities and structures are a product of historical processes, and are not fixed, permanent categories.