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Dasylva, Ademola Omobewaji

RESUME/BIODATA

Ademola O. Dasylva (b. Oct. 15, 1952 - )

Professor of African literature and Oral literature, poet, biographer, literary theorist and critic; coordinator of Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, (a study group for the promotion of excellence in African and African American cultural studies); convener, 2008 Ibadan International Conference on African Literature (IICAL); convener of The Toyin Falola Annual International Conference on Africa and The African Diaspora (TOFAC); Fellow, Salzburg Seminar, Session 374, Austria, 2000. Prof. Dasylva is a native of Ado-Ekiti (Aduloju family), Ekiti State; attended Our Lady & St. Kizito's Catholic Seminary, Ede, Osun State. B.A. Hons, (English) and M.A. (African Literature), University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile-Ife; Ph.D in African Literature, from Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Prof. Dasylva teaches Drama, Poetry, the African Novel, and Oral Literature/Folklore Studies at the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His scholarly publications include, Understanding Wole Soyinka: Death and the King’s Horseman; Studies in Drama; Classificatory Paradigms in African Oral Narrative (a monograph), and co-edited with Prof. Kola Owolabi Forms and Functions of English and Indigenous Languages in Nigeria; co-author (with Dr. Toyin Jegede), Studies in Poetry. His collection of poems, Songs of Odamolugbe won the 2006 ANA/Cadbury National Award for Poetry, and one of the finalists in the 2009 NLNG Literature Award. In March 2009, at the Africa Conference, Professor Ademola Dasylva won the 2009 Distinguished Africanist Award for Research Excellence, University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is well traveled and widely published in local and international scholarly journals.

 

Professor Ademola Omobewaji DASYLVA (b. Oct. 15, 1952 - )

Department of English

The University of Ibadan

Ibadan, Oyo State

Nigeria

               

EDUCATION

Certificate in Basic French, European Studies Dept., U.I., May 1999

Ph.D. (African Literature) University of Ibadan, July 1994

M.A. (Literature in English) University of Ife, April 1985
B.A. Hons (English) University of Ife, June 1981

 

Dissertation and Thesis

Ph.D (African Literature): “Toward a New Taxonomy of the Hero in the African Novel”   (1994) University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

M.A. (Literature in English): “Art, Audience and Society in Kole Omotoso’s  Fiction” (1984) University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Ile-Ife).

TEACHING AND RESEARCH INTERESTS

African Literature (The African Novel, Drama & Poetry), Oral Literature/Folklore Studies; Creative Writing; Biographies; Women Studies; Film Studies (Nollywood Home-Videos); Scholarly Book Publishing.

 

SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, PRIZES AND AWARDS

The University of Texas at Austin, Distinguished Africanist Award for Research Excellence, 2009.

ANA/CADBURY National Poetry Award, 2006.

Fellow, Saltzburg Seminar Series, Session 374, Austria, 2000

Federal Government Scholar (M.A. African Literature), University of Ife,  (now Obafemi Awolowo University) 1983/ 84.

 

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

October 2006- Professor of African Literature & Oral literature, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

1995-September 2006 Reader/Associate Professor, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

1988-1995 Senior Lecturer, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Nigeria

1984-1988 Assistant Lecturer, Oyo State College of Arts and Science, Ile-Ife

 

RESEARCH

(a)  Completed
 Dapo Adelugba On Theatre Practice in Nigeria.  This is a part-product of an on-going research project. A book with this title has now been published.

(b) Research in Progress 

(i) “Theatre Practitioners on Theatre Practice in Nigeria”.

This is a joint project involving Prof. Dapo Adelugba, Theatre Arts Dept., University of Ibadan, Dr. Ademola O. Dasylva, Dept. of English, University of Ibadan, and Prof. Philip A. Ogundeji, Dept. of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan. It is a research aimed at a comprehensive Bio-Critical documentation, a Who-is-Who? in Nigerian Theatre Practice (Traveling theatre, amateur and semi-professional theatre in Nigerian Universities), highlighting a summary of their contributions to the emergence and development of the Nigerian Theatre in the last fifty years (1950 – 2000). The project which is originally planned to last four years is, at present in its concluding stage.

(ii)“Yoruba Festival Chants: Towards a Poetics of Recitation”

This is a joint research involving two other senior colleagues, late Prof. Oyin Ogunba (O.O.U. Ago-Iwoye) and Prof. P.A. Ogundeji (Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ibadan). The data collection took ten years (1996-2006) in order to determine, among other things, the changing patterns (textual and contextual), of the lines common to these chants and believed to have been drawn from a common source (C-source), and the frequency of their occurrence in selected major Yoruba festival chants. The data analysis is at an advanced stage. The project will, hopefully, be competed very shortly.

Ph.D. Theses Supervised and successfully defended by candidates (supervisees)

 

· Solanke, Steven, “Myth and Mythography in Modern African Drama” (defended, 2011)

 

· Egwu, Anya Ude. “A genre analysis of Ewa-Oma Festival Performances of Nkporo, South Eastern Nigeria” (defended, 2011)

· Aguoru, Adedoyin Adenike “Interface of Art and National Identity: A Study of Nigerian and Japanese Theatre Traditions” (defended, 2011)

· Fasan, Rotimi Omoyele “Text Performance of Yoruba Indigenous Ceremonial Dance Songs” (defended, 2009)

· Adejumo, Thompson Adejobi  “A Semiotic Interpretation of Efe and Alatipa Performances in Two Yoruba Communities in Nigeria” (defended, 2008)

· Awaefeda, Sunday  “The Burden of History: A Study of the Poetry of Niyi Osundare and Tanure Ojaide” (Jointly supervised with Dr. Remy Oriaku, & (defended, 2007)

· Gbenoba, Felix Emefiele  “Contextuality in Ritual Performances of Osiezi  Festival in Agbor, Nigeria.”  (defended, 2006)

· Tsaaior, James Tar. “Gender Politics in Tiv Oral Narratives”. (defended, 2005)

· Sotunsa, Mobolanle Ebunoluwa. “Features of Yoruba Talking Drum Poetry”.  (defended, 2005)

· Olorunyomi, Sola. “Afrobeat Song-Text Narrative and The Poetics of Hypertext Performance”. (defended, 2005)

· Akorede, Yetunde O.O. “Women and Intra-Gender Conflict in the African Narrative”.   (defended, 2004

· Omosule, O.O. “Performance As Motif in Yoruba Traditional Festivals” (defended, 2003)

· Ogbeide, Victor Oijagbe. “The Theme of Betrayal in the Modern African Novel of English Expression” (defended, 2003)

· Jegede, O.B. “Court Poetry Tradition and Performance in Nigeria”. (defended, 2002)

· Ayang, Sarah M.E. “Dirge Culture and Performance in Banyang, Cameroon.’’ (defended, 1998)

 

Selected Academic Engagements outside the University of Ibadan

(a)  External Moderator/Examiner, Niger Delta University, (May, 2012 - )

(b)  External Moderator/Examiner, (Undergraduate & Postgraduate) Literature,

       Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, (February, 2012 - )

(c)  External Assessor, University of Science and Technology, Legon, Ghana, (2011)

(d)  External Examiner, Postgraduate, University of Sierra-Leone, Njala,(2011)

(e)  External Moderator/Examiner, Undergraduate Literature, Ekiti State University,

      Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, (2011 - )

(f)  External Moderator/Examiner, Undergraduate Literature, Lagos State University, 

      Lagos, Nigeria, (2009 - 2011)

(g)  Visiting Senior Lecturer of Literature, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Ile-Ife

      (2003/2004)

(h)  External Moderator/Examiner, (Undergraduate & Postgraduate Literature,

      Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. (2001-2003; 2006- 

      2008)

(i)  External Moderator/Examiner, Undergraduate Literature, Babcock University,

      Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. (2008 - 2010)

(j)  Visiting Associate Professor of Literature, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo,   

       Ogun State.  September, 2001- August, 2002

 

 

 

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES 

Member, Association of Nigerian Authors

Member, Folklore Society of Nigeria.

Member, International Society of the Oral Literatures of Africa(ISOLA)

Member, West African Modern Languages Association(WAMLA)

Member, Premier Circle, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Member, American Studies Association of Nigeria, University of Ibadan branch

Fellow, Salzburg Seminar, Session 374, Austria, 2000.

Member, The Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL)

Member, Yoruba Studies Association of Nigeria (YSAN)

Coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, University of Ibadan, Ibadan

Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Humanistic Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Editor, Ibadan: Journal of English Studies (IBJES), Department of English, University of Ibadan.

Co-Editor, ISESE: Ibadan Journal of Folklore, University of Ibadan, Ibadan

Consulting Editor, Humanities Review Journal: A Publication of the Humanities Research  Forum, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Board Chairman and Convener, Toyin Falola Annual International Conference on Africa and the African Diaspora (TOFAC) 

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

(a) Books already published

· Dasylva, A.O. (2011) City on the Hill: The Biography of Bishop Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi. Ibadan: Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, pp.327

· Dasylva, A.O. (2009) Marvelous in Our Sight: the Biography of Deaconess Ajibike Florence Alabi-Ademuson. Ibadan: Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, pp.300+

· Ogundeji, P.A./Dasylva, A.O. (2009)  Eni A Ba Ta: Iriri Diakoni Ajibike Florence Alabi-Ademuson. Ibadan: Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, pp.300+

· Dasylva, A. O. (2006a) Songs of Odamolugbe (Poems) Ibadan: Kraft Book Griots Series, Kraft Book Publishers, pp. 113 (February) (2006 ANA/Cadbury National Award-winner for Poetry)

· Dasylva, A. O. and O. B. Jegede (2005a), Studies in Poetry Ibadan: Stirling-Hordens Publishers. (225+pp)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2004a) Studies in Drama Ibadan: Stirling-Horden Publishers (198pp.) (NIGERIA) 

· Owolabi, Kola & Dasylva, A.O. (Eds.) (2004b) Forms and Functions of English and Indigenous Languages in Nigeria: A Festschrift in Honour of Ayo Banjo Ibadan: Citi Group Publishers. (726pp, NIGERIA) 

· Dasylva, A.O. (2003) Dapo Adelugba On Theatre Practice in Nigeria Ibadan:  Atlantis Books.(307pp., NIGERIA)   

· Dasylva, A. O. (1999b) Classificatory Paradigms in African Oral Narrative. ISESE MONOGRAPH SERIES (42pp.) ICSG (IBADAN, NIGERIA) 

· Dasylva, A.O. (1996) Understanding Wole Soyinka: Death and the King’s Horseman. Ibadan:  Sam Bookman Publishers. (92+pp) (NIGERIA)

(b) Chapters in Books already published

· Dasylva, A.O.        (2012) "African Writers amd the Metaphor of Environmental Degradation: An Ecocritical Perspective on Niyi Osundare and Tanure Ojaide's Selected Poems." in Toyin Falola and Maurice Amutabi (eds.) Perspectives on African Environment, Science and Technology. Trenton: Africa World Press., 205 - 222.(USA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2011) “The enduring Legacy of Yoruba Orature: Ethnographic Finds and Adamu-Orisa Ritual Performance” in Toyin Falola and Adebayo Oyebade (eds.) Yoruba Fiction, Orature, and Culture. Oyekan Owomoyela and African Literature & the Yoruba Experience. Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc., pp 93-111.

· Dasylva, A.O. (2010) “Toward National Psychic Retrieval: The Omoluwabi Concept and the Enduring Legacy of Toyin Falola’s Scholarship” in Niyi Afolabi (ed.) Toyin Falola: The Man, the Mask, the Muse. Durham: Carolina Academic Press. Pp 303-320.

· Dasylva, A.O. (2010) “The Archivist as Muse: Toyin Falola’s Experimentation with the Alternative History in A mouth Sweeter than Salt” in Niyi Afolabi (ed.) Toyin Falola: The Man, the Mask, the Muse. Durham: Carolina Academic Press. Pp. 735-752.

· Dasylva, A.O. (2009) “Modern African Drama and the Emergence of Femi Osofisan (Neo-Rationalist) Theater: Towards a Poetics” in Tunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola’s (eds.) Emerging Perspectives on Femi Osofisan. Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc.,pp 263-282.

· Dasylva, A.O. (2008) “Transculturation and Cultural Correspondences in Contemporary African Drama.” in Toyin Falola, Niyi Afolabi, & Aderonke A. Adesanya (eds.) Migrations and Creative Expressions in Africa and the African Diaspora Durham: Carolina Academic Press. (pp. 377-395)http://www.cap-press.com/files/falolarestless   (USA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2007) “Playing” with History, “Playing” with Words: Ngugi and Mugo’s The Trial of Dedan Kimathi’ in Mala Pandurang (ed.) Ngugi wa Thiong.o: An Anthology of Recent Criticism New Delhi: Pencraft International. pp. 202-212 (INDIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (2001b) “Orality, Con-textuality and Continuity in Nigeria” in Russell Kaschula (Ed.) African Oral Literature: Functions in Contemporary Contexts. Cape Town: New Africa Books, pp. 181-190. (SOUTH AFRICA)

 

(c) Articles that have already appeared in learned Journals

· Dasylva, A. O. (1991) “Commitment and Ideology in Kole Omotoso’s Fiction.”
Review of English and Literary Studies (RELS) vol. 8. No. 1 pp. 20 –38, Dept of English (IBADAN, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1995a) “The Carrier-hero in the African Novel.” OSUA Studies in Language and Literature (OSILL) Vol. 1 No.1. pp. 87 – 102. (Dept. of English, ADO-EKITI, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1995b) “The Beauty of the Ugly: A perspective on Albert Camus and the Absurd.” OBITUN: Journal of Humanities Vol. 1. No. 1. pp. 81 – 90, (Faculty of Arts, ADO-EKITI, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1997a) “African Critics and the Hero Concept: A Critique.” Critical Essays and Research in African Literature (CERIAL) No. 1 pp. 68 – 77, (Dept. of English, UYO (NIGERIA).

· Dasylva, A. O. (1997b) “Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and the Saga of the Running Nigger: A Post-apartheid Discourse.” Journal of Educational and Humanistic Studies JEHUS Vol. 1. No. 1 pp. 51-58, (Faculty of Arts, ADO-EKITI)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1998a) “Culture, Oral Literature and the Challenge of Modernity: The Ondo/Ibadan Experiment.” IHAFA: A Journal of African Studies. Vol. 2 No. 1 April, pp. 73 – 81, (Dept. of African and Asian Studies, UNILAG, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1998b) “Kádàrá-Àyànmó Yoruba Concept of Fate-Destiny: A Critique of Man’s Station in Life in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame.” ORITA: Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies 1-2 June 1998, pp. 1-8 (Dept of Religious Studies, IBADAN, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1998c) “Form and Trans-formation in Modern African Drama: Femi Osofisan’s Theatre and Neo-rationalism.” AFRICA-AMERICA-ASIA-AUSTRALIA (AAAA) No. 21, pp. 195-205 (ITALY)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1998e) “The African Tragic Drama and the Quest for Form: The Example of Clark-Bekederemo’s Trilogy.” International Journal of African Culture and Ideas. (IJACI) No. 1. Vols. 1&2 (April & November) pp. 60 – 67. (Faculty of Applied Arts, OGBOMOSO, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1998f) “Alienation in Niyi Osundare’s Poetry.” Ibadan Journal of Humanistic Studies. No.8, (October) pp.71-83. Faculty of Arts (IBADAN, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A. O. (1999) “Wole Soyinka’s Horseman and the Horses of Words: A Semiotics of the ‘Not – I Bird’ Song – Text.” Research in African Languages and Linguistics (RALL) Vol. 5. No. 1, pp.1-13. Dept of Linguistics and African Languages. (IBADAN, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2000) “On the Wings of Proverb: Wole Soyinka’s Ogidigbo Drumbeat of a Thousand Riddles in Death and the King’s Horseman.” ISESE: Ibadan Journal of Folklore Vol. 2 No. 1&2. pp. 108-119 (IBADAN, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2002) “Inter (con)Textual Migrations of the Oral Narrative Trickster (Hero): Phases of Transformation in Modern African Literature.” AFRICA-AMERICA-ASIA-AUSTRALIA (AAAA) No. 23, pp. 51-61.(ITALY)

· Dasylva, A O. (2005b) “The African Writer and the Phases of Conflict in Africa.” UFAHAMU Volume 31 Issue 3. pp.114-147 (USA)  ufahamu@ucla.edu)

· Dasylva, A. O. (2006b) “Popular Culture and Populist Aesthetics in Kole Omotoso’s Novels.” YORUBA: Journal of the Yoruba Studies Association of Nigeria, Vol.3 No. 2, pp. 40-61(NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2006c) “Cross-Cultural Influences and Correspondences in Contemporary Nigerian Drama.” ES REVIEW: REVISTA DE FILOLOGIA INGLESA, No.27, 2006-2007 pp. 23-38 (SPAIN)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2006e) “Culture Education” and the Challenge of Globalization in Modern Nigeria” Oral Tradition (On-line journal, Vol.21. ii, 2006 (click to view Introduction.    http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/21ii/dasylva (USA)

· Dasylva, A.O. “Identity and Memory in Omoboyode Arowa’s Oriki Performance in (Yoruba) Ekiti Dialect.” African and Asian Studies A A S Vol.6 no. 1-2 2007, pp.173 -200

Journal Articles Accepted for Publication

· Dasylva, A. O. (Oct. 2005c) “Inter(Con-)Textual Migrations: Traditional Epic Hero and Phases of Transformation in the African Novel” (KRE) Journal of Social Sciences. (INDIA)

Technical Reports

· Oduneye Bayo; Dasylva, A.O. & Ogundeji, P.A. (2003) A Commissioned Review/Assessment Report on UNICEF / Theatre Arts Dept., University of Ibadan, “Theatre For Development(TFD)/Child Survival Program (CSP)” Nation wide Project (1998-2003). I coordinated this project and contributed about 70% of the work. (UNICEF/UNITED NATIONS)

 

Other Publications

· Dasylva, A.O. (2008) “Democracy, Insurrections & Management of Political Stability at Local Government Level in Nigeria” Journal of Issues on African Development, vol.1, pp.10-15  

 (Creative Works)

· Dasylva, A.O. (1996a) “Refuge-E” (poem) in Awaken to a Dream Kent: The International Library of Poetry. (USA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (1996b) “Arrogance” (poem) in Jewels of the Imagination Kent: The International Library of Poetry. (USA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (1996c) “Plant a Tree” (poem) in OKIKE An African Journal of New Writing No. 34, p. 99. (NSUKKA, NIGERIA)

· Dasylva, A.O. (2000) “Globalization” (poem) in  DRUMVOICES Poetic Voices of Contemporary  Urban Cultures Nos. 1&2.(Fall) p. 225 (USA)

Selected Conferences/Public Lectures with Papers read

 

· Africa Conference - Africa in World Politics at the University of Texas @ Austin. March 25 - 27, 2012. "Semiotics of Poverty and the Engaging Narrative of Empowerment in African Literature."

·  Public Lecture: "A Nation at the Crossroads: The Nigerian Nollywood Film Industry and the Emerging Cultures." The Africana Studies Speaker Series, Sponsored by The Africana Studies Program, Committee on African and African-American Studies, the School of Liberal Arts, and the Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development, Indianapolis University, Indiana (IUPUI). Monday, 26 Sept., 2011.

· Public Lecture. "ENIYAN: Yoruba Omoluwabi Model of the Persona." Institute of African Cultural Studies, University of Georgia, Athens. Sept 29, 2011 

· Workshop/Seminar: Black Urban Atlantics Workshop, the Institute of Historical Studies, University of Texas at Austin, April 2-3, 2009.

· Africa Conference - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN AFRICA, University of Texas at Austin, March 27-29, 2009. Title of paper presented: “African Writers on Environmental Degradation and the National Psyche.”

· Public Lecture: Yoruba Day Lecture 10 April, 2009. Dept. of History & John Warfield Centre for African American and African Studies (JWCAAAS).Topic,

      “Toward a national psychic retrieval: the Omoluwabi concept & related Yoruba enduring legacies”.

· Sensitization Workshop on International Standards for Book Publishing and Bibliographic Control organized by National Library of Nigeria, Abuja. 11 May, 2006.

· Fiedrrich Ebert Stitung/National Support Group Workshop on Effective Participation of Women on Grassroots Politics In Nigeria, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu-Lagos 22nd March, 2004. Title of paper presented: “Developing Leadership Skills for Women Politicians”.

· Conference- Humboldt – University International Conference Berlin – Germany 1st – 4th May, 2002.   Paper presented as 2nd plenary paper presentation: “Subversive Ethos and Phases in Contemporary African Drama”

· 14th Annual Conference of The Association For the Study Of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL) University Of Erfurt, May 8-11, 2002: Paper presented “Expressive Universal Correspondences And Influences In Contemporary Nigerian Drama: Toward A Global Dramatic Culture.”

· Conference- University Of Melbourne, Australia, 13th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research. 16-20 July 2001. Paper presented: “Inter-contextual Migrations of the Oral Narrative Trickster (Hero) in Modern African Literature.”

 

Statement of my Contributions to Scholarship

Introduction: My area of specialization is African literature, oral and written (indigenous and modern in English language expression), including the three major generic forms: drama, poetry and narrative fiction. My research focus has largely been in the area of literary criticism and theorization, in pursuance of my desire for a more appropriate home-grown poetics for indigenous and modern African literature, for the purpose of advancing knowledge in this direction, and in facilitating its accessibility to scholars and students, globally. My contributions to scholarship can be categorized into three distinct and yet interrelated areas: Literary Theory; Literary Criticism; and Book Development on African Literature.

 

i) Literary Theory

I have succeeded in evolving appropriate canons that facilitate a better understanding of African oral and written literatures through the deployment of indigenous African philosophical hermeneutics. For example, some of my publications are on the devolution of the indigenous concept of the hero and his migratory patterns and phases of transformation in African literature.

I used the indigenous Yoruba (African) concept of “Kadara/Ayanmo”-Destiny/Fate, to arrive at, and locate, a truly African tragic spirit, and to de-construct the inappropriate transposition of the classical Greek tragedy and tragic hero to the contemporary African drama. In one of my publications attempt at evolving a home-grown or “alter-Native” taxonomy for the purpose of generating appropriate classificatory paradigms for the African oral narrative. In addition, critics of contemporary African theatre have failed in their assessment of the plays of Femi Osofisan, a foremost modern African playwright. The facile approach adopted by the critics informed their apparent hasty conclusion that Osofisan’s plays are Brechtian both in form and topicality. Similarly, a successful attempt is made in another publication to properly identify the limitations of such claims to universal cultural correspondence between Brecht and Osofisan, which finally situates the uniqueness of this emergent African theatre within my newly evolved concept of Neo-rationalist theatre. 

ii) Criticism

My research interest in this regard is in two parts, African oral literature on the one hand, and modern African literature, on the other hand. In many of my publications and public lectures, I consistently draw attention to the problem of neglect, and possible miscegenation of indigenous African oral performances in view of the alarming mortality rate of the custodians of the tradition; changing values, and modern challenges, including the overwhelming influence of hi-tech multimedia. In the same breath, I suggested enduring solutions that are capable of checking the unfortunate trend, and ensuring sustenance, growth, development, and continuity of indigenous sources of oral literature, as well as its performance. It informed my concern for the practice of theatre in Nigeria, which had resulted in the biographical documentation by interviews, as well as direct involvement in May/July2003, inthe assessment of the UNICEF/University of Ibadan Theatre Arts Department commissioned Theatre for Development (TFD) and Child Survival Program (CSP) project. It points to new trends in the Nigerian Theatre. TFD and CSP are carefully designed community-based experimental theatre that fully exploits the resources of oral performance at the grass-root level, for the purpose of disseminating information on government health programmes through entertainment. My involvement in the assessment of the project was in recognition of my contributions to African drama and oral performance.

Similarly, my research interests which include examination of trends, patterns and extent of transposition and, or adaptation of non-African literary materials by African writers have led to six of my publications. They include aspects of cross-cultural correspondence between non-African literary cultures and African literature.



Presentation topic: African Oral Epic Traditions: Form, Significance and Universal Correspondences