Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria
And
The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Present an International Conference on the theme:
THE YORUBA NATION AND POLITICS SINCE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: A CONFERENCE IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR J. A. ATANDA
October 9-11, 2017
Press Release
The family of the late Professor Joseph Adebowale Atanda, in partnership with Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, Nigeria and the University of Texas at Austin, USA, are pleased to announce an International Conference with the theme, "The Yoruba Nation and Politics Since the Nineteenth Century," in honour of Professor J. A. Atanda, holding from Monday, the 9th of October, to Wednesday the 11th of October, 2017 at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. The conference will also be an occasion to launch the long-awaited historic anthology of Professor Atanda's works, titled, The Collected Works of J. A. Atanda, compiled and introduced by Africa's foremost historian, Professor Toyin Falola of the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and published by Pan-African University Press, USA. The Conference keynote speech will be delivered by Dr Tunji Olaopa, a renowned public intellectual, former federal permanent secretary, and Executive Vice Chair of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy. The the book reviewer will be Professor Chris B. N. Ogbogbo, Head of the Department of History, the University of Ibadan, distinguished historian and President of the Historical Society of Nigeria.
This conference is the fifth in the series of the annual memorial activities held to remember the late distinguished historian and scholar whose expansive and extensive scholarship about the Yoruba of West Africa provided for posterity a corpus of work that remains indelible and invaluable to all who seek knowledge about the Yoruba, as well as about the foundations of the Nigerian nation as a whole. This conference will bring together over two hundred scholars from around the world to cogitate upon the place of the Yoruba and its others in the history and politics of Nigeria and Africa, past and present.
This annual event in honour of the eminent Professor Joseph Adebowale Atanda will fittingly explore the variegated dimensions of the immersion, marginalisation, and impacts of Yoruba politics and nation making, from the nineteenth century to date. Professor Atanda's scholarship covers the history and politics of the Yoruba from the precolonial to the twentieth century. The conference will cover the eras that Professor Atanda explored in his books and essays, as well as on his key themes of politics, identity, and change.
As the Nigerian political landscape becomes ever more plagued by primordial politics shaped by erroneous views of the past and present, and the Yoruba influence in the overall shaping of Nigerian partisan politics, the need for this conference has become more real. Therefore, participants at this conference will delve into the historical trajectory of the Yoruba nation, personalities, politics, society, cultural regeneration, internal and external relations, transnational influence and enduring impact on global and local politics and society. Multidisciplinary and pluridisciplinary approaches will be engaged, from fields as varied as anthropology, linguistics, history, sociology, philosophy, political science, musicology, classics, literary studies, archaeology, economics, psychology, geography, peace studies, and so on. Indeed, the conference will re-open discussion around many issues and debates including the emergence of the Yoruba as a distinct socio-cultural group, and as a nation politically; the origins of the Yoruba nation in the crucibles of colonialism and nationalist fervour; the enduring significance of Yoruba myths of origin in the affairs of the people; the Yoruba language and contemporary challenges and adaptations; the Yoruba in the arts, music, Nollywood, performance, and other media; the Yoruba and the progress of democracy, development and nation building in Nigeria, amongst other varied themes. Basic to the discussions at the conference, though, will be a centring of discussions around the idea of the Yoruba as an analytical category in light of historical and contemporary events.
All are by this announcement invited.
Signed,
Professor O. O. Olubomehin,
Dean of the Faculty of Arts,
Chairman, Local Organising Committee,
Olabisi Onabanjo University,
Ogun State, Nigeria.
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