Arts & Culture

BOOK REVIEW: Anthony Asiwaju’s Bridging African Boundaries: A Three-part Blueprint For Every Progress-driven African Leader

Published

9 months ago

July 2, 2022

NewTimes

Dele Jegede In Conversation With Prince Yemisi Shyllon

By Toyin Falola
As I read through the first few pages of Emeritus Professor Anthony Asiwaju’s Bridging African Boundaries: Cross-Border Areas and Regional Integration in Comparative History and Policy Advocacy, there was an epiphanic moment—a remarkable discovery that brought a knowing smile to my lips. Names are revered in Yorubaland, and several adages and maxims speak to this truth. Oruko omo ni r’omo (a child’s name has a bearing on how such a child eventually turns out) is one of such maxims. In the case of Professor Anthony Asiwaju, I could not but agree more. Asiwaju is a Yoruba word that could mean vanguard, pathfinder, or forerunner, and this name truly befits the person, work, and achievements of Prof. Asiwaju. After reading Bridging African Boundaries, you will agree that his work in comparative African history, cross-border studies, and African policies truly positions him as a vanguard in these fields.

Notably, you will fully enjoy the goodness the author has poured out on the pages of Bridging African Boundaries by not skipping any part of the book, be it the Foreword or the Prologue. Starting from the Foreword, written by one of the most exposed, refined, and travelled presidents in the history of Africa, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Bridging African Boundaries draws the average reader in. Being a book on the career of Professor Asiwaju through his academic pursuits and passions, the Foreword does a good job of introducing us to a personal, hardly-known side of Prof. Asiwaju. It takes us back in history to how the peculiarities surrounding Asiwaju’s life—his parents are from two divides of the same clan—must have ignited the Professor’s lifelong interest in cross-border studies and international policy advocacy. History is like glue in interdisciplinary studies. It is a discipline that cuts across every human endeavour and field of study. This fact is not lost on Prof. Asiwaju, whose body of work, compiled in Bridging African Boundaries, shows us the integrality of history in our everyday life and studies. BOOK REVIEW: Anthony Asiwaju's Bridging African Boundaries: A Three-part Blueprint For Every Progress-driven African Leader Anthony Asiwaju’s concerns about the scholarly model of African history are valid, and it is refreshing to see that the Emeritus Professor not only identified this early in his career but also worked as a vanguard in charting a new path and has now produced what could be termed as a blueprint for anyone interested in comparative African historical studies. As the Emeritus Professor rightly put it, the study of African history should be such that it makes research findings by historians relevant in world studies. African history has not enjoyed much of that, as it emerged mostly as a reactionary move or a resistance to the colonial discolouration of African history. There is a need for comparative study models among historians in African historical studies.

Undeniably, Emeritus Professor Asiwaju occupies a prime position in comparative African history. It is, therefore, a blessing to the field of history that he has wisely compiled his three ground-breaking works on comparative African history into one. The three books, which are hard to come by — most likely out of print — can now be easily accessed and consulted complementarily, thanks to the Bridging African Boundaries compendium.

Bridging African Boundaries is an endeavour akin to raising a child in a communal African society, a duty that rightfully requires the participation of all. Thus, to successfully bridge African boundaries, we must consult historical happenstances made available to us through historical records, books, and archival materials, study the patterns, and map out a plan. This strategy is not lost on Prof. Asiwaju, whose first book in his latest body of work begins with a period that has taken centre-stage in discourses about Africa’s present predicament and seemingly hard-to-foresee upward movement — the colonial era. A comparative study of French and English colonialism, with Yorubaland as the case study and first published in 1979, the first book in Asiwaju’s compendium was an immediate hit all over the world. And there is a reason for that: it was the first attempt at a comparative case study of Africa’s two most common colonial administrative systems.

Prof. Asiwaju’s comparative case study of the Yoruba in France-colonized Dahomey and Britain-colonized Western Nigeria is a rich historical text of the cultural and economic significance of the partitioning of Yorubaland in 1889 and its effects on the Yoruba people till today. Before this period, did the Yoruba people see themselves as one nation? Due to the partitioning, has there been any shift in the identity of the Yoruba people on either side of the divide? The author walks us through the foundational origins of the Yoruba people on both divides of the colonial partition — Oyo, Benin, Sabe, and Ketu — and how these foundational origins are all tied to Ile-Ife, deemed the historical founding centre of the Yoruba culture and civilization.

Asiwaju’s narrative is refreshing, exciting, and expository in a way that makes it easy for non-academics to enjoy and tap valuable lessons from it. Of truth, it is one of the most profound books I have read on the pre-colonial history of the Yoruba people. Another commendable thing about this masterpiece is its reader-friendly structure. Prof. Asiwaju’s 962-page compendium is divided into books, parts, chapters, and sub-topics under each chapter, which makes it easier to consult the book without necessarily reading all the pages — although I strongly recommend that you find time to read all the pages, as it is not every time we encounter such a historically rich text as this.

The second book in the compendium, West African Transformations: Comparative Impacts of French and British Colonialism, is a more elaborate comparative historical study of West Africa under European rule, which uses not only the Yorubaland as a case study, but also adopts some other parts of West Africa, such as Borgu, Mono, Zou, and Opara, to mention a few. Professor Asiwaju’s work highlights the disruption caused by colonization and its attendant partitioning of the African peoples. The colonizers, who did not conduct any preliminary research into the relationships or cultural and economic affiliations of the African people, divided the continent at the Berlin Conference of 1884 -1885 like a piece of cake shared among schoolchildren, a move that permanently affected the inter-geographical and inter-cultural relationships of the African people to date.

Professor Asiwaju brilliantly walks us through the heightened periods of the Oyo and Benin empires and how the fall or decline of both empires, coupled with Fulani Jihadist and intra-Yoruba wars, led to a weakening of political strongholds across the region. These periods, which coincided with the spark of European interests in the western side of the continent, the dehumanizing period of the slave trade and mass migration to and from West Africa, resulted in an increase in cross-border relations and institutional adaptation among peoples who once prided themselves in the autonomy of their individual city-states.

Boundaries and African Integration: Essays in Comparative History and Policy Analysis, the compendium’s third book, taps into historical data and proofs to show the possibility of impactful cross-border relationships among African states. Looking back, cultural and ethnic differences abounded among autonomous city-states, even those with shared foundational affiliations. These differences led to disagreements, wars, and conquests; still, there were blossoming mutual economic arrangements and agreements between these city-states. In the same vein, the Africa of today must catapult itself out of a sad, lamentable, self-loathing position, not by forgetting its past or the injustices of the colonial era but by drawing strength from its sufferings and resolving to be the better for what it has gone through.

The world has witnessed bitter wars—the World Wars being two—yet, we see countries that were erstwhile sworn enemies coming together to form pacts, making agreements that would be of mutual benefit, advancing their causes, and helping them become better and stronger countries. Africa needs a cohesive, mutually beneficial unification that does not necessarily have to deprive each nation-state of its autonomy but serves to strengthen each member of the unified body. For this, there is the need for forward-thinking progressivists at the helm of affairs who are also students of history—not by obtaining degrees in history but by reading about cross-border relations in pre-colonial, colonial, and early post-colonial Africa. For such leaders, Prof. Anthony Asiwaju’s three-part compendium, a product of his intellectual sweat and academic sojourn and pursuit, is the right blueprint.

For an intellectual feast, please join us at the public presentation of this book in Abuja on July 7, 2022.

Falola is a Nigerian historian and professor of African Studies. He is currently the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.

Read more authentic news on our social media platforms

Arts & Culture

Toyin Falola, Memories Of Africa: Home And Abroad In The United States

Published

4 days ago

March 19, 2023

NewTimes

Prof. Toyin Falola

By Olusegun Olopade

Toyin Falola, Memories of Africa: Home and Abroad in the United States (Atlantic Migrations and the African Diaspora) | © March 2023

Book Details

Publisher‏: ‎ University Press of Mississippi (March 24, 2023)

Language‏: ‎ English

Paperback: ‎ 256 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1496843487

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1496843487

Memories of Africa: Home and Abroad in the United States suggests a new lens for viewing African Diaspora studies: the experiences of African memoirists who live in the United States. The book shows how African Diaspora memoirs beautifully and grippingly depict the experiences of African migrants over time through political, social, and cultural spheres. In reading African Diaspora memoirs from the transatlantic slave trade period to the present, a reader can understand the complexity of the African migrant legacy and evolution.

Author Toyin Falola argues that memoirs are significant not only in their interpretation of events conveyed by the memoirists but also in demonstrating how interpersonal and human the stories told can be. Memoirs are powerful because they are emotionally captivating and because important themes and events circulate around a particular person (in this case, the memoirist).

Undoubtedly, a memoir is significant because it can teach anyone about a part of the human experience, even if the “facts” are not described without bias. Through this sort of narrative, the reader cannot help but enter into the memoirist’s mind and, therefore, feel more empathy for them. In doing so, the reader can “feel” what the memoirist feels and “see” what the memoirist sees as clearly as is humanly possible. In this way, the historical events and life lessons become tangible and poignantly real to the reader.

Editorial Reviews

Memories of Africa makes a significant contribution to the study of the African Diaspora, African intellectual history, to our understanding of African autobiography, and more importantly to life studies. Falola provides fresh insights that will reinvigorate the field. — Olabode Ibironke, author of Remapping African Literature.

Memories of Africa opens a new dimension to the understanding of the experiences of home, space, and place, and their interactions in African and diaspora studies. — Adetayo Alabi, author of Oral Forms of Nigerian Autobiography and Life Stories.

Toyin Falola is Professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He has received over thirty lifetime career awards and sixteen honorary doctorates. He has written extensively on the African Diaspora, including The African Diaspora: Slavery, Modernity, and Globalization.

Arts & Culture

12th Toyin Falola Annual International Conference On Africa And The African Diaspora (2023 TOFAC) Set To Hold

Published

7 days ago

March 16, 2023

NewTimes

Prof. Toyin Falola

Second/ Extended Call for Papers

Conference Theme: GOVERNANCE AND LEADERSHIP IN AFRICA

July 26 – July 28, 2023

Venue: University of Abuja, Main Campus, Giri-Airport Road, Abuja Nigeria

Purposeful leadership and inclusive political and economic institutions have been identiﬁed as necessities for Africa and all Africa-related peoples and regions to begin to address past failures, confront present predicaments and chart a credible course for the future. Unfortunately, Africa’s leaders have largely failed to transform the African state and its institutions into agents of development for the beneﬁt of the citizens. Several explanations have been adduced for the observed leadership deﬁciencies that have become almost permanent narratives of Africa. Such explanations have often included, but not limited to, externalist arguments that point to the legacies of colonial exploitation and its neocolonial challenges, the sustained colonial legacy of economic dependence on foreign powers, as well as contemporary global events that systemically constrain Africa’s opportunities for growth and development. There are also internalist explanations that attribute Africa’s leadership conundrum and institutional failures to successive African leaders’ rapacity and irresponsible choices. Whatever these explanations may be, there is an emerging consensus that real progress cannot happen until Africa addresses its leadership questions and transforms its weak and predatory institutions into inclusive and formidable ones.

The 2023 TOFAC Conference will critically examine Africa’s political leadership and extant institutions vis-à-vis the continent’s history of underdevelopment, present challenges, and future trajectories within the global political economy. Scholars are invited to interrogate the nature and evolution of leadership and institutions in Africa from the pre-colonial era to contemporary times. Institutions in this context are broadly deﬁned to include formal and informal institutions, including the people’s history, traditions, religion, and culture. Arising from this, there are underlying questions. Is it leadership that shapes institutions, or do institutions determine the quality of leaders that emerge? How can African states achieve the leadership and institutional transformation necessary to address the perennial development challenges of the continent? Are there lessons that could be drawn from the experiences of the pre-colonial era to inform contemporary issues of leadership?

We invite proposals for papers, panel presentations, roundtables and artistic works/performances that critically examine these and other related issues on Africa’s leadership and institutions. As in years past, participants will be drawn from around the world. Graduate students are encouraged to attend and present papers. The conference will allow scholars from various disciplines and geographical locations to interact, exchange ideas, and receive feedback. Additionally, selected papers will be published in a series of book volumes. Finally, submitted papers will be assigned to particular panels according to similarities in theme, topic, discipline, or geographical focus. Panel proposals (of 3-5 presenters) are especially encouraged.

We invite submissions that include but areI Inot limited to the following sub-themes and topi Institutions Conceptualized

· The nature and role of formal and informal institutions

· Institutional path dependency

· Institutional change and transformation

· Incentive structures and the choices of agents

· Institutions and Economic Performance

· Policy institutions

· Institutions and enforcement mechanisms

· The state, its institutions and the citizens

· People as institutions

Leadership and Institutions in Pre-colonial Africa

· The nature of leadership in pre-colonial Africa

· The role of chiefs, kings, monarchs and other authority ﬁgures

· The interface between culture and leadership in pre- colonial Africa

· The evolution of culture from the pre-colonial era to the present

· The society and the citizen in the pre-colonial era

· Traditional institutions versus contemporary systems

· The position and inﬂuence of religion in pre-colonial political institutions

Leadership and Institutions in the Colonial Era

· State formation in Africa

· The nature of colonial institutions

· Interactions of colonial institutions and pre- colonial systems

· Constitutional development in colonial Africa

· Africans input in the development of colonial institutions

· The rise of new elites

· Integration of indigenous leaders in colonial administration

· Dislocations, transformations, and modernity

· Nationalism and new trajectories

Colonial Legacies

· Colonial exploitation and the emergence of predatory state-society relations

· Neocolonialism

· Postcolonial economic models and African dependency

· Western democracy and the conﬂict of culture

· Foreign institutions and the problem of adaptability

· Rural-urban divide and the challenge of active citizenship

· Education, culture and the leadership question

The Nature of Political Leadership in Postcolonial Africa

· The role of Africa’s independence leaders in setting leadership standards

· Leadership recruitment processes

· The role of culture in determining the type of leaders that emerge

· Religion and leadership

· Foreign interventions in domestic policies

· Education, training and leadership

· L e a d e r s h i p , E t h n i c i t y a n d Separatism/Secessionism

· Democracy and accountability

· Citizenship, expectations, and civic engagements

· The role of civil society in holding leaders accountable

· The role of the media in African politics

· Class and the political economy of leadership recruitment

· Africa’s Big Men

· Patriarchy, gender and the leadership question

Institutions in Postcolonial Africa

· The nature of political and economic institutions

· Evolution of institutions in postcolonial Africa

· Colonialism and the legacies of exploitation and expropriation

· Military intervention and role in the development and growth of institutions

· Examination of critical institutions of the state – public service, the Police Force, etc.

· Constitution development in postcolonial Africa

· Property rights institutions

· Anti-corruption crusades and institutional reforms

· Law enforcement and the judiciary

· Economic systems, ﬁnancial institutions and systems

· Election institution, concept, process, outcomes, and consequences

· Law enforcement and anti- corruption institutions

· Institutions and informal politics and spaces

· The future of traditional institutions in Africa

The Cold War and Africa’s Postcolonial Leadership

· Africa’s decolonization and the Cold War

· The impact of the Cold War on Africa’s independence leaders

· The nature of foreign interventions during the Cold War

· The Cold War and the emergence of violent political culture

· International legitimacy versus domestic popularity for African leaders

· The Cold War and Africa’s political institutions

· Post-Cold War transformations of African leadership

Multilateral Institutions in Africa

· The role of the World Bank and IMF in Africa’s economic systems

· Public debt and the choices of African leaders

· Foreign interests and interventions in leadership selection

· Economic development ideologies versus local realities

· The futility of universal recipes in economic policies

· Foreign aid and leaders’ responsibilities

· Conditionalities and citizens’ welfare

· The future of development assistance to Africa

· The eﬀect of foreign aid on institutions

· The inﬂuence and contribution of ECOWAS, A U , a n d o t h e r r e g i o n a l / c o n t i n e n t a l oragnizations

· Commonwealth, UN, and other international organizations on African politics

Information Technology and Social Media

· Social media and citizens’ demand for leadership accountability

· Dissemination of government programs

· Social media and government transparency

· Information technology and the election process

· Leadership recruitment, retention and removal

· Citizenship participation in the governance process

· Public engagements and institutional change

Education

· Education and citizenship rights

· The relationship between education, industry and bureaucracy

· State involvement in education

· Quality and availability of basic and compulsory leadership education

· History, leadership and the African state

· The role of the media in institutions building

Creativity and Performance of Leadership/Institutional deﬁcits

· Creative governance

· Leadership Accountability

· Models of institutional checks and balances

· Governance peer review mechanism

Each individual proposal must include: 1) title of the work and an abstract of 200 words, 2) the name of the presenter (with the surname underlined). 3) mailing address, 4) number phone, 5) email, 6) institutional aﬃliation, and 7) three to ﬁve keywords that best characterize the themes and topics relevant to your submission. Participants are encouraged to abide by these guidelines.

Proposals for panels (3-5 presenters) must include: 1) title of the panel and a collective summary of 250 words on the panel’s theme, including the title of each individual work 2) a 200-word abstract for the presentation of each speaker 3) mailing address 4) phone number 5) email and 6) institutional aﬃliation of each presenter. Panels with four presenters or less may be completed with other relevant presentations.

Proposals will further be accepted till July 10, 2023 and should be sent to uof atofac2022@gmail.com.

A mandatory non-refundable registration fee of $100 dollars for scholars (or the Nigerian equivalents in Naira) and $50 for graduate students (or the Nigerian equivalents in Naira ) must be paid immediately upon the acceptance of the abstract. This conference fee includes a conference bag, admission to the panels, workshops, special events, and transportation to and from the hotel and conference events.

Conﬁrmed key Note and Lead Speakers at Plenaries/Members of LOC:

1.-Key Note Speaker -Professor Eghosa Oseghae-Director, Nigerian Institute for international Aﬀairs, Lagos

2. First Lead Paper Presenter -Professor Jibrin Ibrahim-Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD),Abuja 3.Second Lead Paper Presenter -Professor Uchenna Okeja-Rhodes University,South Africa

4. Professor Lawrence Ogbo Ugwuanyi-Department of Philosophy, University of Abuja-Member, Organising Committee

5. Professor Philip Akpen-Department of History, University of Abuja- Member, Organising Committee 6.Dr.Umar Kari-Department of Sociology, University of Abuja- Member, Organising Committee

Arts & Culture

Kenyatta University Holds Toyin Falola At 70 Conference

Published

2 months ago

February 4, 2023

NewTimes

Kenyatta University Holds Toyin Falola At 70 Conference

The Department of History, Archeology and Political Science of the Kenyatta University is set to hold a Toyin Falola at 70 Conference.

The conference with the theme “Post-Colonial Africa: Historical and Contemporary Realities” is scheduled to take place between May 10 and 12, 2023 at the Kenyatta University.

Description
Modern African economic, socio-cultural, and political realities have been considerably influenced and defined by colonialism. Colonialism created the foundation of the post-colonial. Since the start of the post-colonial and (especially) the post-cold war era, there has been increased academic interest in colonialism– both in the classic and the neo-colonial forms. There have also been considerable academic and non-academic efforts at decoloniality and decolonizing Africa. These efforts have led to studying and documenting African pre-colonial history, literature, and cultural intricacies to achieve self-determination and re-establish the African identity. It is, therefore, necessary and logically consistent with the above to study Africa’s past in relation to its present. Essentially, it is important that aside from examining the print of colonial pedagogy, methods, and philosophies, Africa is studied in the light of its actions, attempts at self-governance, and realities defined by its stakeholders.

READ ALSO: Toyin Falola Donates Over 500 Books To Kaduna State University Library

A considerable effort has been directed at researching, documenting, and analyzing Post-colonial Africa across different fields of the Arts and the Humanities. Through such efforts concepts such as neo-colonialism, political hegemony, economic instability, societal disillusionment, administrative lapses among others that touch on the African post-colonial condition have been explored by several researchers and academicians. However, the very basis of the evolution of knowledge and the foundation of the academic world is the consistent evaluation of knowledge, theories, and philosophies. As much as there has been enhanced scholarship around the aforementioned issues, there are still thematically important aspects of Post-Colonial Africa that are relatively unexplored or under-explored. New concepts, skepticism, and relatively new subject matters have developed with the continent’s evolution – particularly concerning socio-culture, administration, globalization, conflicts, diplomacy, and ideological paradigms. For instance, it may be important to define the extent to which pre-colonial Africa influences the post-colonial realities of its nation-states, regions, and Sub-regions, as it applies across respective fields.

Other relevant aspects of the post-colonial African reality like identity dynamics and minority politics, institutions and sub-institutions in Africa, diaspora dynamic, administrative evolution in Africa, Post-colonial gender dynamics in Africa, intercultural realities of distinct nation-states in Africa, cultural awareness, and preservation in Africa, decolonial legal education and practice, ideological politics in post-colonial African, among others. The COVID-19 pandemic presented new dynamics to interpret and understand the place of post-colonial Africa in the world in light of global power politics and diplomatic spate over the causes of COVID-19, vaccine politics, and international travel restrictions. COVID-19 highlighted the need to rethink post-colonial Africa’s readiness to respond to global challenges independently.

The Department of History, Archeology and Political Studies through the Research and Innovation Committee (DRIC) plans to host a conference that is directed at answering the conceptual questions that underline some key aspects of post-colonial Africa – as defined by the necessary contextual factors and underlining theories. The conference is expected to feature different themes and introduce concepts, arguments, and theories that are well-adjusted to current African realities.

The department also wishes to use the occasion to celebrate the 70-year life journey of Professor Toyin Falola, a world renowned Distinguished Professor of History and the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Falola has dedicated his entire academic life, with over 150 titles under his name, reflecting on the African condition both in historical and contemporary terms. In March 2022, the Department hosted Professor Falola, who gave thought provoking lectures on “Decolonization of Africa Studies”. As a department, we are keen to use the conference to continue enriching our conversations around this and related themes, enhance our scholarly connections and collaborations, establish new research and publication partnerships as well as strengthen existing ones.

Sub-themes

The conference sub-themes will include but are not limited to the following:

Decoloniality, and decolonization, as it intertwines with post-colonial studies
Internationalization in the African region – key factors for consideration should include Pan-Africanism as examined through the lens of its basis, the status quo, and possible ways forward.
Post-colonial economy and the role of the nation-state in establishing independent regional control
Resource control as it affects neo-colonialistic affiliations and European hegemonic influence in Post-colonial Africa
Liberal ideological predispositions and the socio-philosophical future of the African Nation states – with considerations to the influence of the youth demography
Developmental politics in Post-colonial Africa
Gender dynamics and politics in Post-colonial Africa
Post-colonial Literature and the future of the arts in Africa
Migration, conflicts, and peace actions in post-colonial Africa
Regional collaboration and diplomatic politics in Post-Colonial Africa

Participation
The conference is expected to attract participation from academicians, researchers, experts and practitioners in the area of African history and other related humanities and social science disciplines. These shall be drawn from mainly Kenyan and other African institutions as well as from outside the Africa continent. The conference will allow for a blended mode where some participants will be present on-site at Kenyatta university while others will present online.

READ ALSO: Where Did All The Money Go?

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
Prospective participants are encouraged to send abstracts of between 250 and 500 words, including their full contact details (title, name, address, email address and telephone number) as well as their institutional affiliation by 30th February, 2023 to: haps-research@ku.ac.ke

Final Output
Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by 5th March 2023 and asked to prepare full papers to be presented during the conference. The official language of the conference will be English. Papers presented at the conference will be peer reviewed and published in an edited volume.

Important Dates

27th January, 2023: Call for Papers/Abstracts
30th February, 2023: Deadline for Receipt of Abstracts
5th March 2023: Notification of Acceptance of Abstracts/Papers
15th April 2023: Deadline for receipt of Full papers
20th April, 2023: Registration begins
1st May, 2023: End of Registration
10th to 12 May 2023: Conference Dates

Read more authentic news on our social media platforms