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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
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 (b) Research in Progress
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
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES
PUBLICATIONS (a) Books already published
(b) Chapters in Books already published
(c) Articles that have already appeared in learned Journals
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
Other Publications
(Creative Works)
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 |
