TOFAC 2011 THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, NIGERIA

"The academic world has run out of superlatives to describe the magnificent body of scholarship produced through the years by the indefatigable, Dr. Toyin Falola," said Professor Ademola Dasylva.

Inaugural Toyin Falola Annual Conference in Nigeria kicks off July 3

The University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria will host the first annual international conference in honor of Professor Falola on Africa and the African Diaspora. A yearly event, the conference will move from one African country to another and bring together the next generation of scholars interested in Africa and the issues of concern

The theme of this year's conference is Creativity and Cultural Expressions in Africa and the African Diaspora and has drawn papers for presentation from around the globe. It is organized by the Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria, Professor Toyin Falola's native country.

Charged with the the goal of furthering excellence in cultural studies, the Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, Faculty of Arts, and they will convene the first conference which they have promised will "create a provocative space for comparative critical dialogue between scholars and dancers, actors and writers, song writers and singers."

Indeed the rationale for the TOFAC is to give an international group of scholars, researchers, policymakers, etc. the world over an annual forum to be held the first week in July. Not only is it focused in fostering the advancement of cultural issues as that relate to Africa and the diaspora academically speaking, but also as a potentiate for the collaboration that can unfold when studying the depths of a culture. The end result is naturally a hoped for advancement of Africa, but also global peace.

Vice Chancellor (President) of the University of Ibadan, the country's leading university and Professor Phillip Adewole, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts will give the opening remarks. Paper topics are from a wide-range with the theme of Creativity and Cultural Expressions in Africa and the African Diaspora as the starting point.

The inaugural presenters herald from multiple places in Nigeria; to Jamaica; to South Africa; to California, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, and many other states from the United States to name just a few. The best papers from the conference will be published by Africa World Press and the Carolina Academic Press in book form.

Already plans are underway for the second and, yes, third TOFAC. The University of Lagos, Nigeria has just been selected as the host for 2012. The third TOPAC will be in South Africa. And Ghana and Cameroon are actively competing for hosting the fourth conference.

TOFAC 2011 Comprehensive List of Abstracts 22

TOFAC 2011 Programme

list of contributors

 

A small sampling of topic panels and presentations includes:

1) Creative Writing panel:

2) African Intellectual Culture panel:

• "The Regime of Mental Magnitude, Intellectual Creativity and Leadership Imagination"
• "African Intellectuals as Cultural Nationalists in Africa and the Diaspora: A Comparative Study of Edward Wilmot Blyden and Mbonu Ojike"
• "Canons And Margins: New Nigerian Writing And Discursive Dialogues."

3) African Literature panel:

• "'Thought-Up Light of the Imagination': Cathartic Creativity in Achmat Dangor's Bitter Fruit"
• "Creativity And African Poetic Expression: The Example of Senghor And Osundare"
• "From Child Soldiers to Authors and Artists: Exploring the Written and Musical Expressions of Emmanuel Jal and Ishmael Beah"
• "Female Writers And Social Challenges In Nigeria, 1960-1985: A Historical Survey"

3) Culture and Continuity panel:

Performance: Theatre, Music and Dance

• "Choreographic Design In Ogugu Funerary Dance Performance of Ebira People of Central Nigeria"
• "Of Mimesis, Indigenous Performances and the African Drama"
• "From Alarinjo To Oniduro-Stand Up Comedy As A Neo-Cultural Expression In Nigeria"
• "African Cultural Values and Creativity 'Music and Dance' in the Making of the Diaspora: The Examples of Brazil and Cuba"
• "Performativity, Power and the Body: Carnival aesthetics in Cape Town"

4) African Healthcare and Beauty panel:

- Creativity and Economic Growth

• "Black Cultural Expression and the 'Politics of Hair' in the African Diaspora"
• "Culture of 'Fattening' Room Practices: Implications for Health, Figure and Fitness"
• "Orin Aremo Psycho-therapy IN  CONTEMPORARY Yoruba Society"
• "Tattoo And The TIV People Of Benue State: An Aesthetic Perspective"

5) Media, Movie Industry and Telecommunication Culture:

- Home-video Culture panel

• "African Diasporic Filmmakers and Questions of Transnationality and Migration, Media and Creative Arts"
• "The Healing Word: The Significance of Orality In Nigerian Home Videos "
• "A Slip or Error?  Translation and Mis-translation in Selected Nollywood movies"
• "Reconstructing Her-story in the Making of Tanzanian Films"
• - Media and Creative Arts panel
• "Mediated Creativity In Selected News Magazine"
• "Representation of Politics or Politics of Representation: Editorial Cartoons and 2011 Electoral campaigns in Nigeria"

6) Creativity and Religion with a panel on World Religions

• "Bori Fetishism and the Phenomenon of Cultural Domination of Hausa Women In Northern Nigeria"
• "Metaphysics, Poetry And Dramatic Features of Ifa Divinatory Performance"
• "The Impact of Islam on the Traditional Way of Child Naming in Yorubaland, South Western Nigeria"

7) African Politics and Government panels:

a. Responsible Government, Accountability and State Building

• "Institutionalizing The Culture Of Accountability In Local Government Administration In Nigeria"
• "Transforming Governance in Africa:  A Social Accountability Perspective"
• "Liberalism, Globalization, and the Myth of Decenteredness: Challenges for Sociology in Africa"
• "Indigenous African Welfare System: A Tool For Addressing The Challenge of Retirement In Post-Colonial African Society"

b. Creative Arts and Politics panel:

• "Politics and literature Nexus: a Study of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Weep Not Child"
• "The Black Panther Party And Afrobeat: The Cultural And Social-Political Activism of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti"

c. Traditional Institutions and Government panel:

• "African Culture and Tradition in Transition: The Institution of Chieftaincy and the Paradox of Modernity in Bekwarra"
• "Cultural Expressions: Bekwarra Age Grade System, Promise or Peril in an Age of Globalization?"

8) Language, Speechmaking and African Creativity

a. Indigenous African philosophies, wise sayings and general thought process

• "Creativity, Cultural Expressions And The Problem of Theory In African Philosophy"
• "The Decline of The Use of Proverbs As A Creative Oral Expression: A Case Study of Proverb Usage Among The Ondos In The South Western Part Of Nigeria"
• "The Language Question in African Literary Script: An "Undoable" Legacy of Colonialism?"

9) Textile, Spatial and Aesthetic Designs:

a. African Textiles, Architecture and Designs

• "Indigenous African Technology: the Loom in Traditional Tiv Textile Industry"
• "A Model for Nigerian Architecture and Aesthetics in Design Education Pedagogy"
• "Hybrid Forms in the Built Environment: A Study of 20th and 21st Century Nigerian Architecture"
• "How the Poor Solve their Housing Problems: A case study in Ibadan"

10) Creative Arts Forms: Carving, Sculptoring and Pottery

• "Transportation in the Pre- industrial Economy of Nigeria: The Place of Canoe"
• "Pottery Making Among The Igede of Central Nigeria"
• "Pottery in East-Central African History:  Art, Technology, Social Transformations, and God"

11) Morality and African Values/Talent Development and Use in Africa

• "Knowledge, Beliefs, and Values"
• "Talent in the Yoruba Literary Culture: A Study of Gbenga Adeboye and his Arts"