Now that everything is in order, By Toyin Falola

For the upcoming “Professor Bolanle Awe in 90 Conference”, although the recent events in Nigeria have militated against the last phase of planning, we have successfully scaled through all the pre-event challenges, and we are prepared. The program booklet is ready; the team is set. In four days from now, specifically from the 13th to the 14th of February, the conference, which is thought to be an idea to honor the respected person, will be held at the University of Ibadan.

Planning an event is pointless, no matter how small. If it does not require huge resources, which is a rare case, it will require time and movement from all parties involved in the preparation. What if the event is not small? There is also the fact that events and event planning are organisms that change form, strategy, and approach; therefore, because you have handled hundreds of successful events does not guarantee that the new one you are planning will be without stress or challenges, before and during the event.

For the upcoming “Professor Bolanle Awe in 90 Conference”, although the recent events in Nigeria have militated against the last phase of planning, we have successfully scaled through all the pre-event challenges, and we are prepared. The program booklet is ready; the team is set. In four days from now, specifically from the 13th to the 14th of February, the conference, which is thought to be an idea to honor the respected person, will be held at the University of Ibadan. Professor Olufunke Adeboye, dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos; Professor Rashidi Olaniyi, a talented Historian and head of the Department of History, University of Ibadan; and Dr. Sharon Omotosho, innovative feminist scholar and head of the Women’s Research and Documentation Center, University of Ibadan, are all ready to be adopted and committed to this event, which has created several activities, including planning, meetings, and outreaches, the culmination of which will be witnessed at the appointed time .

Our unanimous decision and the choice to return to the academic and career roots of the matriarch – the University of Ibadan – as the chosen place for the conference can be interpreted as a return to the academic and professional roots of Professor Awe. However, it cannot be denied that the octogenarian does not belong to the University of Ibadan alone. He is also the pride of the University of Lagos, where he spent many years building his career and contributing to the academic repertoire. No birthday present can match this kind of occasion. For Professor Awe, “This is the day God made!”

As the world celebrates the concept of love in its various forms on February 14, we will also show our love and respect to the matriarch of Nigerian history, Professor Bolanle Awe. The panelists have spent the last few months working on their conference papers, from the initial abstract stage to finalizing topics with various conference themes. All the work that has been done is a form of admiration and respect for Professor Awe’s work. In addition to showing love and support, we will also celebrate love – the love that exists in intelligent and intelligent minds about history and how they apply their knowledge in various fields, from academia to the management of governmental and non-governmental organizations.

A special conference in honor of Professor Bolanle Awe was organized to accommodate discourses and special sessions that reflect his work in relation to the city and beyond the academic gambit, especially with international bodies and non-governmental organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Women’s Research and Documentation Center (WORDOC).

In addition, the conference is a mission dedicated to contributing to overall research and scholarship in oral and African history, feminism, women’s studies, gender studies, and the interconnectedness of all these academic disciplines. The breadth and depth of topics presented for the first time shows that academics have a lot to discover given the focus topics chosen at the conference. In choosing the participants, we have brought together scholars and contributors from different disciplines and, with different approaches and perspectives, a step that we hope will produce a compendium of works that will attract new discourses and chart new paths. It’s amazing to see how people have rallied around from all quarters to participate in this conference, one way or another, showing that the world commemorates those who have led a living that is beneficial to some people, institutions, and organizations.

With the theme, “Oral Traditions and Written History”, this conference is designed to be useful for the participants, not only as a form of recognition of the contribution to the academic body of work in the selected themes and sub-themes but also as a learning curve, seeing as the research papers presented will be peer-reviewed. In itself, the theme shows a progressive trajectory in African history, starting from the oral tradition that is an integral part of our African oral history, then progressing to the adoption of global standard writing in Africa, thus bringing about the emergence of a written history, first by Europeans about Africans , then Africans about Africa – a step to save African history from the biased perspective of the continent’s historical representation. Today, African history continues to attract researchers, collaborators, scholars, and students because, although many have done outstanding work in the field, much remains underutilized, leaving the field as a beautiful and interesting discipline. This point is reinforced by the way scholars presenting at the conference narrowed down sub-themes to the end, developing research topics that were central to or distinct from these themes.

A special conference in honor of Professor Bolanle Awe was organized to accommodate discourses and special sessions that reflect his work in relation to the city and beyond the academic gambit, especially with international bodies and non-governmental organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Women’s Research and Documentation Center (WORDOC). Professor Awe was instrumental in the research and documentation efforts of organizations like the United Nations, the World Bank, the MacArthur Foundation, and the DAWN Commission, among other organizations that, at different times, investigated issues related to women in the country. The first special session put together will focus on Professor Awe’s work in the field, examining his great contribution to the history and development of women, women’s rights in Nigeria and Africa, as well as his work with a number of women-related organizations in Nigeria and outside the country’s borders. country.

Re-examining gender discourse is a special panel session to look forward to, as it brings together some of the best and most important academics in women and gender studies. The title of the paper proposed by Professor Ebun Oduwole, “Are We Still Discussing Gender Equality?” it is thought-provoking in its position as a reality check for everyone. Despite the tremendous work and efforts, fighting multi-dimensional gender-based inequality is still a very hot topic, with seemingly endless discourse in various forms – from semi-formal and loud social media discourse and unfiltered arguments to which is more structured and good. academic events. Gender inequality is quickly establishing itself as a topic that will not remove the relevance of the conversation, which is a rather dangerous phenomenon because it draws attention away from what should be done and done and focuses on the discourse that, more often than not, is not. trigger widespread action or movement to change the status quo. Professor Oduwole’s research and perspective is something to look forward to at the conference.

Scholars participating in the conference have been distributed among 29 panels and are expected to present papers and actively participate in the peer review process. As you can imagine, this conference is not just another celebratory event; it will be a milestone to celebrate the colossal figure as Professor Awe and be a marker for the beginning of another academic tornado.

In addition, Professor Oyeronke Olademo set the daunting task of tracing the importance of women and women’s agency among the Yoruba people in a paper titled “Women’s Agency, Power and Orality among the Yoruba: Past, Present, and Prospects.” This historiographical research is an adventure. who is brave about the relevance of women in Yoruba history and the contribution of communalism to the growth and expansion of women’s influence – if any. The greatest feature of the paper is expected to be how the author is prepared to propose deduced prospects based on the trends and data available on what can be experimented in Yoruba history and women and women-related topics. In addition, Professor Mobolanle Sotunsa, aka Professor Awe, will show how he explores and evaluates historical literature to find gender themes and tropes in African historical texts, focusing on Yoruba texts. History is a mirror of society and one of the greatest forms of expression right for the community. Whatever Professor Sotunsa excavates, which will be shared during the special session, will reflect the reality of the time on which the work is based.

Scholars participating in the conference have been distributed among 29 panels and are expected to present papers and actively participate in the peer review process. As you can imagine, this conference is not just another celebratory event; it will be a milestone to celebrate the colossal figure as Professor Awe and be a marker for the beginning of another academic tornado.

Big appreciation to Erelu Bisi Fayemi, scholar, activist, and feminist who will chair the opening ceremony, as well as long-time scholar, Dr. Kole Shettima, Center for Democracy and Development and Nigerian Academy of Letters. our plans, understand our mission, and have become supporters and financiers of the conference. I can’t wait to hear Professor Bisi Aina, a women’s studies teacher, whose Keynote design is magisterial.

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Toyin Falola, professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin, is Bobapitan Ibadanland.