From Segun Amure, (The New Diplomat’s Abuja Bureau)
Nigerian-born playwright, poet, essayist and Nobel Prize winner of Literature, Wole Soyinka has joined University of Johannesburg, South Africa as a visiting Professor.
According to the Dean, Faculty of Humanity of the University, Professor Alex Broadbent, Soyinka’s inclusion as a visiting Professor will help to inspire students and attract renowned scholars to the South African institution.
In addition, Broadbent noted that Soyinka’s presence will foster the decolonization and Africanisation of knowledge which will help resuscitate the African identity in academia.
His statement reads, “He has been and continues to be associated with some of the best universities in the world. UJ’s drive to decolonisation as well as the Africanisation of knowledge have led to substantial dialogues at the Institution [which] provided the university the opportunity to ask searching questions about our African identity and our role in nurturing New Africa‚ and the future of our university.
“Professor Soyinka boasts international recognition‚ having held fellowship and professorial positions in the Dramatic Arts and Comparative Literature at the Universities of Ibadan‚ Lagos and Ife in Nigeria; Legon in Ghana‚ Sheffield and Cambridge in England; as well as Yale‚ Cornell‚ Harvard‚ Emory‚ Nevada‚ Loyola Marymount in the United States of America.
“Currently, he is Life Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge‚ Emeritus Fellow of the Black Mountain Institute‚ University of Nevada‚ Overseas Fellow of Hutchins Institute‚ Harvard University‚ and Professor Emeritus‚ Obafemi Awolowo University‚ Ile-Ife‚ Nigeria‚ Founder and Chairman of the Wole Soyinka Foundation in Nigeria.”
Broadbent said that in addition to his lecturing position, the high profile academic will also bring with him partnership with his foundation‚ well-known for its Wole Soyinka Award for Literature.
Wole Soyinka is a prodigious Professor of Literature, whose legendary works have been read all over the world. His latest literary offspring is the ‘Chronicles of the Happiest People On Earth’.
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