USA Africa Dialogue Series - TOFAC 2016: FINAL PLENARY AND CLOSING

Dear ALL:

The third and final day of the Toyin Falola International Conference on Africa and the African Diaspora (TOFAC) at the Redeemer's University, Nigeria (RUN) began, like the last two days, with a plenary that kept up the tempo on the sacredness of the vocation of teaching and the significance of research that makes the 6^th TOFAC unique, and that began from the very first day of the conference.

In a talk titled "African Societies in Intellectual, Economic, Political and Governance Quagmire: Narratives of Struggle," Professor Tunde Bewaji struck deep at the very core of Africa's predicament, especially in terms of intellectual lop-sidedness. He began the lecture by taking issue with Prof. Richard Joseph of the "prebendal politics" fame. Prof. Richard Joseph was recently the guest speaker at the inaugural conference of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy, Nigeria. He spoke on "State, Governance, and Democratic Development: The Nigerian Challenge." For Prof. Bewaji, while "Professor Joseph was, indeed, perceptive in his understanding of the problems which ail Africa…he did not understand why." Prof. Joseph's analysis leaves the real issue unattended.

Achieving the objectives of Africanity requires more. Prof. Bewaji signalled the examples of critical scholarship contained in Olufemi Taiwo's How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa (2010), Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Mask (1952), Claude Ake's Social Science as Imperialism (1979) and Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972), as well as what he set out to achieve in his own Narratives of Struggles (2013), as what scholarship requires on the continent.

For Prof. Bewaji, disciplinary decadence, a term derived from Lewis Gordon, captures the terrible state of scholarship on the continent. This is a scholarship that is insular and by that very fact hinders inter-/trans-/multidisciplinary dialogue. It is as if all the disciplines are locked into a hermetic disciplinary airbag that prevents a fecund intercourse. This state of affairs could only hurt the cause of Africa. One of the first conditions of Africanity is intellectual collaborations across the disciplines, and the prospects of creative and multidisciplinary solutions to Africa's thorny predicament.

Prof. Bewaji's presentation led to serious discussions and heated debates on academic practices and intellectual development on the continent. There were several comments on language, culture, TOFAC objectives, the challenges of Africanity, and of course, plagiarism again. For instance, Prof. Nimi Wariboko complicated the plagiarism issue with two points—plagiarism occurs (a) when a scholar paraphrases another's idea(s) without proper references; and (b) undermines the prospect of graduate admission when the admission package contains plagiarized contents. Prof. Bewaji cited a particular at the then University of Ife, and before the Internet, when Prof Chatalian, a professor of philosophy, caught a student in plagiarism. According to him, Prof. Chatalian was visibly distressed, shaking, stuttering and infuriated. Plagiarism therefore, for him, is just a mild and deodorized term for academic theft. Prof. Ademola Dasylva placed plagiarism at the juncture between culture and morality, and applauded instances like TOFAC which affords the opportunity for reorientation on proper academic practice and culture.

Prof. Toyin Falola cumulated the discourse with the remark that the best way to undermine the epistemic violence induced by colonialism and globalization against the continent is to take Africa as the center, rather than the periphery, of discourse on Africa. And language, for him, plays a critical role in that task. To transform our collective predicament, Prof. Falola outlined three significant imperatives: re-moralising the society; recapitalizing the poor; and empowering local communities. Plagiarism, for instance, is a reflection of a society at the lowest level of decadence.

When the final plenary broke up, the last sets of presenters in the final concurrent panels had a lot of raw ideas and issues to chew on as they battled with issues ranging from Nollywood to diaspora home-making, political economy, conflict and conflict resolution, African education and technology.

When the deep academic business came to an end, it was fitting that the 6^th TOFAC, like the other five editions, would end with some good fun. The tour package began with a grand visit to the impressive Redeemer's University campus which many of the participants have been informally and approvingly commenting about. The first point of call was the sophisticated University Health Centre, fully equipped with functional modern medical technologies. Then the TOFAC entourage crossed over to the Tekena Tamuno Library which is, undoubtedly, one of the prides of Redeemer's University. The library is well-stocked ad functionally equipped and sanitized for effective and pleasurable study. Without exaggeration, the library is so extremely ordered and quiet that the only noise comes from the whirling fans overhead, the humming air-conditioners and the silently breathing books settled in their beautiful shelves! The library practically enforces its silence on you and compels studiousness. The African Center of Excellence for Genomic Infectious Diseases is another wonder unit on the Redeemer's campus. When the attendance mentioned the Center's capacity to treat terrible diseases like the Ebola virus, one could perceptibly feel the confidence with which the participants received the news.

The next port of call was the Osun Osogbo Festival museum at the centre of Osogbo. How do you narrate the aesthetic excellence of Susan Wenger's lair without doing descriptive violence to its singular uniqueness? Serene. Captivating. Mysterious. Awesome. The very essence of cultural education in images and history!

And then came the last treat by the theatre art students of the Redeemer's University at the Bopa Art Theatre. The play was titled "Birthright," and it simply dramatized the rumblings and violence within the fissures of the continent through another intense look at the Nigerian Civil War. There were laughter, and lots of deep sighs about what could have happened and what is happening as well as the possibilities and potentialities we allow pass us by.

The 6^th Toyin Falola International Conference on Africa and the African Diaspora (TOFAC) came to an end on the 6^th of July, 2016 at around 8.30 when the Vice Chancellor of Redeemer's University, Prof. Debo Z. Adeyewa gave the closing address and appreciated the honouree of TOFAC, Prof. Toyin Falola, the TOFAC Board, the indefatigable LOC members, and the entire participants for giving Redeemer's University the deep honour of hosting such a successful, stimulating and well-attended conference.      

       

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD

Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429