Individual researchers are already doing what you have just suggested. They are in pockets and scattered here and there, all over the globe. These individualised efforts can be improved upon; the data and research materials need to be harnessed by means of, first, a formal Forum, and second, a dedicated academic Unit or Center, for proper coordination, among other things. Again, the suggestion of the possibility of University of Ibadan adopting the monarch, as well as exploring the possibility of a professorial chair endowment in the monarch's name is perfectly in order. Rather than stifle the vision, it will engender research interests of the magnitude that Dr Adeshina has in mind and accelerate expected deliverables. It is the second leg of his proposal.
Having said that, I like to add that it will be erroneous to assume that no serious researches are going on, or are possible to undertake in Nigeria's older universities like Ibadan, on account of some apparent encumbrances. That over-generalisation might be quite off the curve. Quality researches are going on daily in every field, in the Humanities, Medicine, Sciences, etc., and are yielding great results. University of Ibadan still has one of the best (if not the best), Institutes of African Studies; Archeology and Anthropology Departments, and Yoruba Studies, in the whole of Africa, ditto archival and contemporary materials; it is endowed with renowned scholars and research personnel who continue to make impact locally and internationally.
The University of Ibadan as the nation's premier University will only be performing one of its expected town/gown roles by giving special recognition to a deserving foremost King, a living legend and Yoruba cultural icon.
Besides the proximity of the University to Oyo town, the National Archive is domicile right inside the University which all the more makes it easy for interested researchers across the globe. The point I am making is that researchers local and international, have worked, are already working on the monarch and his legacies, and on Yoruba traditions, and many more researchers are still coming on board. There is need for proper coordination and harnessing of these efforts. In that case, the Institute of African Studies, UI., in conjunction with Department of Linguistics and African Languages, UI., will be more than willing to house the proposed endowed Chair in honor of the monarch. If and when the the proposals are considered by the stakeholders, details can be worked out. That way all the research efforts will have greater impact locally and globally.
Ademola O. Dasylva, Ph. D
Professor of African Literature,
Oral Poetics & Performance,
Department of English;
Coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group (ICSG),
Convener & Board Chair,
TOFAC (International),
Room 68, Faculty of Arts,
& Dean, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Professor of African Literature,
Oral Poetics & Performance,
Department of English;
Coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group (ICSG),
Convener & Board Chair,
TOFAC (International),
Room 68, Faculty of Arts,
& Dean, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
On Jan 26, 2018 06:25, "Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso" <jumoyin@gmail.com> wrote:
Great thoughts. Perhaps one way to go is for individual researchers to take up the gauntlet and start these kinds of research projects. Decolonizing knowledge involves dipppng into the "ritual archives" as you rightly pointed out by way of Falola; by even more so, it involves reducing or removing the imperialistic impression that it is only Universities, and formal government or other institutions that have the power to create and legitimate knowledge. And I would say no. Let's not wait for the University of Ibadan, just to take a nearby example, to commission such a study. You and I and anyone else can begin to design such a research project— and one of the immediate benefits would be that there would be better potential for autonomy of process that Nigerian and other colonial universities lack. I am not in any way ignoring the role that universities and other institutions can and should play; but I am arguing that we need not wait for them.
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