Dialogues: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series

Sorry, I am reading and responding to this thread late. It's the nature of internet connectivity in my neck of the wood. But I am so thankful to Gloria for this comment and I hope (and pray) that Moses takes it to heart.

Moses is one of the folks in the Falola group that I truly respect. In my assessment, he is brilliant and communicates his ideas succinctly. I love his relentless prosecution of mediocrity in scholarship coming from some quarters in Nigeria's higher education institutions. I sometimes agree with some of the issues he raises and disagree with some. However, in agreement with Gloria, I am also of the opinion that he needs to please translate his anger and frustration into empirical actions.

As an endowed professor, Moses has what it takes to influence academia in Nigeria (and anywhere in the world). Look, we all know that endowed professorship is serious. It is a recognition of the depth of contribution to the field to the extent that some individuals and/or institutions are willing to bet their lives on you. I was in the United States when there was only one Nigerian endowed professor, and that was the great (and, I must add, controversial, to some extent) John Ogbu of UC-Berkley. He spoke and the world listened to him, which was how he came up with the famous immigrant typology in anthropology. I'm saying this just to underscore the seriousness of the Chair on which Moses sits. I think Moses once said he mentors some young Nigerians and I applaud his effort in that regard. I think he needs to start taking some more specific actions in helping our struggling institutions in Nigeria. Please follow Gloria's example of initiating various activities to fill the void she saw in African scholarship in her institution, and probably in the United States on arrival in the US. Falola's example is also laudable. He turned his frustration into what I see as a positive influence on Africa scholarship with a global magnitude. With the energy and smartness of Moses plus his relative youth, he can do equally well, if not even more.

The advice about "insults thrown at colleagues" is what I would counsel Moses to please adhere to. It is okay to critique (or even criticize) colleagues, but when it becomes insulting one's peers, that moves from the realm of objectivity to street-styled disrespect. I recently read the tribute that Moses paid his friend on FaceBook, Saheed Aderinto, and I was personally offended. It was okay to pay tribute to a friend and professional colleague, but it should not be at the expense of another, bordering on verbal assault and extreme putdown. This is the paragraph I aim referring to:

"I know this will get me in trouble with the denialist, evasive, and defensive ASUU lynch mob, but I'll say it anyway: Saheed has done more for our young humanities and social science scholars than the entire ASUU-affiliated professoriate has done for these young people. Yes, I said it!"

Pardon me if you gave a disclaimer of that statement in paragraphs after that but I could not read beyond that point. I would also hope that Saheed Aderinto quickly fell on his face to say "Oh no, Moses, I am not that superhuman!"

Haba, Moses, how fair is this indictment? How would you feel if you were to be a member of that "ASUU-affiliated professoriate"? What if you had a true friend, former colleague, family member or just an old classmate that you know to be ASUU-affiliated, yet hardworking, devoted and down-to-earth? Guess what? I happen to know such people and was too embarrassed and saddened upon rrunning into this your indictment of "the entire ASUU-affiliated professoriate." And mind you, I am not a "denialist, evasive, and defensive ASUU Lynch mob." I am not an ASUU apologist. I gain nothing from ASUU and cannot foresee ever benefiting from it. I am a retired academic and 100% of my retirement comes from the US. I just want to be fair. Unfairness to some of us is unfairness to us, all.

Thanks!

Michael O. Afolayan

On Saturday, January 30, 2021, 3:19:52 PM CST, Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com> wrote:

Moses it is time to translate your concerns, real or imagined into

practical solutions to fulfill your passion.

When I came to the US, I discovereda dire shortage of materials on Africa.The library was pathetic on that issue.That was how Africa Update emerged, at least one of the major considerations. That was how my video documentaries arose as well, the first in 2012 when I discovered the shabby treatment of Nubia.I got a flight to Chicago to meet

one of the genuine experts on the subject, Bruce Williams and got three interviews on the subject.I have about 100 documentaries including lectures.

Then there is the master, Toyin Falola.

To fill the gap on knowledge of Africa he embarked on a journey that now has yielded 200 books plus.He even created a publishing house.Now he is adding documentaries.This is all fantastic.

But You? Complaints, complaints and more complaints spiced with insults thrown at your colleagues.

Do something to fulfill

your passion. You are part of the problem if you are not part of the solution to the problem identified, real or imagined.

Gloria

On Jan 27, 2021, at 21:16, Moses Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

But we're not talking about students. I thought we were talking about colleagues, fellow academics. Why are you changing the subject? I know what Nigerian students, when properly taught, guided, and mentored, are capable of, so you're singing to the proverbial choir here. It is precisely because teaching, mentorship, and ethics have declined that the quality of Nigerian graduates has deteriorated precipitously in the last thirty years. Is that not why we're debating poor and unethical pedagogical practices? Let's stick the academics/lecturers/professors, please.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 27, 2021, at 5:14 PM, Moses Ochonu <Meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 27, 2021, at 4:47 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Some of the best students I have ever taught in my life to date 2021, were in the Nigerian universities I taught in. I have made this point privately and publicly.

I will never retract, no matter how painful that is for you to hear. I can even call their names and their accomplishments, their dedication and their commitment to the quest for knowledge.

The list is long.

I will leave it at that and will not take the

rat bait that you have thrown out.

Gloria Emeagwali

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 12:57 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

Please be cautious: **External Email**

Gloria,

But you can't have it both ways. You lament that African academics are below and behind Western ones because they lack the resources and money of Western academics, which is your way of explaining away the egregious deficits and misconducts in teaching, research, supervision, and scholarly ethics in Nigerian academia.

Then you turn around to say African academics don't need to adopt the standards of Western academies and should be judged by their own standards. Which is it? You must be consistent in your frame of reference. Your frame of reference cannot be resource discrepancy between African and Western academics but then when it comes to standards you change the goalpost and reject that frame of reference.

That is just an aside.

My position is not at all that Western standards, modes of thought, ontological rubrics, or categories of analysis are better and should be paradigms for African scholars. You have heard me speak and may have read some of my work, which critiques the universalization of Western post-Enlightenment modernity, and the effort to make European ways of seeing and knowing into paradigmatic and hegemonic knowledge systems. So, I think you know that that is not my position at all. I let Toyin Adepoju's mistaken assertion stand because he has a knack for misreading people and crudely reducing one's position to a caricature that suits his purpose.

My position is for rigor. rigor is neither Western nor African. It is universal. You cannot in the name of some alphabet, convenient Afrocentrism and pseudo-nationalist epistemology throw away rigor or justify/rationalize subpar scholarship, teaching, and mentorship.

I know that this would conflict with your insufferable, dichotomously simplistic view of everything in terms of "Africa= totally good; West= totally bad." In that reductive frame, one cannot critique African institutions, practices, peoples, and vices without uncritically endorsing their Western counterparts. What kind of simplistic thought process is this?

On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 11:21 AM Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Well this boils down to one thing, for Moses:

My adopted Mama cooks the best soup.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2021 3:42 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

Please be cautious: **External Email**

Moses,

You get carried away at times in your critique

Your overly broad strokes and sweeping denunciations, at times uncritically presented, are not why you are responded to

From.my own petsonal view, as much as I appreciate your doggedness in critiquing negativities on the Nigerian educational system, you don't seem sensitive to the institutional extraversion you are championing.

You lament the decline of Nigerian universities as global knowledge centres but your suggested corrective blueprint does not go beyond the use of Western publishing platforms as global asessment matrices.

Is that the best we can aspire to?

Are the days of African based journals as global standard journals a thing for ever of past history?

As much as I admire the Western educational system, particularly in its highest point of actualisation in Europe and North America, I am not inspired by the idea of being able to sealmessly cross over from a Nigerian University to US academia as a celebration of global standing, which it actually is and which you are celebrating but in a spirit that might need to be more critical.

Still formative thoughts, though.

Toyin

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021, 21:30 Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks.

I know your views.

I'm also happy to read from others from.different perspectives and even the same perspective and a different contextualization.

We should not be stuck in the unhelpful binary of " if you are asking for elaboration you must be trying to discredit the view being expressed" or " you must approach the subject in the same way as myself or you are aiding and abetting evil."

Thanks

Toyin

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021, 19:20 Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

"I suggest you manage yourself more carefully or you will come across as increasingly petulant and imperialistic of not only your own point of view but of your distinctive style of expressing your point of view."

But Toyin Adepoju, this is already the perception among ASUU types and I have happily embraced it as a welcome price for speaking out on behalf of our terrorized, abused, shortchanged, and voiceless students. I actually love the notoriety, if you don't know. If I had not chosen the "distinctive style" in which I have been expressing my view, do you think we would be having the debate we're now having? It is precisely because of the style I adopted that my points resonated with like minded folks and critics alike.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this one from a victim on Facebook:

Thank you for being a voice to the voiceless. You article brought me tears. It was like you telling my story. I studied to earn my PhD at UI and at a point when my abstract was delayed for over 2 years without much 'genuine' reason. Now it's in the past but I felt bruised and battered. I am gradually getting back to life but now I have no hope in our academic environment

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 11:58 AM Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:

Moses, allow Chidi to speak for himself as a father of three children in Nigerian universities, as you are allowed to speak for yourself as a diaspora Nigerian academic with a BA from a Nigerian university and graduate degrees from US universities and as I am allowed to speak for myself as an Independent Scholar in Nigeria with a BA and graduate degrees from Nigeria and the UK.

I am interested in various vantage points, in varieties of perspectives we have been observing in play, even within the same orientation.

I suggest you manage yourself more carefully or you will come across as increasingly petulant and imperialistic of not only your own point of view but of your distinctive style of expressing your point of view.

I'm not interested in going round in circles. Your views are well known.

I want to read from the perspective of a parent of children in Nigerian universities, as Chidi describes himself.

Chidi is primarily a poet and so is not given to elaborating on his views, preferring one liners.

That's okay.

If he he chooses not to elaborate, I'll take it that he chooses not so substantiate his views, not that the views should simply be taken as self explanatory.

toyin

On Tue, 26 Jan 2021 at 16:14, Moses Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

Toyin Adepoju, please quit the pretentious ignorance. After many years of discussing and debating the many problems plaguing higher education in Nigeria, you're still asking Chidi to elaborate on his his and his children's experiences in Nigerian universities. Can you say in good conscience say that you don't know what the problems are, or what parents like Chidi are contending with?

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 26, 2021, at 3:17 AM, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:

share with us what you have observed.

toyin

On Tue, 26 Jan 2021 at 09:43, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:

Oluwatoyin,
What is there to elaborate? I had three children in three different universities in Nigeria and I know that what I went through was not what one should wish for even his enemies.

I still have another child in another university and I know what I am going through at the moment.

Believe me, the system needs overhauling, all parents with children in the system will agree to this except if they are part of the system.

It will take a whole lot of spaces to elaborate on half of the rots going on in the public university system in Nigeria.

This, for me is not an academic exercise, it is a statement of fact.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

On Tuesday, 26 January 2021 at 08:58:17 UTC+1 toyin....@gmail.com wrote:

Can you elaborate?

On Tue, Jan 26, 2021, 08:42 Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM <chidi...@gmail.com> wrote:

The university system in Nigeria needs total overhauling, I know because I had three children in three different universities in Nigeria.

-Chidi Anthony Opara(CAO)

--

Chidi Anthony Opara is a "Life Time Achievement" Awardee, Registered Freight Forwarder, Professional Fellow Of Institute Of Information Managerment, Africa, Poet and Publisher of PublicInformationProjects

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CABTLsggLfaMZ6EtJeLuc-bp%2B7-S1meNVQFn4e0ZHtpg85-6n6w%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/5fb78078-f899-4b54-b2ab-3c932055714en%40googlegroups.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CALUsqTRr9_XxM%2B1SnNObPDxzLDR_kJ3qRWDcj2021pawY6eX_Q%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/A9AD84D5-5ED6-4F02-984E-29A61CB873A6%40gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CALUsqTSJD4N10mab%2BXQwaOEsnT0thnYORV%2B1CtEfApifcrE%3Dew%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAAHJfPrufp5w8VntPJQhmic9Ev2oZExtjD5z7aFUqRbZ5c855A%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CALUsqTST0y-yp7Fo8gyEv7whfRLx%3DeDcHa4%3DACPosKsiEt7-hQ%40mail.gmail.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/BL0PR01MB451473BA091FD421ACC5F8ACDEBB9%40BL0PR01MB4514.prod.exchangelabs.com.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAAHJfPouyLd1s4F%3DqixgsNwQrT-L%2BZZcJaOnOXvTQEDc%3D%3DiRGg%40mail.gmail.com.

Dialogues

Monday, February 1, 2021

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Today's Quote

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

Blog Archive

About Me