USA Africa Dialogue Series - Nature and Logic of New Book on Toyin Falola: Imaginative Matrices and the Multifarious Universe of Knowledge: The Toyin Falola Cosmos and the Inspiration of Iya Lekuleja, the Magical Herbalist

                                

                                                                                             

                                                                    

                                                     Nature and Logic of New Book on Toyin Falola

                                      Imaginative Matrices and the Multifarious Universe of Knowledge

                               The Toyin Falola Cosmos and the Inspiration of Iya Lekuleja, the Magical Herbalist

                                                          Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                         Compcros

                                                 Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

                                       Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge

Book Title

Imaginative Matrices and the Multifarious Universe of Knowledge: The Toyin Falola Cosmos and the Inspiration of Iya Lekuleja, the Magical Herbalist    

Book Author

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, Independent Scholar, Compcros , Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

Book Description

This book presents the image of Iya Lekuleja, the childhood and early teenage years mentor of writer and scholar Toyin Falola, from his autobiographical A Mouth Sweeter than Salt and Counting the Tiger's Teeth, exploring the implications of her depiction for unifying Falola's multidisciplinary creativity and  for configuring  further interdisciplinary synthesis. The verbal text is complemented by pictures of visual forms  from various contexts across space and time, the evocative power of these visualities  amplified by commentary. 

Links to the Book

USAAfrica Dialogues Series Google Group 

Yoruba Affairs Google Group

Compcros Google Group

What Kind of Book is This?

This is a new kind of book. It is not printed and bound. It is not formatted using a PDF or word processing software and made available as a conventional ebook.It exists as a post on Gmail.

What qualifies it to be called a book, outside those other, established parameters?

Volume. 

It is a text of 38, 445 words at my last count, and 171 pages long. Oxford's Very Short Introductions are about 35,000 words and most are under 200 pages in length and yet achieve significant expository depth and scope.

My characterization of this text on Falola's work as a book thus  represents an aspect of the current Wikipedia definition of a book, in terms of content, as   ''a medium for recording information, often a work of fiction or nonfiction, in the form of writing or images. As a conceptual object, a book typically refers to a written work of substantial length, which may be distributed either physically or in digital forms like ebooks''.  

Why Not Publish Conventionally By Having the Work Conventionally Formatted and Sent to a Publisher or to an Agent to Help Find a Publisher?

No interest in pursuing published by other people. For no particular reason.   But involving love of independence, an individualistic orientation to doing things, particularly in relation to knowledge development and sharing,  and a liking for the free dissemination of knowledge. I'm open, though, to  if asked,  making my work available for publication in projects run by others. 

Why Not Format as a Conventional PDF or Even Word Book and Circulate as an Ebook? 

Time, energy, interest.                                                                             

My primary writing and publishing platform is social media. I love composing on email platforms and on Facebook and enjoy the thrill of immediate publication. Some of my most important work emerged through the stimulation of social media responses to my writing.

I have published a compilation of social media debate on Amazon, The Demolition of Owonifari Electrical Electronics Market in Oshodi and the Future of Ndigbo in Nigeria (Gems fromSocial Media Book 1). I have also published on Amazon a compilation of my social media essays on Ruth Bircham's art, Vagina Mysticism and the Erotic Art of Ruth Bircham.

 

I used to format and publish my work on academia.edu as PDF files, as demonstrated by such extensive and image heavy essays as ''Manifestations at Cosmogenesis : Universal Implications of Three Yoruba Cosmogonic Narratives'', ''A Salute to the Elephant : Abiola Irele at the Intersection of Disciplines'', and ''Uli Philosophy and Mysticism 2'' .

Essays depicting similar image density and textual scope, but which exist only on social media, such as Facebook, and, in some cases, on Blogger are ''Pankya and Pankan Philosophy and Mysticism : Death and Installation as Transformation in Pankya and Pankan, the Last Rites and Installation Ceremonies of the Aku Uka, King of Wukari of the Jukun of Nigeria : Images and Texts in a Multicultural Synthesis'',  ''Hijab Aesthetics and Mysticism'' and ''Esu to the Mahavidyas:Integrating Contraries through Ideas and Art from Orisa to Tantric Cosmology''.

As my writing increased in frequency and size, however, at times representing heavy use of images requiring delicate  formatting for synchronization with written text in an aesthetically pleasing manner, as evident in the PDF files linked above, the time and energy required for such a task became prohibitive. I've concluded that I'll need to hire a secretary for such tasks involving online publication of PDF files and likely, their eventual printing. 

I am  arguing that a book can be in any format, such as an email or blog post, with volume being the criterion in using here for defining the concept of a book.

 

Possible Problems With Image Visibility in this Book 

This new Falola book depends significantly on the complementarity of words and images, but I've been having problems with the visibility of the images after uploading them to Gmail.

I would be pleased if readers who encounter those visibility challenges report them to me to help me understand the scope of the problem. I would also appreciate suggestions on how to address the issue.

What are the Economic Implications of the Publishing Model I am Using?

Still trying to work them out, a situation particularly significant for me as an Independent, self employed scholar whose income does not come from employment by an institution. I got my current job though, through my client's noticing my work on social media.

I'm working out how to proceed from there, being a person who loves the free sharing of knowledge yet needs to operate in terms of the monetization of goods and services that drives most economies, even as I have little interest in any kind of work beyond research, writing and publication, and have decided that I am not able to fit into academia, having once been an academic and undergone graduate training in Nigeria and England.

Why Am I Describing My Work in this Way at this Time, Having Been Working in this Manner for Twenty Years?

Stocktaking. Owning one's own creative peculiarities, regardless of how different they are from the norm. Realizing that one might be a trailblazer, introducing new ways of doing things.

Coming to terms with the fact that, even though print books are my most important possessions, most of my reading is now done digitally, online on social media, websites, and in journal articles, and even offline,  in ebooks and digital  articles, though I still do some print reading. All my writing is digital.

I expect my volume of print reading to rise again, and continue to buy print books and will do so much more with time, but print and digital texts are complementary for me. There shall be no return for me, however,  to buying print copies of such periodicals as the news media TIME and the Economist and even academic journal articles. 

This digital and social media orientation being so strategic to my reading, research and writing, why not fully embrace my own practice of this new information culture, instead of seeing it as a prelude to ebook or print publication? 

I am therefore emphasizing what works for me, through which I have been able to do significant  and even ground breaking creative work, as represented, for example,  by the compilation  of links to my social media essays comprising ''Nsibidi/Ekpuk Philosophy and Mysticism : Research and Publication Project'' and ''Developing Universal Ogboni Philosophy and Spirituality : My Journey'', extensive productions emphasizing rich word/image synthesis, productions open to expansion as new essays of mine in those subjects are published, likely on social media.   

Readers may see some of my work on various platforms at my central website, Compcros, although the site needs refinement and updating. 

--
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/CAGBtzfM%2BB_P0FRrKAdbsex5YJhkBDtS8tgQ3DMLAAoqPx1LRVQ%40mail.gmail.com.