Fellow 2024-2025
The literary scholar Idowu Emmanuel Adeniyi examines societal problems in Africa and their representation in cultural production, including films, plays, poetry, and novels. He teaches at the Department of English and Literary Studies, the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria. He was a Visiting Fellow at the African Studies Center, Leiden University, Netherlands, in 2023. During his time at LIAS, Adeniyi will undertake an investigation of gender-related violence narratives in Nigerian literature. He will explore the potential of literature to combat rape and sexual violence, focusing on the cultural construction of benevolent masculinity and the inadequacy of legal means to solely tackle sexual crimes in Nigeria. His literary studies revolve around issues of social justness, inclusion, and gender justice in Nigeria.
Abstract
Breaking the Silence on Rape and Sexual Violence: A Literary Investigation of Nigerian Gender-Based Violence Narratives and Positive Masculinity
This Literary Studies research project employs radical feminism and affect theory as theoretical touchstones to interrogate the sexual violence against women in Nigeria. It considers the role of narrative techniques in conveying affective empathy, and explores the possibility of motivating readers to self-reflect and effect a change in their attitudes. The hypothesis underlying this is that more than just a legalistic approach is necessary to eliminate the threat. For this study, the following novels are examined: Abi Dare's The Girl with the Louding Voice (2020), Yejide Kilanko's Daughters Who Walk this Path (2012), Abidemi Sanusi’s Eyo: African Lolita (2009), Jude Dibia's Unbridled (2007), Chris Abani's Becoming Abigail (2006), Sefi Attah's Everything Good will Come (2005) and Ken Saro-Wiwa's Lemona's Tale (1996).
Education
2018 PhD in African Diaspora Literature, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
2009 MA in African American Literature, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
2005 BA in English and Literary Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko Ondo State, Nigeria
Most Recent Academic Position
Lecturer in African and Postcolonial Literature, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria
Most recent publications
“Towards the Systematisation of African Ways of Knowing: Neocolonial Hegemony, Theory Development and Cognitive Imperialism in African Studies.” African Identities, April (2024): 1–18.
with Patience Ngozika. “Rethinking African Ecocriticism Beyond Regional Boundaries: Corporate Capitalism, Global Periphery and Subalternity in Nigerian Novels”, Green Letters, Studies in Ecocriticism (2023): 1-19.
“Life Writings, Autobiographical Subjects: Exploring Colonial Narratives, Anti-Memory in African Freedom Fighters’ Texts”. English Studies 103, No. 2 (2022): 338-60.