The University of Ibadan (UI) has established a ground-breaking Center of Excellence for Diaspora Studies, the first of its kind in Africa.
Professor Senayon Olaoluwa, a renowned scholar with a history of leading diaspora studies initiatives, has been appointed as the Centre’s inaugural director.
This development signifies a major expansion for UI’s Institute of African Studies and aligns with the African Union’s vision of the diaspora as Africa’s “sixth region.” The Centre received a N250 million take-off grant from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to support research, including the creation of a comprehensive database on the Nigerian diaspora. Additionally, TETFund allocated N1 billion for the Centre’s infrastructure.
Professor Olaoluwa’s expertise in diaspora studies extends beyond the Centre. His “extalgia” theory, focused on the emotional longing of emigrants for their homeland, recently secured a pilot grant at the University of Iowa. This grant will fund a collaborative research project investigating the mental health of families left behind in Ibadan following emigration.
His publications have appeared in African Affairs, Journal of African Cultural Studies, Journal of Borderlands Studies, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, and Social Dynamics, among other such outlets. His recent output, ‘Dislocating Anthropocene: The City and Oil in Helon Habila’s Oil on Water’, published in Isle Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, (Spring 2020, Vol. 27, No. 2), was recently ranked in the top 10 publications on social and environmental justice by the Oxford University Press.
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chair of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), congratulated Professor Olaoluwa and expressed her confidence in his leadership. She emphasized the importance of utilizing UI’s position as Nigeria’s premier university for research and scholarship to maximize the Centre’s impact.
This new Centre is poised to become a leading hub for research, education, and dialogue on the African diaspora, not only in Nigeria but across the continent.
