Obituary: Teju Olaniyan is gone

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Toyin Falola

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Nov 30, 2019, 6:34:54 PM11/30/19
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We lost him, an outstanding scholar.

More later.

 

Toyin Falola

Department of History

The University of Texas at Austin

104 Inner Campus Drive

Austin, TX 78712-0220, USA

 

Chielo

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Nov 30, 2019, 6:51:08 PM11/30/19
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Please don't tell me it's Tejumola Olaniyan!
He organised a Thanksgiving for African students at his university! Please let this be a hoax. 
C.



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Tunji Olaopa

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Nov 30, 2019, 6:51:08 PM11/30/19
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Ibrahim Abdullah

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Nov 30, 2019, 6:51:08 PM11/30/19
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Hmmmmmm! Good grief. May his soul rest in perfect peace. 

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On 30 Nov 2019, at 11:34 PM, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:


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Michael Afolayan

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Dec 1, 2019, 7:04:05 AM12/1/19
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What?
NO!!!






Assensoh, Akwasi B.

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Dec 1, 2019, 7:04:05 AM12/1/19
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Nigerian-Born Professor Tejumola ("Teju") Olaniyan, One of Our Best, in sudden death...

Saturday, November 30, 2019 11:32 pm | News

Professor Tejumola Olaniyan: sudden death in US

Tejumola Olaniyan, one of the most brilliant and accomplished Professors of English and African Literatures in America died suddenly Saturday afternoon at his home in Madison.

He died of sudden heart failure.

He was about to set out for a trip to Europe for a conference, when he was found in his room, dead.

He turned 60 on 3 April this year.

He was the Louis Durham Mead Professor in English and the Wole Soyinka Humanities Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

His works include: ”Scars of Conquest/ Masks of Resistance; ”Arrest the Music: Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics”; (co-edited with Ato Quayson) ”African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory; (co-edited with John Conteh-Morgan) ”African Drama and Performance”; (co-edited with James H. Sweet) ”African Diaspora and the Discipline”, (co-edited with Peter Limb) ”Taking African Cartoons Seriously: Politics, Satire and Culture”; and edited ”State and Culture in Post-colonial Africa.” He was until his death editor of ‘Journal of the African Literature Association’. Professor Tejumola Olaniyan was putting finishing touches to his magisterial book on African cartoons.

​








From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdu...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2019 6:40 PM
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Subject: [External] Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obituary: Teju Olaniyan is gone
 
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Akin Alao

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Dec 1, 2019, 7:04:05 AM12/1/19
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This is another great loss, very sad.

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Pamela Smith

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Dec 1, 2019, 12:23:12 PM12/1/19
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Good God! WHY? Not another maturing, leading branch, plucked from the fold, and prematurely  pruned!
What is the message here, this time, Lord? Why, indeed, God? Pray, Lord, tell and still our grieving hearts! We REALLY yearn to know!


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu>
Date: 11/30/19 5:33 PM (GMT-06:00)

abosede g

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Dec 1, 2019, 12:23:19 PM12/1/19
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He was just speaking at ASA! This is such awful news. Such a brilliant mind amd open spirit. This is so incredibly sad. One of the good ones. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/1575184643540.8724%40indiana.edu.

Moses Ochonu

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Dec 1, 2019, 1:04:06 PM12/1/19
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A devastating loss. His career, despite being distinguished, was just peaking. That’s how good he was. May God rest his soul.

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On Nov 30, 2019, at 5:51 PM, Tunji Olaopa <tolao...@gmail.com> wrote:


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Michael Afolayan

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Dec 1, 2019, 2:01:36 PM12/1/19
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I hear you loud and clear, Auntie Pam! I am still dumbfounded – truly speechless and dazed! We are yet to drop a few cloaks of moaning and now we have another to put on top of them! Wow, 2019 has dealt us great blows and brought us much grief! May it forever remain our annus horribilis. We cannot afford any worse. God knows we can’t! May Teju’s family – Moji and children, and all of us that ever crossed the brilliant mind’s path be comforted. The community of literary thinkers has lost one of its finest! 

 

Michael O. Afolayan

(In sackcloth and ashes)

===

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Olatunde Babawale

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Dec 1, 2019, 3:06:32 PM12/1/19
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What a terrible loss!! Teju was an outstanding scholar, a man with a kind heart who qualified to be described as a good man.
He would be sorely missed. May the Lord bless his soul.


Tunde Babawale
University of Lagos
Akoka-

Harrow, Kenneth

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Dec 1, 2019, 5:09:44 PM12/1/19
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michael said it all. profound loss and sadness.

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 1, 2019 1:40 PM
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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Obituary: Teju Olaniyan is gone
 

Elias Bongmba

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Dec 1, 2019, 6:30:32 PM12/1/19
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This is very sad news indeed. Professor Teju Olaniyan was  kind, wise, and an excellent scholar. May God comfort his family.

Elias Bongmba

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Biko Agozino

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Dec 2, 2019, 12:09:52 PM12/2/19
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He said of Fela that 'he cannot not be a cosmopolitan' due to the conditions of his socialization. As a scholar, Teju cannot not go on living because no one can arrest the scholarship.

Biko

Gloria Emeagwali

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Dec 2, 2019, 1:36:24 PM12/2/19
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May Teju join the ancestors triumphantly.  This must be indeed sad for his family, those who just saw him at the ASA and all colleagues and friends.

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