Public Intellectual Extraordinaire: Celebrating Sophie Abosede Oluwole (1935-2018)

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

Call for Panelists

Public Intellectual Extraordinaire: Celebrating Sophie Abosede Oluwole (1935-2018)

The 5th Annual Lagos Studies Association Conference

Theme: Postcolonial African Cities at 60: Continuities and Discontinuities

June 25-27, 2020
Lagos, Nigeria

Panel Organizer: Oyeronke Oyewumi (Stony Brook University)

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After over five decades of distinguished life as a teacher-scholar, mentor, priestess and public intellectual, Sophie Abosede Oluwole joined the ancestors in 2018. The first woman PhD and professor of philosophy in Nigeria, Oluwole dedicated her entire career to challenging Euro-centric conception of being and existence. She brought an African epistemology to bear on philosophical questions. From her book Philosophy and Oral Tradition to Socrates and Orunmila, she pushed for a curriculum that centers African modes of knowledge, which she saw as a foundation for creating a community of perpetual seekers of knowledge. Oluwole was critical of the exaltation of Euro-centric gender ideologies in religion and politics, writing thought-provoking articles and giving critical interviews to educate the public on the foundations of current misogyny and miseducation. Oluwole was an intellectual-activist per excellence and a major voice in the decolonization of knowledge in Africa.

This panel welcomes contributions on the intellectual legacies of Oluwole within the frames of African epistemology, language, gender, and religion and spirituality. It encourages critical reflections on the unfinished intellectual business of Oluwole and the trajectory that an Africa-centered knowledge system could take in years to come.

If you would like to participate in this panel, please send a 250-word abstract and a short bio to Lagos Studies Association lagosstudie...@gmail.com by January 15, 2020. Visit the LSA website for additional information about the Conference: https://lagosstudies.wcu.edu/