Re: Yoruba Affairs - New Publication

60 views
Skip to first unread message

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Jan 13, 2021, 3:58:10 PM1/13/21
to Yoruba Affairs, yorubaaffa...@googlegroups.com, usaafricadialogue
Great congrats

On Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 17:47 Adeshina Afolayan <adeshina...@gmail.com> wrote:
I am very pleased to announce the publication of Pathways to Alternative Epistemologies in Africa. Please do recommend the volume to your libraries, and endeavor to get one for yourself too!

Thank you!





Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan
Nigeria
+234(80)-3928-8429

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Yoruba Affairs" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to yorubaaffair...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yorubaaffairs/1709466657.914307.1610556063741%40mail.yahoo.com.

Dr BioDun J Ogundayo

unread,
Jan 13, 2021, 3:58:10 PM1/13/21
to dialogue


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dr BioDun J Ogundayo <akand...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 15:06
Subject: Re: Yoruba Affairs - New Publication
To: <yorubaaffa...@googlegroups.com>


Big, big up! Big, big, deal! Great effort! Congratulations, egbon. Will talk to the acquisitions desk of my institution.

Iba o!👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿🏆🏆🏆🏆🎗
--
BioDun J. Ogundayo , PhD. Arokesagun
--
BioDun J. Ogundayo , PhD. Arokesagun

Nimi Wariboko

unread,
Jan 13, 2021, 5:47:26 PM1/13/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Yoruba Affairs, yorubaaffa...@googlegroups.com
Congratulations!

Nimi 

On Jan 13, 2021, at 3:58 PM, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com> wrote:


--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@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 usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CALUsqTRxXEJ8z%3Dfv9XfvJdmvDJx8rjwDSQ8s2a5t6zeE1SGpoA%40mail.gmail.com.

Bayo Omolola

unread,
Jan 13, 2021, 9:38:48 PM1/13/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Yoruba Affairs, yorubaaffa...@googlegroups.com
Congratulation, Prof. A. Afolayan! More productive contributions this year and in the years ahead!

Bayo Omolola

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 7:14:32 AM1/16/21
to usaafricadialogue, Yoruba Affairs
Michael Afoloyan sums up the paradox of the scholar in Africa  publishing in the West, particularly with Western academic presses.

Western academic presess produce some of the best books in the world but most of this scholarship is challenging to access in Africa, for example, beceause Western academic publishing operates on a model centred in an ivory tower culture fed by a robust knowledge circulation and economic system cultivated in the West over centuries and which most other regions in the world do not have.

The book is expensive but if you are in the West, your University library can get copies.

You may have a book acquisition fund as part of your income, so buying books is made easier.

Your income could be strong enough to buy such books without difficulty.

All these conditions do not operate outside the West for. many countries, but the West has the most prestigious publishing houses, the most visible, where the largest congregation of the world's knowledge exists.

Thus, you publish there, you garner global visibility and prestige, but most people in your own country, scholars and general public, cannot read your work because it is priced beyond the reach of individuals and institutions.

Solutions.

Indian publishers working with State University of New York Press, for example, republish books by SUNY using lower quality paper and at cheaper prices and sell all over the world.

Also, authors may consider reaching agreements with Western publishers on leaving the door open for republishing the same text for the African market, for example, for favourable terms for republishing with publishers in Africa.

Also, authours may work at publishing with local publishers and working with them to give their works the global visibility the Western publishers already have.

Also, Western published academic texts could be republished in different formats, smaller editions, eg publishing each chapter as a small, easily affordable book.

These publications could be e- books, print and web based, the latter being a website accessible after paying for the book.

Various factors inform the high prices of books by Western academic publishers, factors that don't seem to negatively impact knowledge development in the West, but a situation that needs to be creatively examined in relation to other parts of the world.

Thanks

Toyin

On Sat, Jan 16, 2021, 10:43 'Michael Afolayan' via Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Congratulations are in order, my people. The title, the topics, the authors, etc., are so tantalizing!

This, seriously, would be a great read, but alas, only a handful can afford it. This is discouraging, and it won't be the first time we are discussing this matter. It won't be the last time either because, as the old saying goes, "When you steal the chicken of the pauper, you've just made an invitation to endless grudges." We need to start writing protest letters to our academic publishers and let them know that except they are publishing only for library holdings in the western world, these prices are over and above what the average reading enthusiast can afford. They should be aware, for instance, that $1 is almost 500 Naira in exchange rates in Nigeria. A $20 book would come with a warping N10,000 price tag. Do the math and calculate how many of such books the average Nigerian academic can afford every single year. Not many, if any! Two, three years down the road, even the authors would not be able to afford the purchases as those prices would have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled. Except, perhaps, it's to flaunt the cliché "your eyes may see, but your lips cannot taste" childhood taunting, these prices must be made bearable. They are exponentially beyond the margin of affordability. We can follow the Indian model of the past years, can't we? It's the same model most newspaper publishers around the world follow. The paper quality may not be heavy, but the price tag will not empty the wallet, and the pool of knowledge would overflow its banks to all and sundry. This is the goal of every writer. Who would not want to read these three respected author-editors? Sadly, few would. I can't, in spite of my utmost respect and admiration for them and their superior intellects. It's neither fair to readers nor rewarding and fulfilling to authors. Consequently, publishers lose as well. Something must be done. The stakes are just too high for us to do nothing!

Michael O. Afoláyan







On Wednesday, January 13, 2021, 5:47:04 PM GMT+1, Adeshina Afolayan <adeshina...@gmail.com> wrote:


I am very pleased to announce the publication of Pathways to Alternative Epistemologies in Africa. Please do recommend the volume to your libraries, and endeavor to get one for yourself too!

Thank you!





Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan
Nigeria
+234(80)-3928-8429

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Yoruba Affairs" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to yorubaaffair...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/yorubaaffairs/1709466657.914307.1610556063741%40mail.yahoo.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Yoruba Affairs" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to yorubaaffair...@googlegroups.com.

Harrow, Kenneth

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 6:25:16 PM1/16/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
it is hard for academic presses to break even. the costs reflect the realities that sales are low and it is necessary for survival. i could explain why in more detail, but that is the basic reality
the story for commercial presses is different of course
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2021 7:08 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Yoruba Affairs - New Publication
 
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@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 usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CALUsqTTCCbnPXH-cTw6JuBZynCYsvsHbmPNNSUH18rTSBoozJA%40mail.gmail.com.

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 8:31:51 PM1/16/21
to usaafricadialogue
Oxford UP has been very successful, it seems, in bridging the specialist and text book market in relation to trade, general interest publishing with their Very Short Introductions, 35,000 word state of the art presentations on a variety of topics that are easy to read, tastefully designed and can fit into one's pocket.

Other Western publishers have tried similar techniques, but Oxford UPs Very Short Introductions seems the most successful and most sustained.

Oxford UP also publishers novels,

Perhaps sales from this range of offerings complements the perhaps slower selling expensive academic texts.

Thanks

Toyin

On Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 01:58 Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com> wrote:
I suspect Western academic presses could do better commercially if they modified  their publishing model while retaining the core qualities that makes them  academic publishers.

There could be more of an effort to communicate with the average person in the way the books are written and the manner in which they are marketed.

I understand this discussion, as initiated by Michael Afoloyan, to be about Western academic publishers, not academic publishers generally.

I also understand academic publishers to be those who publish writers employed by academic institutions or working in the context of such institutions, such as books coming out of academic programs even if the writer is not an academic.

These descriptions are vital for understanding the relationships between academic publishers, scholarly publishers who might not be academic and the various publics served by these diverse publishers.

I suspect the Western academic system, the globally dominant system, is overly homogenised even in spite of significant flexibility.

This homogenisation is reflected in fixation upon one way of organising and presenting critical knowledge-the argumentative and expository essay, a style of presentation that facilitates linear, ABCD, 1+1=2 kind of logic, but which addresess a rather narrow though very powerful and readily mutually verifiable range of human cognitive possibility.

In the Western tradition, this style of discourse may be described as pioneered by and taken to a high level by Aristotle.

Plato, Aristotle's teacher, on the other hand, used dramatic dialogues set in vivid environmental and interpersonal contexts, along wuth mythic narratives, in building structures of logical reasoning, employing both linear and associative logic.

Scholarly texts, the larger category to which academic bbooks belong, would be more interesting if the writers are free to use a broader range of analytical and expository methods in pursuing the development of logic.

Some French scholarship, European developments in combining artistic and conventional scholarly methods, the use of autoethnography,these demonstrate effirts to rework the dominant paradigm of the Western academic text.

The Arab, Persian, Islamic and classical Asian scholarly traditions have also used poetry as means of developing scholarly ideas.

Thanks

Toyin

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 8:32:26 PM1/16/21
to usaafricadialogue
I suspect Western academic presses could do better commercially if they modified  their publishing model while retaining the core qualities that makes them  academic publishers.

There could be more of an effort to communicate with the average person in the way the books are written and the manner in which they are marketed.

I understand this discussion, as initiated by Michael Afoloyan, to be about Western academic publishers, not academic publishers generally.

I also understand academic publishers to be those who publish writers employed by academic institutions or working in the context of such institutions, such as books coming out of academic programs even if the writer is not an academic.

These descriptions are vital for understanding the relationships between academic publishers, scholarly publishers who might not be academic and the various publics served by these diverse publishers.

I suspect the Western academic system, the globally dominant system, is overly homogenised even in spite of significant flexibility.

This homogenisation is reflected in fixation upon one way of organising and presenting critical knowledge-the argumentative and expository essay, a style of presentation that facilitates linear, ABCD, 1+1=2 kind of logic, but which addresess a rather narrow though very powerful and readily mutually verifiable range of human cognitive possibility.

In the Western tradition, this style of discourse may be described as pioneered by and taken to a high level by Aristotle.

Plato, Aristotle's teacher, on the other hand, used dramatic dialogues set in vivid environmental and interpersonal contexts, along wuth mythic narratives, in building structures of logical reasoning, employing both linear and associative logic.

Scholarly texts, the larger category to which academic bbooks belong, would be more interesting if the writers are free to use a broader range of analytical and expository methods in pursuing the development of logic.

Some French scholarship, European developments in combining artistic and conventional scholarly methods, the use of autoethnography,these demonstrate effirts to rework the dominant paradigm of the Western academic text.

The Arab, Persian, Islamic and classical Asian scholarly traditions have also used poetry as means of developing scholarly ideas.

Thanks

Toyin

On Sun, Jan 17, 2021, 00:25 Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu> wrote:

Toyin Falola

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 8:52:05 PM1/16/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Unless a scholar is very boastful and deceptive, scholarly academic publishing is a depressing narrative. I have access to the figures. Sometimes the book you spent ten years researching and writing may not sell 100 copies. Some even sell 50 copies. The number of those who follow you on Facebook does not translate to sales, sometimes not even five copies. Africa is a special case: the subject is disconnected from the audience. A Tiv person in Nigeria may never see an award-winning book on his people and talk less about reading it. And what is of paramount concern to the Tiv may not even be the issue that the scholar writes about. The Tiv may be worried about their farms and insecurity and the scholar may be writing about the Tiv and cellphone use in urban areas!

The solution to this problem is to develop publishing in Africa, and address the concerns that drive the people themselves. Even in the US, books on Bible and dogs sell the most. The conferences on both attract tens of thousands, occupying major convention centers.

TF

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 9:00:20 PM1/16/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Oga TF:

You are right on the money!


OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

Harrow, Kenneth

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 10:20:42 PM1/16/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
agreed, but still we have to see this from the perspective of the university publisher. they are really serving the larger population of scholars everywhere who work on given issues, and have nothing to do with vast global literary production, as in the bestselling novels of teju cole or adichie or whoever. the sales could be quite low indeed; but the impact on a given field might be considerable. there are two solutions that come to mind. first, either more publication in africa, or publications here that are joined to african publishing houses, where the financial needs are taken into account.
it isn't obvious how this works. i tried to promote publication of fiction, with poetry, and also in translation, with msu press. we published some great work; but the sales made it impossible for the publisher to continue.
another alternative is to work hard hard hard on getting as much in e-form as possible, and then get the access available in african networks. i tried hard to do this in dakar, and without the university commitment of time and resources in dakar couldn't make it work. in particular the library in u cheikh anta diop had to want to collaborate, and they didn't.
they need better computer access, better network systems, more computers, and most of all rights to disseminate materials guarded by copyrights.
these are the initial issues. i am convinced that the book famine has to be overcome electronically; and when it is, we won't have to worry where a scholar or press is based when she can publish materials accessible easily around the world. right now, book prices are prohibitive even for academics here.
last point: i co-edited the Wiley and Blackwell Companion to African Cinema volume. it is $132, a large fee that most people would not pay. instead we would expect libraries to purchase it. we worked for a few years on that project, and i feel strongly that the contributors' essays were outstanding. but how can we get it out to people serious about the study of african cinema? those teaching a given film or filmmaker will look through it and probably copy a chapter for their students. maybe in rare cases it will have more than one copy available to students.  but the main targets are libraries. i learned that as university budgets have gotten pinched, library budgets are reduced, and science journals are not cut since they are priorities. hardcover volumes like ours are not priorities. so budgets for books like ours are reduced, more than ever. that's why the price is so high. no one is profiting here. and for the authors it is mostly a labor of love.
i'd say each of the books i wrote took maybe 10 years of work. there is no profit in the royalties, but the labor was what gave me fulfillment. i don't resent the issue of money since i had a good job. but i want my work to reach african scholars, directly or indirectly. toyin's solution of african publishing is important; but so too is getting an infrastructure in order so that all the students in african universities can have access to resources adequate to their needs. that is crucial if they are to participate in the forging of the fields of knowledge involving africa.
and it would facilitate the sharing of study/knowledge production we all need
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu


From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2021 8:57 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Yoruba Affairs - New Publication
 

Toyin Falola

unread,
Jan 16, 2021, 10:45:10 PM1/16/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

In the next few days, I will be announcing my last book Series, focusing on literary studies and creativity. It will be a hybrid model, and will tap on the creative energies of a pool of scholars usually ignored.

In the post-COVID age, the way we do business will change.  The book industry is on the verge of major changes. My first open access book has over 3000 downloads in the first 20 days.

The conversation with our African colleagues has been one-sided. In acrimonious meetings that I have attended, with people walking out in anger, the argument on the Africa-side is why do we want them to read the books published in the West and we never talk about what they publish for those in the West to read. The President of Rwanda who served as a Keynote Speaker in one of those acrimonious meetings said that his people were being insulted.

I think the language of communication is as important as what is being communicated.

TF

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Jan 17, 2021, 3:18:37 AM1/17/21
to usaafricadialogue
Interesting Prof Falola

Why last book series?

Could you give us a link to the open access book?

Could you summarise why and how post covid publishing will be different?

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Jan 17, 2021, 10:35:20 AM1/17/21
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com


Ken. 

 The solution is actually here as you suggest when it comes to scholarly work, global collaboration and e books.

In my own permanent solution to Nigeria's epileptic power problems I have suggested solar electronics villages starting from government secretariats then university communities then the populace at large.

When it comes to tier 2 university communities it should start with designated centres of excellence as national solar  power and computing  zones.  Say the first generation Nigerian universities like University of Ibadan ( or Lagos) in the South West, UNN in the South East UniPort in the South South Uni Sokoto in the North west, Uni Maid in the North East and Abuja Uni in the Federal Capital.  I have in a separate suggestion stated that all universities should be rationalised in their ability to provide power and water in a permanent and perpetual basis as sine qua non.

The national solar power and computing zones will work with reputable International scholarly book publishers to make e books available on their computerization grids for onward transmission and resale to other interested universities in the country on paid for basis so that it becomes mutually beneficial and sustainable enterprise.

If a book is priced at $150 and a class is interested in only one chapter in it the technology is now available for that university to purchase that e chapter alone for the use of that class at $15 a head.  The digital technoligy is also now available for the zonal distribution centre to make the whole ebook available for the reserve shelves of interested universities on a permanent basis or for stipulated time ( at subsidised fees) on read only basis after which it disappears from the e- reserve shelves of the library.


OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.



-------- Original message --------
From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <har...@msu.edu>
Date: 17/01/2021 03:26 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Yoruba Affairs - New Publication

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (har...@msu.edu) Add cleanup rule | More info
agreed, but still we have to see this from the perspective of the university publisher. they are really serving the larger population of scholars everywhere who work on given issues, and have nothing to do with vast global literary production, as in the bestselling novels of teju cole or adichie or whoever. the sales could be quite low indeed; but the impact on a given field might be considerable. there are two solutions that come to mind. first, either more publication in africa, or publications here that are joined to african publishing houses, where the financial needs are taken into account.
it isn't obvious how this works. i tried to promote publication of fiction, with poetry, and also in translation, with msu press. we published some great work; but the sales made it impossible for the publisher to continue.
another alternative is to work hard hard hard on getting as much in e-form as possible, and then get the access available in african networks. i tried hard to do this in dakar, and without the university commitment of time and resources in dakar couldn't make it work. in particular the library in u cheikh anta diop had to want to collaborate, and they didn't.
they need better computer access, better network systems, more computers, and most of all rights to disseminate materials guarded by copyrights.
these are the initial issues. i am convinced that the book famine has to be overcome electronically; and when it is, we won't have to worry where a scholar or press is based when she can publish materials accessible easily around the world. right now, book prices are prohibitive even for academics here.
last point: i co-edited the Wiley and Blackwell Companion to African Cinema volume. it is $132, a large fee that most people would not pay. instead we would expect libraries to purchase it. we worked for a few years on that project, and i feel strongly that the contributors' essays were outstanding. but how can we get it out to people serious about the study of african cinema? those teaching a given film or filmmaker will look through it and probably copy a chapter for their students. maybe in rare cases it will have more than one copy available to students.  but the main targets are libraries. i learned that as university budgets have gotten pinched, library budgets are reduced, and science journals are not cut since they are priorities. hardcover volumes like ours are not priorities. so budgets for books like ours are reduced, more than ever. that's why the price is so high. no one is profiting here. and for the authors it is mostly a labor of love.
i'd say each of the books i wrote took maybe 10 years of work. there is no profit in the royalties, but the labor was what gave me fulfillment. i don't resent the issue of money since i had a good job. but i want my work to reach african scholars, directly or indirectly. toyin's solution of african publishing is important; but so too is getting an infrastructure in order so that all the students in african universities can have access to resources adequate to their needs. that is crucial if they are to participate in the forging of the fields of knowledge involving africa.
and it would facilitate the sharing of study/knowledge production we all need
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2021 8:57 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Yoruba Affairs - New Publication
 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@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 usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Jan 17, 2021, 10:58:55 AM1/17/21
to usaafricadialogue
Interesting ideas but sad about limitations of book access. E books dissapearing...

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages