Toyin Falola

An African intellectual legend on both the continent and in the world, Professor Falola has recently celebrated the publication of his 100th book and is listed as the ‘who is who’ in books on Africa. Series editor of African Identities, Cambridge University Press, he has served as editor and editorial advisor of close to 50 publications, including the Oxford Research Encyclopedia in African History, the Journal of African Humanities and Social Sciences, African Economic History, Journal of International Politics and Development, The Oxford History of Historical Writing, Abuja Journal of Humanities, The Global South etc.

Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, Professor Falola delivered the keynote address on ‘The Ritual Archive’ at CAS’ Precolonial Catalytic Conference held from 15-17 March 2017 in partnership with Nelson Mandela University. This conference was described as a significant turning point on the ‘pre-colonial’ in African Studies. Professor Falola indicated at the conference that he would want to support the publication of the scholarly works of young African scholars as part of the decolonisation of knowledge project in higher education. The Toyin Falola Book Award is administered by the Association of Third World Studies for the best book on Africa.

Professor Falola holds 7 honorary doctorates, several prestigious lifetime career awards (including the Distinguished Africanist Award from the African Studies Association which is the largest association in the world by scholars of Africa), the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Chair of Modern African History At-Large with Benue State University in Nigeria since 2010, Professor of Excellence with the University of Texas since 2010, Ibadan Foundation Award for Professional Excellence in Scholarship, Cheikh Anta Diop Award for Excellence in African Studies (2006), Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (2004), Academy of Distinguished Teachers (2004) and many more. A total of 9 Fetschriften have been written in his honour on the creation of the construction of the subaltern (Ben Weiss, 2016); African Epistemologies (Abdul Bangura, 2015), pre-colonial Nigeria (Akin Ogundiran, 2005), and by Adebayo Oyebade (2003; 2002). He served as Vice President of UNESCO’s International Scientific Committee, Slave Route Project from 2011 – 2015 and is currently on the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellows Programme and the International Committee of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute at UNISA. Professor Falola is the past president of the African Studies Association (USA, 2013-2016).