Toyin

Falola

News and Events

Upcoming and Recent Events

October: Keynote, University of Calabar, Nigeria

October 4-6: Keynote Speaker, "Slavery and its Aftermath in the Atlantic World: An International Symposium," University of Illinois at Chicago

October 11-13: ATWS 2012: 30th Annual Conference of the Association of Third World Studies; Berry College, Georgia

October 22, 2012: Lead Speaker, “All Politics is Local”: Perspectives on Community Engagement and Citizen Empowerment in Africa and the African Diaspora, A Symposium in Honor of Professor Oladimeji (Ola) Aborisade at 80

News

Falola recipient of 2011 Distinguished Africanist Award

UT Department of History

He said, "This is the biggest award ever in academic organizations — I was not expecting it." According to the ASA’s website, “the award was created in the 1980’s to recognize and honor scholars who have contributed a lifetime record of outstanding scholarship in their respective field of African studies.”

The award will be presented at their Annual Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011 in Washington, D.C. Their annual conference has approximately 2,000 attendees each year from all over the world.

Executive Director of the African Studies Association (ASA) Karen Jenkins notified Falola that he was the association’s 2011 recipient of its most coveted award.

In her letter, she stated, “As you are aware, the Distinguished Africanist Award was established to recognize and honor individuals who have contributed a lifetime of outstanding scholarship in African Studies combined with service to the Africanist community.”

Toyin Falola, just back from Nigeria where he participated in the inaugural Toyin Falola Annual Conference, was surprised to learn he’d received yet another lifetime achievement award.

Historian appointed as a Vice President of the International Scientific Committee for UNESCO's Slave Trade Route Project

UT Department of History

According to UNESCO's website, "Ignorance or concealment of major historical events constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation among peoples. UNESCO has thus decided to break the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery that have affected all continents and have caused the great upheavals that have shaped our modern societies."

The ISC consists of experts who guide and advise the project to preserve documents, educational materials, create and preserve memorial sites, and promote the myriad contributions to the world that resulted from the African diaspora.

Falola is the Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor and a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of History. He is a world renown professor and author, receiving numerous lifetime achievement awards and authoring over 100 books.

He has convened the Africa Conference annually for 11 years at The University of Texas at Austin campus with hundreds of attendees from the United States and multiple other countries. It is, in fact, taking place this week, March 25-27.

The Secretary General has approved Professor Toyin Falola's membership to the Board of the International Scientific Committee (ISC) for four years and the ISC voted to make him a Vice President.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) began the Slave Trade Route Project in 1994 as part of its mission to educate and thereby foster tolerance for people of all races.

Dr. Toyin Falola wins 2010 Nigerian Studies Association's (NSA) book award

UT Department of History

Falola receives book award

Professor Toyin Falola's most recent book garners the 2010 Nigerian Studies Association's (NSA) book award.
Posted: September 13, 2010

His book Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria (Indiana University Press, 2009) looks at how the imposition of colonial rule and the British governance of Nigeria created conditions for violence from the second half of the nineteenth century to the early 1950s...

The NSA is the largest association of scholars, practitioners and others who are engaged in the study of Nigeria. The organization plays a role in public policy matters, promotes the development of archives, and organizes conferences and workshops.

Their best book award emphasizes originality and relevance to the Nigerian conditions.

Falola's book dwells on two phases of Nigerian history ranging from the last quarter of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, focusing on the linkages between colonial domination and violence:The first phase witnessed violent confrontations between the British and the Nigerian groups, imperialist encounters that generated violence.
The second phase spanned the period from the turn of the century to the late 1940s, a period when Nigerians resisted the forces of colonial domination.

The award will be presented at the NSA’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Nov. 2010.

There have been numerous other accolades for the book:

"Colonial violence treated from the point of view of the African victims/colonized, not from the self-serving perspective of European/British conquerors and colonizers." —Felix Ekechi, Kent State University