TITLE: DR.
NAME: OMOLOLA RISIKAT AKANDE
POSITION: SENIOR LECTURER
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION | DEGREE | COMPLETION DATE | FIELD OF STUDY |
University of Ilorin, Ilorin Nigeria | B.A | 08/1986 | English |
University of Lagos, Lagos Nigeria | MPA | 05/2002 | Public Administration |
University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria | M.A | 05/2006 | English |
University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria | PhD | 02/2013 | English |
Personal Statement
I am a middle career scholar of the city. From the conceptualisation to the production of my PhD Thesis which looks at the relationship between literature and the city, I have been a scholar of the city. I am also a fiction writer. My area of specialization is Prose Fiction/ African Literature/Literatures of the City. My research focuses on literatures of the city, feminist activism, cultural and postcolonial studies and literary theory. I have conducted extensive research in representations of urban spaces in the African novel. My book, The City in the African Novel: A Thematic Rendering of Urban Spaces undertakes a critical analysis of sixteen African novels that I believe are representative of city trends. As a fiction writer, my creative work concerns representations of the city in African Prose Fiction. I have published four novels and a collection of short stories.
Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honours
My novel, What It Takes was Joint-Winner Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for best book in Prose Fiction, October, 2017.
My collection of short stories, Suitors Are Scarce in Lagos won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for best book in the Short Story category, October, 2022.
My novel, The Truth about Sadia was endorsed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) “as a worthy material for advocacy and public enlightenment on substance abuse,” January, 2023.
Selected Most Recent Publications
- AKANDE, Lola. (2024) (a) “Fantasy and the Origins of the City in the African Novel.” in Cinétismes, A Multidisciplinary Journal on Language, University of Douala, Cameroon. Special double-number, N°1_The influence of African literature: 30 years of creation and thought, special issue N-2, December 5, 2024. ISSN L2791 – 2973/E-ISSN 2791 – 2981. P. 100-122.
DOAJ: https://doaj.org/toc/2791 Available online at: https://www.revue-cinetismes.com/hors-serie-n2/
2. AKANDE, Lola. (2024) (c). “Postcolonial Anarchy and Minority Discourses in Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday, E. E, Sule’s Sterile Sky, and Edify Yakusak’s After They Left.” In International Journal for Communication, Research and Development. A Publication of the Panafrican University Institute, Benin Republic. Vol. 2. No. 15 – Jan. 2024. ISSN 1840 – 6874. 52-71.
Collaborators/Networks
i. Prof. Timothy Nubi, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
ii Dr. David Goss, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
