Conference on Oyo Alaafin opens on Monday

An international conference on the Alaafin in Yoruba History, Culture, and Political Power Relations opens on Monday, October 8, 2018 at Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo town in Oyo State.

The four-day event being organized by the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), Osogbo, Osun State is designed to create a better understanding of the role and position of the Alaafin institution in the growth and development of black history and culture.

The conference is motivated by the need to revisit the role and interrogate the depth of Oyo’s influence in nurturing a Yoruba identity and consciousness among the Yoruba which has continued to resonate across generations and boundaries.

In a statement released by the Executive Director of CBCIU, Siyan Oyeweso, the role that the Alaafin played in this has been extremely remarkable. Keynote speakers at the conference include Toyin Falola of the University of Texas at Austin with Alaafinology: The Ideology and Epistemology of Kingship, James Lorand Matory, the Lawrence Richardson Professor of Cultural Anthropology and the Director of Sacred Art of the Black Atlantic Project at Duke University, USA. Matory will speak on Fire In The Sky, The meaning and majesty of Sango’s Sacred Arts in Nigeria, Cuba and Brazil.

Akinwumi Ogundiran, Chair of the African Department and Professor of African Studies, Anthropology and History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte will address, The Archaeology of Alaafin’s Legacy and Heritage. Emeritus Akinjide Osuntokun, Baapitan of Oyo and Emeritus Professor of History and International Relations speaks on Alaafin of Oyo in Contemporary Nigerian Politics, A Reflection. Tunji Olaopa, Executive Vice Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy will anchor Agenda for the Alaafin as a Brand Vanguard for Modernizing Tradition in Yorubaland.

Emeritus Prof. James Gibb at the University of the West England will handle A voyage around Elesin, An Investigation into the Background and Genesis of Wole Soyinka’s Play, Death and Horseman. Professor Emeritus of History and Borderland Studies, Anthony Asiwaju will speak on Beyond Borders, The territoriality of Alaafin in the Pre and Post Atlantic Age.