Author Archives

Rebecca Jones is a Lecturer in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham. She is currently writing a monograph on Yoruba- and English-language travel writing in Nigeria from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

• Travelling and writing Africa from within

  By Rebecca Jones on 10 December , 2013 • ( 18 )

  

  These are extremely interesting times for travel writing as a genre; a number of online- and print-based travel projects have been sprung up over recent years, all focusing on Africans travelling within Africa – some within their own countries, and… Read More ›

• Ogbeni Femi, and the future of Yoruba oral performance

  By Rebecca Jones on 21 November , 2013 • ( 8 )

  

  Femi Amogunla – also known as Femi Kayode and Ogbeni Femi, or ‘Mr Femi’ – is a spoken word poet based in Lagos. In 2012, Femi took part in 30 Nigeria House, a collaboration between Stratford East Theatre and New… Read More ›

• Elephants and Metaphors: the Nyamnjoh debate on African anthropology

  By Rebecca Jones on 2 September , 2013 • ( 5 )

  

  There’s been an debate going in the pages of Africa Spectrum which we thought might be of interest to some of our readers (hat tip to Stephanie Newell for bringing this to our attention). In 2012, Cape Town-based anthropologist Francis… Read More ›

• Spotlight on…Akinwumi Isola

  By Rebecca Jones on 26 August , 2013 • ( 6 )

  

  This post is the first in an occasional series of writer profiles, looking especially at those working in African languages.   For readers and speakers of Yoruba, Akínwùmí Ìsòlá [pronounced Ishola] needs little introduction. A charismatic and stern-looking figure affectionately nicknamed… Read More ›

• Q&A: Travel writer, journalist and publisher Pelu Awofeso

  By Rebecca Jones on 15 July , 2013 • ( 13 )

  

  Pelu Awofeso is a travel writer, journalist and publishing entrepreneur based in Lagos, Nigeria. For over ten years Pelu has been travelling across Nigeria and publishing travel writing in newspapers in Nigeria and beyond, and in his own travel books. His… Read More ›

• The 5th European Conference on African Studies, Lisbon – review

  By Rebecca Jones on 4 July , 2013 • ( 7 )

  

  The 5th annual European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) was held on June 26-29 this year in sunny Lisbon. A biannual affair, ECAS is the big European Africanist jamboree, organised by AEGIS (the Africa-Europe Group for Inter-disciplinary Studies) and was… Read More ›

• Blogging the Caine Prize: Tope Folarin’s ‘Miracle’

  By Rebecca Jones on 31 May , 2013 • ( 11 )

  

  There were moments in Tope Folarin’s ‘Miracle’ where I found myself part of a sweaty crowd in a packed church, as the pastor says ‘let us pray’, the ‘tinny Nigerian gospel music’ rings out, and prayer commences with ‘sweating and… Read More ›

• Sites of Memory, University of Birmingham, 17 February 2013

  By Rebecca Jones on 2 April , 2013 • ( 0 )

  

  AiW Guest Rebecca Jones Is memory imagination or plagiarism? Are artists curators or creators of memory? Is memory determined by audience? Do we remember or embroider? – these were some of the questions we sought to explore in a one-day… Read More ›

• Reflections on the African Studies Association UK conference, University of Leeds, September 2012

  By Rebecca Jones on 18 January , 2013 • ( 6 )

  

  AiW Guest Rebecca Jones.  2012’s ASAUK conference at the University of Leeds was my first ever ASAUK conference, and I went anticipating some interesting panels on African literature, hoping to meet fellow scholars of Yoruba, and, to be honest, expecting a… Read More ›