Author: Ogooluwa Omobowale

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Historian: Dr. Toyin Falola

Koltron11, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This African historian is a professor of African Studies.  He has written over 100 books and is one of the preeminent researchers of Yoruba history and culture.

Dr. Toyin Falola was born in Ibadan, Nigeria on January 1, 1953.  Located in Oyo State, south-west Nigeria, Ibadan is the 3rd most populated city in the country.  

By 1970, Dr. Toyin Falola became a school teacher in the nearby town of Pahayi.  He started his career as a lecturer in 1981 at the University of Ife.  The university was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University in 1987 in honour of the first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria.  

In 1991, Dr. Toyin Falola joined the faculty at University of Texas at Austin in the United States of America.  He is currently  the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the university.  He has also worked at several other universities such as York University in Toronto, Canada, the University of Cambridge in England, United Kingdom, and others in the United States, Australia, and Nigeria.

An avid researcher, Dr, Toyin Falola earned his Doctor of Letters (D.litt) in humanities from the University of Ibadan on December 31,  2020.  He has earned 8 honours and awards around the world including the Cheikh Anta Diop and Lincoln awards in addition to honorary degrees of doctors from 13 universities.  He is also the General editor of the Cambria Africa Studies series at Cambria Press.

I recently purchased several books written by Dr. Toyin Falola. One of the greatest books on Yoruba history and culture is called The Yoruba from Prehistory to Present.  I highly recommend this book to anybody who seeks to learn about our history.

I currently own the following books written by this great African historian:

  • The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present
  • Understanding Modern Nigeria
  • The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World
  • Igbo in the Atlantic World: African Origins and Diasporic Destinations
  • Encyclopedia of the Yoruba
  • A History of Nigeria

These books may be purchased from Amazon Kindle or Google Play Books.

This only marks the beginning of my journey to acquire knowledge of African history.  I plan to purchase many more books written by Dr. Toyin Falola.  Some of his lectures and interviews are also available online.

Websites

The Toyin Falola Interviews – YouTube

Toyin Falola Network

Centre for African Studies

Liberal Arts: University of Texas Austin

African Studies Association

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Gratitude: Thank YouTubers

Photo by Blue Ox Studio: Arusha, Arusha Region, Tanzania

The year was 2020. The world went insane due to an unprecedented pandemic. Most lives were affected in one way or another.

Here in Canada, everything besides essential services had to shut down. I was isolated in my condo with nowhere to go. I was fortunate to be able to work from home to keep busy. I could not go downstairs to swim or workout at our gym. I could not go to the local bars to socialize with my friends. There was nothing to do besides work and sleep.

I am thankful that our company was able to transition to working from home. Some of my friends were not so lucky. Their workplaces had to shut down completely. There is no way to transition all jobs to work from home. Some of my friends left the country to return to their families.

The days that followed are now referred to by me as the “Dark Days”. Those days were all-around awful for me and several of my friends. I fell into a deep state of depression.

Depression had me wondering if it was worth suffering through the isolation when in fact we had no idea if it would ever end. I started having dark thoughts. I told myself that if the rest of my life had to be lived this way, I might not want to continue living.

During those weeks, outside of work, I watched more videos on YouTube than ever before. I was able to live vicariously through the YouTube presenters. Watching videos from other countries which was not as severely affected or locked down saved me from going insane.

I enjoyed every moment brought to my screens by the various players in the YouTube community. I would like to thank the wonderful hosts who have brought information and joy to my life since before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and today.

These YouTubers taught me a lot about the Motherland and allowed me to explore virtually. The experience increased my hunger for travel and learning about my ethnicity. We were shown the Africa that mainstream Western media does not want us to see.

Please take some time to visit these channels hosted by incredible people.

I would like to thank each and every one of these wonderful people for helping me get through those Dark Days.

An honorable mention goes out to a new YouTuber, one whose channel did not exist during the Dark Days. This young lady is on her way to becoming a fantastic videographer and journalist. Please check out Lateefah Mayaki‘s channel for some excellent stories and reports on life in Lagos, Nigeria.

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Book Collection: Nigeria

Books by Dr. Toyin Falola

I have always been in love with reading. Ever since I was a young lad, I would spend a lot of my free time reading. The advent of the Internet increased the amount of reading that I was doing. Then along came the smartphone. The smartphone has enabled me to read 24/7 wherever I am. I can browse the Internet or read e-books.

When I was a child, we did not have a lot of money. I remember going shopping with Mom and sometimes when I asked for a toy, she would tell me she did not have the money. She promised to buy it the next time she got paid.

As I look back, I realize there was an exception. Whenever we passed by a bookstore, I would ask Mom if we could go in to browse. We would go in and get lost looking at all the books. I don’t remember a single time where Mom declined to buy a book for me regardless of our financial state.

I believe that Mom believed in the power of reading and would make sacrifices if necessary to ensure that her son had access to books. I will forever be thankful for this. I thank you Mom, and I miss you every single day.

Fast-forward to 2022, and after years of research and a few DNA tests, I have finally discovered my African roots. As a present to myself, I decided to purchase some books about my different ethnic backgrounds. My years of study consisted of mostly online articles, university research papers, and books at the library. Now it was time to start building a collection of books.

Prior to my recent buying spree, I had owned the following books about Nigeria:

  • You Must Set Forth at Dawn, A Memoir
  • Welcome to Lagos

During the past 6 weeks, I purchased the following books about Nigeria:

  • History of Yoruba Land
  • The Esan People of Nigeria, West Africa
  • Nigeria, A New History of a Turbulent Century
  • Things Fall Apart, A Novel
  • The Yoruba Diaspora in the Atlantic World
  • Igbo in the Atlantic World: African Origins and Diasporic Destinations
  • Loot: Britain and The Benin Bronzes
  • Yoruba-English / English-Yoruba Dictionary & Phrasebook
  • The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present
  • Encyclopedia of the Yoruba
  • A History of Nigeria

I have watched lectures and interviews by two of the greatest historians of Yoruba history. These two distinguished intellectuals have written perhaps the very best books on the subject, 4 of which are in my list above.

Toyin Omoyeni Falola

Stephen Adebanji Akintoye

These wonderful books may be purchased at the following stores:

Google Play Books

Amazon Kindle

African history is rich and expansive. It can no longer be hidden from us thanks to technology and great historians such as those mentioned previously.