Blog

In 2023, I had an opportunity to contribute to a publication that accompanied the “Following the Fish” exhibition at the Venice Biennale. I decided to write a short poetry collection entitled,  Estranged. City. Stranger(s). After this publication came out, Ali Al-Safadi, a student at Queen’s University, was commissioned to help bring the poetry alive by adding visuals. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out (and also pleased that I had an opportunity to travel to the Venice Biennale in June 2023! The exhibitions were amazing and they inspired me to seek for more alternative ways to disseminate my work…stay tuned!).  Original citation: Adeniyi-Ogunyankin, G.… Continue reading Estranged. City. Stranger(s).

A poem written after the passing of a research participant in July 2023  There should have been no traffic the day you died.  The raucous honking should have at least observed a moment of silence.  The hawkers should not have been engaged in intricate dance steps while trying to sell their goods.  The whole city should have stopped.  But no, Iya alagbado* fanned the flames, while serenading people with her boisterous yet soothing voice.   Between her voice and the smell of the roasted corn, customers were enticed.  And of course, the school children still rushed to climb into the danfo**.  … Continue reading For Kemi (Death in the City) 

Upon invitation to participate in an Author meets critic session as part of the Lagos Studies Association conference that took place in June 2023, I elected to review , Pastoral Power, Clerical State: Pentecostalism, Gender, and Sexuality in Nigeria by Ebenezer Obadare to gain further insights into the salience of Pentecostalism in the lives of my research participants. As discussed in a recent publication, I noticed that Pentecostalism was very much part of most of my participants’ lives during my fieldwork research that examined how low-income women in Ibadan navigate everyday life in increasingly precarious times. For example, one of… Continue reading A review of Obadare’s Pastoral Power, Clerical State (Notre Dame Press) 

Grace Adeniyi-Ogunyankin, Queen’s University, Ontario Since Nigeria declared its aspiration to be one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020, I have been doing research on the damaging impact of urban restructuring and economic growth on marginalized urban women in Ibadan, Nigeria. However, in the past four years, my interest has widened to include the impact of the same issues on Nigerian youth. I have noticed that some youths have become “beneficiaries” of urban restructuring via job creation. Despite this, the city remains a paradoxical space. While I now see sharply dressed youths rushing off to work, I also… Continue reading #ToxicWorkplaces: The future of youth employment in Nigeria

The following is a “review” (?) of  Francesca Ekwuyasi’s brilliant debut novel, ‘Butter Honey Pig Bread”. (Okay, it’s probably more of a reflection/reaction piece). It’s been too long since I allowed myself to devour a novel. I remember promising myself, about six years ago, to not lose the essential part that makes me who I am. You know, the part that helps me keep my shit together (i.e., reading novels!!). But, unfortunately, like most promises I make, I broke it. The past six years have been a blur at best. I’m astounded by the passage of time, but I would… Continue reading Late night confession… (I should be writing a paper, but I’m not!)

For as long as I can remember, I’ve written stories for fun. Writing stories brings me to a happy place. Like reading stories, it offers an opportunity to escape and the freedom to be, even if temporary. I recently had two opportunities to achieve my goals of using some of my research findings and themes from my work in a storytelling format. And I’m currently working on other stories. The first opportunity I had combined the art of storytelling and the customary citational practices of academia. In collaboration with Linda Peake, as part of the Genurb project, we put all… Continue reading Beyond Academese: Storytelling as freedom

I write this aware of my privilege of having a tenure track job. I gave birth to my second child in November 2020. I took a parental/maternity leave that enabled me to take a leave from teaching but didn’t feel like much of a leave from anything else, especially, anxiety. Although I was well aware that I could use my leave and the pandemic as reasons to ask for a one-year extension for my tenure and promotion application, I felt like I really needed a sabbatical to catch up on my research – which I can only get if I… Continue reading The Uncertain Road to Tenure

I recently had the opportunity to read Simidele Dosekun’s book Fashioning Postfeminism: Spectacular Femininity and Transnational Culture as part of a panel discussion at the 2021 Lagos Studies Association Conference. Reading Simidele’s book excited me largely because my current project on youth and labour is in conversation with the insights she makes about moving beyond the market/consumerism as sites of liberation. After the conference, Simidele Dosekun and I engaged in a conversation about the book on Africa is a Country. I also did a video review of her book and the transcript of it is available below. Fashioning Postfeminism: Spectacular… Continue reading “Postfeminism cruelly promises happiness”: A review of Simidele Dosekun’s Fashioning Postfeminism: Spectacular Femininity and Transnational Culture

One late evening, in December 2018, I was tired but also in a giddy mood. I had just been offered a new job and I was taking the evening off to chill and chat with Lola, a new friend, in my hotel room in Ibadan. While we were talking about her future plans and potential opportunities for graduate school in Canada, we segued into a discussion about youth in Nigeria, broadly, and in Ibadan, specifically. I told Lola that one of the things that I’d been trying to figure out was a new research project – I explained that I… Continue reading “Someone will eventually pay for this ice cream for me”: Youth, consumer-citizenship and cruel optimism in Ibadan, Nigeria