All for Soyinka in Carbondale

For three days February 28-March 1,, Kongi of Letters, Wole Soyinka was up in celebration at the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. It was a symposium convened by Soyinka's ex-student, Segun Ojewuyi, who is currently the Head of Directing at the SIU Department of Theatre Arts. The symposium was titled 'Muse and Mimesis: Wole Soyinka, Africa and the World', and was attended by scholars on Soyinka, African lIterature and African studies from around the United States, Canada and Nigeria. These included Prof Biodun Jeyifo of Harvard University, who gave the keynote -- 'Forget the Muse, Think only of the subject'; Prof. Randal Robbinson (the famous Africanist and civil right leader, author of 'An Unbroken Agony', and 'The Debt: What America Owes To Blacks'; Gary Younge, author of 'No Place Like Home'; 'Stranger in A Strange Land Encounters in the Disunited States' among others); Prof Robert Fox; Dr Michael Brown; Prof dele jegede from Miami University, Ohio. There were also Prof Awam Amkpa of the New York University; Prof Niyi Coker of St Louis University; Dr Akin Adesokan from Bloomington; Dr Abdul Rasheed NaAllah from Western Illinois Universiy; Dr Olabisi Gwamna from IOWA Wesleyan College; Dr Okome Onookome from University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada; Dr Marcel Okhakhu from University of Benin, among others.
In a way it was an excuse by Ojewuyi to bring together his ex-school mates and Soyinka's ex-students to discuss what appeared the unfinished business on the body of work of the 1986 Nobel laureate for Literature. The symposium produced diverse and very interesting discussions around the political, social and cultural state of Africa, especialy in the context of globalising world. Soyinka himself gave a lecture in the evening of Thursday February 28, in which he espoused on the danger of allowing the current rage of popular culture typified by popular video drama (e.g Nigeria"s Nolywood, Bollywood and his invention, japawood -- Japanese Wood) and reality Tv (e.g Big Brother Africa) to become the Iconic representation of authentic culture of the people.
The lecture was well received by the university community and various visitors to the school in the calm, well-tempreded Carbondale in the deep of Illinois. There was also the performance of Soyinka's 'Death and the King's Horseman' as directed by Segun Ojewuyi with a cast made of of the Black Repertory Theatre of St Louis and students of the SIU theatre.
The images up were taken by Prof dele jegede, the painter, ace cartoonist and ex-director of the Centre for Culture Studies University of Lagos, in the foyer of the Holiday Inn -- where many of the participants were lodged; it was during the departure of the participants on Saturday, March 1.