Imagining Vernacular Histories

Mobolanle Ebunoluwa Sotunsa is a professor of Gender Studies and African Oral Literature at Babcock University, Nigeria. Abikal Borah is currently working on a PhD at the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin.

Introduction: African Historiography, Vernacular Epistemology, and the Making of the Historical Archive – Mobolanle Sotunsa and Abikal Borah

Part I: Critiques of Postcolonial African Historiography


Modern African Historiography: Toyin Falola and the Others – Charles Thomas, The University of Texas at Austin.




In Defence of the Pluriverse: A Critical Appreciation of Toyin Falola’s Scholarship – Abikal Borah, The University of Texas at Austin.




African ‘Historians, Are Archaeologists Your Siblings?’: Evaluating Toyin Falola’s Contribution to the Archaeology of Africa and the African Diaspora, Benjamin Nutor, The University of Texas at Austin.




“Ritual Archives” and OERs: Digital Humanities, Pedagogy, and African Studies, Danielle Sanchez, Muhlenberg College.

Part II: Gender, Sexuality, and African Historiography



Toyin Falola and the Pathologies and Pathways for African Feminist Scholarship – Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, Babcock University.




Beyond the Proscription of History and the Futility of ‘Feminist Talk’: Merging the Scholarship of Narrative Politics and Cinematic Frames in Gendered Escavations of the African Past – Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, Ithaca College.




Africa and African Women in Conversation – Nemeta Blyden, The George Washington University.




The Politics of Polygyny and Subjectivity in Toyin Falola’s A Mouth Sweeter than Salt – Mobolanle Ebunoluwa Sotunsa, Babcock University.




Toyin Falola’s Scholarship on African Women and Gender: Conceptualizations at the Intersection of African and Feminist Epistemologies - Bridget Teboh, The University of Massachusetts.




Dynamics of Female Gender Survival Strategies in Contemporary African Novels – Eziwanyi Adam, Babcock University.

Part III: Vernacular Epistemologies and the African Archive


The Archivist as Muse: Toyin Falola’s Experimentation with History in a Mouth Sweeter than Salt - Ademola Dasylva, University of Ibadan




The Ancestral Memory and Invisible World of Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela - Ndlovu, Sifiso Mxolisi, University of South Africa.





Twin Rivers of African Cultural Heritage: Reading Falola’s A Mouth Sweeter than Salt – Aisha M Umar and Francis Miracle, Federal University, Nigeria.





An Analysis of Narrative Language Use in Toyin Falola’s Memoir, A Mouth Sweeter than Salt - Joshua Agbo, Anglia Ruskin University.





‘Women are the Salt of the Earth’: A Folkoric and Feminist Re-Reading of A Mouth Sweeter than Salt – Bridget Anthonia Yakubu, National Open University of Nigeria.




History of Development in Africa: An Exploration into the Works of Toyin Falola – Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo, Educor Hodings Johannesburg Area, South Africa