Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka
Associate Professor

Department of Theatre and Film
The University of Kansas
Murphy Hall
1530 Naismith Drive, Room 339
Lawrence, KS 66045-3102
Phone: 785-864-2691
Fax: (785) 864-5251
Email

Fall 2008 semester
Sabbatical
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Research Area - Critical Theory in African Literature, Feminist Issues in Africa.

Teaching Area - African women's studies, African and African Diaspora theatre, Dance, Theatre history & critical theory.

My area of specialty is African literature and theatre with emphasis on women's writing. Part of my research also borders on the African Diaspora particularly on the use of theatre and its depiction of women during independent struggles; there are remarkable similarities with the experience of continental Africans. However, in my current research I concentrate on the intersection of national and gender identities in African women's creative writings (prose and drama) and their impact on critical theory of African literature since the 1970s. For theoretical analysis, I draw largely on feminist and social semiotics. My published works include: Yoruba Dance: The Semiotics of Movement and Body Attitude in a Nigerian Culture; Negritude, Feminism and the Quest for Identity: Re-reading Mariama Bo's So long a letter; "Gender and the Revolutionary Ethos in Morountodun" in Femi Osofisan: Interpretative Essays 1; and "Performing Phillis Wheatley: Research Notes." I also enjoy the practical aspects of my theatre training, so I do act in, dance, and choreograph plays. Examples are the creation and performance of "Phyllis Wheatley" the 18th century African poetess, choreography of Many Colors Make The Thunder King at the Gutherie Lab. Theatre; and directing "Sistahs and Brothers in Identity Crisis".

Courses I teach reflect my diverse research interests, and these include: Women in African Literature, Women of Africa Today, Post-Modern Theory and Criticism in the African Diaspora, African Dance Theatre, Race and the American Theatre, Post-Colonial Discourse & Literature, Theatre History in Western Civilization.