By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nduka Otiono, a professor and award-winning writer, has been elected Vice President of Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS), another high profile Nigerian in that country after Kelechi Madu who is a lawmaker and Minister there.
Otiono, a former journalist, adds a new notch to Nigeria’s international resume three months after the appointment in March of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General.
And another Nigerian, Steve ‘Junior’ Ezeonu, this week won election to Grand Prairie City Council Place 8 (At-Large) in Texas, United States.
The official result on his Instagram page showed he won 3,903 votes to beat his opponent, Greg Giessner, who got 3,729 vote, per reporting by Legit.ng.
Otiono disclosed his election on his Facebook page on which he shared screenshots of the online meeting where the announcement was made.
He expressed appreciation to all CAAS members for trusting him with the post, and pledged to discharge his duties honourably and not to disappoint the confidence reposed in him.
Congratulatory messages
Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora have congratulated him, flooding his Facebook page with messages of congratulation that hailed him as a good ambassador of his compatriots.
“You are an ambassador,” Innocent Nnadiekwe wrote.
Celina Aju-Ameh: “Congratulations to you Prof as you continue to do us proud. You’re really a great Ambassador of all of us.”
Eddie Onuzuruike: “Congratulations dear Prof, may wisdom be granted you to run well.”
Taiwo Bello: “Congrats, you are a good ambassador.”
Godspower Nwokeke: “Big congratulations, Prof. Cheers to this new but exciting challenge.”
Rem Raj: “Congratulations, Sir! I look forward to the day I will meet you, sir.”
Mark Ighile: “The Duke, congratulations on this milestone. More to come.”
Otiono’s profile
CASS website describes Otiono as a writer, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University.
He is the author and co-editor of eight books of creative writing and academic research.
Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria, General Secretary of Association of Nigerian Authors, founding member of the Nigerian chapter of UNESCO’s Committee on Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage, and founding member of the Board of the $100,000 annual Nigerian Prize for Literature.
A Fellow of the William Joiner Centre for War and Social Consequences, University of Massachusetts, Boston, his interdisciplinary research focuses on popular urban narratives in postcolonial Africa, and how they travel across multiple popular cultural platforms such as the news media, film, popular music, and social media.
Research, writing, honours
Beyond the cultural relevance of such little genres of everyday life also known as rumours, urban myths or legends, Otiono explores their political relevance and incarnation as “street stories” and how everyday people speak to power through such informal channels.
His research draws from his background as a journalist and cultural activist in Nigeria. His research interests span Cultural Studies, Oral Performance and Literature in Africa, Postcolonial Studies, Media and Communication Studies, Globalization and Popular Culture.
His research has appeared in Journal of Folklore Research, African Literature Today, Journal of African Cinema, Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Wasafiri, et cetera.
His co-edited volume of essays Polyvocal Bob Dylan: Music, Performance, Literature was recently published under the imprint of Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Music and Literature Series.
His creative writing publications include The Night Hides with a Knife (short stories), which won the ANA/Spectrum Prize; Voices in the Rainbow (Poetry), a finalist for the ANA/Cadbury Poetry Prize; Love in a Time of Nightmares (Poetry) for which he was awarded the James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing.
He has co-edited Wreaths for a Wayfarer: An Anthology of Poems in Honor of Pius Adesanmi (2020); Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria (2006); and We-Men: An Anthology of Men Writing on Women (1998).
Otiono obtained his doctorate in English and Film Studies from the University of Alberta where he won numerous awards including the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, and was nominated for the Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic distinction.
He has held postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University where he was also appointed a Visiting Assistant Professor and the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carleton University.
His professional honours include a Capital Educator’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, a Carleton University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Early Career Award for Research Excellence, twice winner of the Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship, and a 2018 Black History Ottawa Community Builder Award.