Obi Maduakor

EDUCATION

Ph.D. English Literature, 1976

University of Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA

THESIS: LANDSCAPE AS SYMBOL IN MODERN AFRICAN POETRY AS RELATED TO THE POETRY OF W. B. YEATS

M.A., English Literature, 1972

University of Leeds, ENGLAND, U.K.

THESIS: CHARLOTTE BRONTE’S SHIRLEY: TWO THEMES (LUDDISM AND FEMINISM) AND THEIR INTERRELATION

B.A. (Hons), English Literature, 1965

University of Ibadan, NIGERIA

Academic Rank: Full Professor of English since 1987 (University of Nigeria, Nsukka)

EMPLOYMENT

 1978-1981: Lecturer One, University of Ife, Nigeria.

COURSES TAUGHT:

 African Poetry

African Drama

Metaphysical Poetry

English Romantic Movement

Modern Literary theory

1981-1984: Senior Lecturer in English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

1984-1987: Reader in English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

1987-2003: Full Professor of English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

COURSES TAUGHT

Basic Grammar and Composition

African Poetry

African Drama

English Romantic Poetry

Studies in Poetry

Comparative Studies in Poetry

Modern Literary Theory

Modernist Tradition in English and American Poetry

Major Strands in Literary Criticism

2003-2009: Professor of English, Tyndale University College, Toronto

COURSES TAUGHT

Literature and Composition

Canadian Literature

African Literature

2009-2020: Professor of English, Seneca College, Toronto

COURSES TAUGHT

College English

The Short Story

Children’s Literature

Digital Story Telling

ACADEMIC POSITIONS HELD

 Head, Department of English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1989-1992)

Head, Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2002- 2003)

 HONOURS, AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS

 ·                    1997-1999: Visiting Professor, University of Guelph

·                    Oct.-Dec., 1993: Visiting Professor, University of Mainz, Germany

·                    Jan. -Feb., 1994: Visiting Professor, University of Bayreuth, Germany

·                    Jan. – Sept., 1993: Visiting Professor, University of Leeds, England

·                    Sept. 1993: Visiting Professor, University of Cape Town

·                    Oct. -Dec. 1992: Visiting Professor, University of Hull, England

·                    1972-1977: Teaching Fellow, University of Ottawa

·                    1962-1965: State Scholar, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

·                     1973-1976: State Scholar, University of Ottawa, Canada

·                    1969: Summer Fellowship at the Sorbonne from the French Government

CONSULTANCIES AND ASSESSMENTS

 1983-2003: External Examiner to several Nigerian universities for the degrees of B. A., M. A., and Ph. D. (Ahmadu Bello, Calabar, Port Harcourt,  Benin, Alvan Ikoku, Uturu, Awka).

 EDITORSHIPS

·                    1984-1987: Editor , Nsukka Studies in African Literatures  ( NSAL, Bilingual Journal of English and Modern Language Departments, University of Nigeria, Nsukka).

 ·                    1985-1990: Editor, Okike Educational Supplement, Okike Arts Centre, Nsukka.  

·                    1982-1990: Editorial Consultant, Okike Journal of New Writing, Okike Arts Centre, Nsukka.

·                    1984-1990: Editorial Consultant, Nsukka Journal of the Humanities, Faculty of Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

·                    1989-1992: Editorial Consultant, Journal of American Studies Association of Nigeria         

COMPLETED DOCTORAL DEGREE RESEARCH SUPERVISIONS

 1.     P. Chika Akporji: “Wole Soyinka, William Butler Yeats and the Theatre of National Consciousness.” Ph. D. (English), 1986. Jointly with Professor Emmanuel Obiechina, Department of English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

 3.     Wilfred Onoriose: “Popular Fiction in Nigeria: An Investigation of Content and Technique in Selected Novels.” Ph. D. (English), 2001. University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

·                    African Literature Association

·                    Canadian Association for African Studies

·                    Modern Language Association

·                    Literary Society of Nigeria

·                    International Association for the Study of Anglo-Irish Literature

·                    American Studies Association of Nigeria

BIOGRAPHICAL LISTINGS

 Listed in Marquis Who is Who in the World. 1988, 2003

Listed in 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 21^st Century. 1^{st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th} Editions. Cambridge: International Biographical Centre, 2001; 2003; 2004; 2007; 2008.

Listed in   Cambridge Blue BOOK. Cambridge: International Biographical Centre, 2008.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

 1997 “Orality and Indigenization in African Poetry”.  Anambra State College

of Education, Nsugbe, Nigeria.  Colloquium on African Literature and Indigenization of Language, Nsugbe, June 11-13.

 1995 “Aspects of Socio-Religious Order as perceived in the Igbo Culture and the Jewish Cultures: A comparative Analysis”. Breaking BOUNDARIES: BEYOUND THE LAND OF CUSH.  Tel Aviv University, Israel June 18-23.

 1994 “The Voyager and the Quest for Atonement: Kofi Awoonor’s new novel COMES THE VOYAGER AT LAST. African Literature Association Conference.  The National Theatre.  Accra. Ghana March 24-April 2.

 1993  “The Nigerian Female Writer as Novelist”.  Institute of Commonwealth Studies Postgraduate Seminar.  University of London, June 7.

 1993. The Legacy of Suffering: The African Slave Past in Contemporary West African Literature”.  Conference on Appropriations.  Centre for African Studies.  University of Cape Town, South Africa Sept. 5-8

 1990 “Chinua Achebe as a Critic”.  Eagle of Iroko:  International Symposium on Chinua Achebe.  University of Nigeria, Nsukka, February 9-12.

1990. “Trends in Modern Nigerian Poetry”.  International Conference on Language and Literature.  University of Calabar.  May 18-22

 1987 “The Concept of Transition in Soyinka’s Drama”.  International Conference of Language and Literature.  University of Calabar.  May 26-29.

 1986 “Autobiography as Literature:  The case of Soyinka’s Childhood Memories, Ake.” African Literature Association Conference.  Michigan State University, East Lansing. April 2-6.

 1981 “Symbolism in Armah’s Two Thousand Seasons.” African Literature Association Conference. Claremont College, University of California. April 5-7.

 1976. “Conquering the Abyss of the Crypt: Survival Imperative in Soyinka’s Shuttle.” African Literature Association Conference. University of Illinois, Evanston. April 4-6.

 MINISTRY AS PRIEST OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN THE FOLLOWING NIGERIAN AND CANADIAN PARISHES:

·                   Associate Chaplain, Christ Church Chapel, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1995-1997, 1999-2003)

·                   Associate Pastor, St. John’s Church, Onuiyi, Nsukka, Nigeria(1996-1997, 1999-2003)

·                   Honorary Assistant, Anglican Church of the Nativity, Scarborough, Canada (1997-1999)

·                   Honorary Assistant, St. Ninian’s Anglican Church, Scarborough, Toronto (1999; 2003- 2011)

·                   Honorary Assistant, Living Hope ANiC Church, Scarborough, Toronto (2011-2015)

·                   Honorary Assistant, St. Chad’s ANiC Church, Etobicoke, Toronto (2015-2019)

·                   Interim Rector, New Song ANiC Church, Port Perry, Greater Toronto (2019--2020)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS  

Books and Monographs

 1. (1986, USA) Wole Soyinka: An Introduction to His Writing, (New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc. (1986), 339 pages.

          (a popular text on the Nobel Prize literary laureate used in postcolonial studies in Canadian, American, British, African, and worldwide universities.)

2. (1991, NIGERIA) Introduction to Poetry (Nigeria: Fulladu Publishing Company, 1991).

          (a popular text in Nigerian colleges and universities, reprinted in 1997 and  2001. A North American edition has been brought out by  SHIDAANIKEI  publishing company,  Toronto,  in 2019, titled  “Introduction to Poetry: A Critical Anthology of Selected North American, British and African Poems.” 220 pages.)

3. (2015, NIGERIA) Michael Chigbo Awgu: Pioneer Leader in Education and Philanthropist. (Enugu: Rocana Nigeria Ltd., 2015), 228 pages.

(a biography of a Nigerian pioneer leader in education and school proprietor who gave many Nigerian young men and women including myself an opportunity for education.)

4.    (2019, NIGERIA) Isulo Community of Anambra State (Enugu: Rocana Nigeria Ltd., 2019), 200 pages. (a study of the contributions of eminent individuals from my community to the development of my hometown, Isulo.)

5.    The Mystic Inside and Other Essays: Perspectives on African Literature and Culture   by Obi Maduakor. In Press.

JOURNAL ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

6. (1977, USA) "Conquering the Abyss of the Crypt:  Survival Imperative in Soyinka's Shuttle", World Literature Written in English (USA) 16, 2 (1977), 245-55.

7. (1977, USA) "Cyclic Determinism in Soyinka's Idanre". Ufahamu, (USA) 8 (1977), 175-87.

8. (1979, UK) "Narcotics and the Irrational: An Interpretation of E.J. Pratt's The Witches' Brew", Journal of Commonwealth Literature (England), 14, 1 (1979), 18-27.

9. (1980, USA) "Peter Thomas and the Development of Modern Nigerian Poetry", Research in African Literature, (USA) 11, 1 (1980), 84-99.

10. (1979-80, USA) "The Poet and His Inner World: Subjective Experience in the Poetry of Christopher Okigbo and Wole Soyinka". Ufahamu (USA), 9, 3 (1979-80), 23-41.

11. (1980, CANADA) "Soyinka's Season of Anomy: Ofeyi's Quest", International Fiction Review (Canada), 7, 2 (1980), 85-89.

12. (1980, NIGERIA) Creative Process as Ritual: Okigbo's Heavensgate", Kiabara (Nigeria), 3, 2 (1980), 159-69

13. (1981, NIGERIA) "Pregnant Womb and Pregnant Word: Images of Creation, Procreation, and Creativity in Joyce's Ulysses", Journal of Literary Society of Nigeria (Nigeria), 1, (1981), 97-117.

14. (1982, NIGERIA) "Five Modern African Poems", Okike Educational Supplement (Nigeria), 3 (1982), 93-103.

15. (1982, USA) "Soyinka's Animystic Poetics", African Studies Review (USA), 25, 1, (1982), 37-48.

16. (1984, UK) "On the Poetry of War: Yeats and J.P. Clark", African Literature Today (England), 14, (1984), 68-76.

17. (1985, NIGERIA) "Four Modern African Poems", Okike Educational Supplement (Nigeria) 4, (1985), 69-76.

18. (1986, NIGERIA) "Violence as Poetic Focus:  Nigerian Poetry and the Biafran Experience", Nsukka Studies in African Literature (Nigeria), 4, (1986), 53-71.

19. (1986, FRANCE) "Autobiography as Literature: The Case of Soyinka's Childhood Memories, Ake", Presence Africaine (Paris), 137/138 (1986), 227-240.

20. (1986, USA) "Soyinka as a Literary Critic", Research in African Literature (USA), 17, 1 (1986), 1-40.

21. (1987, USA) "Gabriel Okara: Poet of the Mystic Inside", World Literature Today (USA), (Winter, 1987), 41-45.

22. (1987, CANADAD) "Rhetoric as Technique: Language in Soyinka's The Road", World Literature Written in English (Canada), 1, 27 (1987), 27-34

23. (1988, FRANCE) "Symbolism in Armah's Two Thousand Seasons", Commonwealth (France) Vol.10, No.2 (Spring 1988), 75-79.

24. (1989, NIGERIA) "Catherine Acholonu and Omalara Ogundipe as Poets", in C.O Nwodo, et al., editors, Nigerian Female Writers, (Lagos:  Malthouse Press Ltd, 1989), 75-87

25. (1991, UK) "Theme and Language in Soyinka's Madmen and Specialists”, African Literature Today (England), 17, (1991), 71-80.

26. (1993, FRANCE) "Symbolism in Gabriel Okara's The Voice, in Commonwealth (France), vol.15, No.2, (1993), pp.58-64

27. (1993, UK) "The Political Content of Wole Soyinka's Plays", Journal of Commonwealth Literature (England), vol. 29, No.1 (1993), 82-96.

28. (1993, GERMANY) "Yeats and the African Writer", in Willfried Feuser and Maria Pape, Eds.  Effective Affinities: Tribute to Edith Ihekweazu (Bayreuth: Boomerars Press, 1993), 63-74.

29. (1994, UK) "The Growth and Development of the West African Novel in English", in Eugene Benson and W.Connolly, Eds, Routledge Encyclopaedia of Commonwealth Literature (London: Routledge, 1994) P. 1117-1118.

30. (1994, UK)  "Kofi Awoonor as Critic", African Literature Today (England) 19 (1994), 8-20.

31. (1996, SOUTH AFRICA) "The Legacy of Suffering: The African Slave Past in Contemporary West African Literature”, in Brenda Cooper and Andrew Steyn, Eds. Transgressing Boundaries: New Directions in the Study of Culture in Africa (Cape town: University of Cape town Press, 1996), pp.153-163.

32. (1996, NIGERIA) Interviewed by the Editorial Board of The Muse led by Maxwell Odita. The Muse (Nigeria), No. 25 (1996), 33-37.

33. (1999, UK) "The Novel of Festus Iyayi", in C.B. Cox, Ed.  African Writers vol.1 (New York: Scribner, 1997) pp.367-376.

34. (1999, SOUTH AFRICA) Interviewed by Cherry Clayton of the University of Guelph . Current Writing (South Africa), 11(2) 1999, 136-148.

35. (1999, USA) “The Voyager and the Quest for Atonement: Kofi Awoonor, s New Novel”, in Kofi Anyidoho et al., Eds. Beyond Survival: African Literature and the Search for  New Life, ALA ANNUAL N0 5 (Trenton: Africa World Press, 1999), 257-267.

36. (2000, NIGERIA) "The Nigerian Female Writer as Novelist", Journal of Women's Studies in Africa (Nigeria) (Harmattah 2000) pp. 125-139.

37. (2001, UK) "Joe de Graft and the Ghana Cultural Revival", African Theatre (England), No. 2(2001), pp 65-71.

38. (2002, NIGERIA) “The Death of the Hero in Igbo Life and Literature” in Donatus Nwoga and Chukwuma Azuonye, Ed. The Hero in Igbo and Literature (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing Company, 2002), 287 – 294.

39. (2011, UK)  “Gabriel Okara.” Twentieth-Century World Fiction. Vol III of The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction. Vol ed. John Clement Ball; gen. ed. Brian W. Shaffer.  Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. 1270-71.

40. (2011, UK)  “Kofi Awoonor.”  Twentieth-Century World Fiction. Vol III of  The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction. Vol. ed. John Clement Ball; gen. ed. Brian W. Shaffer. Oxford: Willey-Blackwell, 2011, 977-79.

41. (2016, CANADA) “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the New-Generation Woman.” SELS Review Vol. V  2016 (Seneca College)

 BOOK REVIEW ESSAYS

42. (1982, NIGERIA) "Chinweizu's Energy Crisis and Other Poems", Okike (Nigeria), 21 (1982), 100-102.

43. (1982, USA) "Carolyn Parker and Stephen Arnold: When the Drumbeat Changes", Research in African Literature, (USA) 13, 2 (1982), 234-38.

44. (1983, NIGERIA)  Pidgin Stew and Sufferhead: Aig-Imoukhuede's Poetry", Okeke (Nigeria) 23 (1983), 112-116.

45.  (1897, USA) B. Okpu, Wole Soyinka: A Bibliography (A) James Gibbs, K. Katrak, Henry Louis Gates, Wole Soyinka: A Bibliography (2), Research in African Literature (USA) 18, 3 (Fall, 1987), 377-381.

46. (1993, UK) Jane Wilkinson, Talking with African Writers (reviewed for Africa: Journal of International African Institute (London).

47. (1994, UK)  Chris Dunton, Make Man Talk True, Nigerian Drama in English, (Theatre Research International (London), vol. 19, No. 2. (Summer 1994), 176.

48.  (2002, UK) Wole Soyinka, Death and the King’s Horseman. African Theatre (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), 170-171.

49. (2007, USA) Martin Banham et. alt., African Theatre: Soyinka Edition.  Research in African Literature(USA), 38, 2 (2007), 225-226.

50. (2007, UK)  Ahmadu, The Baron. Olu Obafemi, Dark Days Are Over. Ahmed Yerima, Yemoja.   African Theatre (UK) 7 (2008), 168-171.

51.  (2010/2011, UK) Osita Okagbue, African Theatres and Performances. African Theatre (UK) 9 (2010/2011): 171-172.

52. (2010, USA) Bernth Lindfors, Early Soyinka. African Studies Review (USA), 53, No. 2 (2010): 219-221.