The need for emerging African scholars to produce research that reflects the continent’s realities, interrogates dominant narratives, and contributes meaningfully to Africa’s development took centre stage at the opening of the 2026 Graduate Workshop of the Africa Multiple Research Cluster (AMRC), University of Lagos (UNILAG).
The workshop commenced on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, at the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre (AMDRC), UNILAG, under the auspices of the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), UNILAG.
Speaking on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, OON, FAS, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services) and Founding Director of IADS, Professor Muyiwa Falaiye, described the Institute as being at the heart of efforts to promote African and Africa-focused research. He expressed concern over the historical dominance of Western theories and ideologies in African Studies, and stressed the need for scholarship that responds to African realities and contributes to the continent’s advancement.
Professor Falaiye called for African theories and principles that speak meaningfully to the continent’s civilisation, culture, and progress. He commended the leadership of IADS for setting the pace in African scholarship, supporting early-career researchers, and creating opportunities for the advancement of African Studies.
Also speaking at the event, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics and Research), Professor Matthew Ilori, described the workshop as a celebration of scholarship and a reaffirmation of UNILAG’s commitment to advancing knowledge about Africa and the global African diaspora.
Represented by the Director of Academic Planning, Professor Olufunlayo Bammeke, he emphasized that doctoral research in African Studies transcends academic pursuit to become an intellectual project for interrogating histories, challenging dominant narratives, and charting pathways for Africa’s future.
Professor Ilori noted that African Studies provides a critical lens through which the continent’s history, complexities, and contributions to global development can be better understood. He reaffirmed UNILAG’s commitment to producing scholars whose work is globally relevant while remaining grounded in local realities, citing research areas ranging from Yoruba oral traditions and urbanisation in Lagos to African diasporic identities.
In separate remarks, the Director of IADS, Research Professor Ayodele Yusuff, and the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee for the 2026 AMRC Graduate Workshop, Research Professor Kayode Eesuola, said the workshop was designed to provide an intellectual platform for training, mentoring, and encouraging postgraduate students.
They explained that the programme would enable participants to interrogate and re-interrogate theories, concepts, and ideologies within African and Diaspora Studies.
The opening session featured a keynote address by the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Abraham Osinubi, titled “ Until the Lion Has Its Own Historians .” Professor Osinubi questioned the continued reliance on non-Africans to tell Africa’s history, describing it as a disservice to the continent.
He cautioned against reducing Africa to a “single story” of poverty, crisis, kidnapping, conflict, and underdevelopment, and urged doctoral researchers to challenge such generalisations through rigorous scholarship.
Professor Osinubi charged participants to see their research as an intellectual responsibility to tell Africa’s stories from African perspectives and for African audiences. He advocated the principles of multiplicity, rationality, and reflexivity in interrogating representations of Africa, and encouraged doctoral students to approach their research as a means of reclaiming and deepening knowledge about the continent.
Following the opening session, participants proceeded to academic sessions featuring presentations by resource persons on themes relating to African and Diaspora Studies. The three-day workshop will run until Friday, August 14, 2026.
Report: Gbenga Gbelee
Photograph: Ayo Oloyede
