Abi Fakemi

Biography

Abiodun studied English Literature at undergraduate level at Lagos State University and proceeded to study the same subject at MA level at the University of Lagos. He graduated with Merit (2.1) and wrote his thesis on ‘Postmodernism: Intertextuality in Comparative Literature of Willian Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and Femi Osofisan’s Love’s Unlike Lading’. In 2021, he completed an MRes at Buckingham University and graduated with Merit. His research focus was a comparative ecocritical study of Ian McEwan’s Solar and Helon Habila’s Oil on Water. For his doctoral study at Keele University, he is researching ubuntu-ecocriticism as a subset of postcolonial ecocriticism. He has taught the English Language at Good Shepherd High School, Lagos and Literature courses at distance-learning centre of the University of Ibadan, located in Ikeja, Lagos.

Research and scholarship

Abiodun’s PhD thesis explores ubuntu-ecocriticism, as an evolving reading strategy in interdisciplinary ecocritical studies, offering a new literary approach to ecological and environmental crises. This study develops ubuntu-eco as a method to introduce collectivist dialectics in textual analysis. Ubuntu-eco is an African philosophical and ontological concept that means ‘I am because we, since we are, then, I am.’ This ontological approach to literary analysis identifies the irreplaceable importance of non-human members of the ecosystem and consequently proffers ways to ethically defamiliarize anthroparchy or Anthropocentrism. By discussing novels such as Tomorrow Died Yesterday (2010) by Chimeka Garricks, Oil on Water (2010) by Helon Habila, Sweet Crude Odyssey (2016) by Lawrence Amaeshi, The Activist (2006) by Tanure Ojaide and a short story from ‘The Expert Hunter of Rats’ (1998) by Ike Okonta, this study develops an ubuntu-eco reading strategy that demonstrates how colonial legacies affect not just the literary representations in the Niger Delta, but also its natural environment. Hence, my thesis also discusses ecocide committed through oil spillage and gas flaring, violent retaliatory activities of militants, the lack of empathy from people from other regions of the country and the defensive military attacks of the government forces which makes the environment unliveable for all species.

Abiodun is interested in ecocriticism and its emerging variant concepts and terms such as postcolonial ecocriticism, subaltern environmentalism, environmental humanity, ecofeminism, ecopsychology and environmental philosophy. His other interests include postcolonial literature, postmodernism and classical drama.

Further information

Academic service and leadership

• AGS, Faculty of Arts Students’ Association, Lagos State University, BA, 2010.
• Class Representative 100 level to 400 level, Lagos State University, BA, 2008-2012
• President of the Faculty of Arts Students’ Association, Lagos State University, BA, 2012
• Corper’s Liaison Officer (CLO-National Youths Service Corps), 2013
• Course Coordinator for LGBTQ Discourse in Literature (University of Lagos) MA, 2016

Professional affiliations

• National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies (NASELS-Nigeria)
• Postcolonial Studies Association, UK
• Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE-UK & Ireland)
• Work in Progress (KEELE PGR)