Olusegun Soetan
My research is multidisciplinary. It sits at the crossroads of many African studies fields—from film, photography, language, indigenous knowledge systems, African traditional medicine, popular culture, and digital humanities to literature and diaspora. I have conducted extensive literary, qualitative, and quantitative researches that contextualize and interpret data across the fields of world literature, film, cultural studies, African studies, diaspora, and gender and sexuality. In my overarching research agenda, I make sense of germane questions related to African identity and the broader socio-cultural structure under which they all operate. My African language and literature background has enriched my capacity to unpack the intersections of film and culture change. I am a poet, playwright, novelist, and on-air personality.
Address: Penn State University, University Park, PA
Address: Penn State University, University Park, PA
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Papers by Olusegun Soetan
Some no longer care about ancient ideologies, the cultural praxis of our history, which seem to be buried in the past years of mediocrity.
People now recreate the world in their own ways, wanting, in their limited wisdom and contemplation, innovations and creativity thought to surpass their forebears. People make bulletproof vests, parachutes, life jackets, and other safety devices that will help safeguard lives. One hardly thinks of the legacies of the ancient people, especially in the areas of science and technology. While the Western world, that is, Europe and America, may not be so guilty of this sin of negligence, African nationals are significantly in the habit. Both literate and nonliterate Africans, daily, reject the precious ancient wisdom of the continent and desecrate the once venerated practices that birthed the recorded innovations of the continent while aping western modernism. As a result of the neocolonialist’s distaste for African sensibilities, most importantly, their knowledge of oral literature and cosmic permutation, indigenous knowledge creation has become calcified, jejune, and, in some instances, mortified. It is ironic, though, that while indigenous African knowledge is being mortified at alarming rates, the majority of Africans profess to be either Christians or Muslims who believe in their holy books, the Bible and Quran, respectively. In both the Bible and the Quran, there are over one thousand verses that are prayers for prevention of evil and protection from enemies and that seek benevolence from the elements. These verses are based on the spoken words that are divinely construed. In a similar vein, Yorùbá charms and amulets evoke the same forces to seek protection, ward off evil forces, and seek good fortune from the elements that the universe is composed off: the transcendental powers. Even in their crudest forms, charms and amulets represent two dominant themes that have come to distinguish the Yorùbá people as philosophers, scientists, and technologists. This work brings to the fore the material benefits of charms and amulets to the Yorùbá people on the one hand and, on the other, its constitutiveness both religious practice and science.
Some no longer care about ancient ideologies, the cultural praxis of our history, which seem to be buried in the past years of mediocrity.
People now recreate the world in their own ways, wanting, in their limited wisdom and contemplation, innovations and creativity thought to surpass their forebears. People make bulletproof vests, parachutes, life jackets, and other safety devices that will help safeguard lives. One hardly thinks of the legacies of the ancient people, especially in the areas of science and technology. While the Western world, that is, Europe and America, may not be so guilty of this sin of negligence, African nationals are significantly in the habit. Both literate and nonliterate Africans, daily, reject the precious ancient wisdom of the continent and desecrate the once venerated practices that birthed the recorded innovations of the continent while aping western modernism. As a result of the neocolonialist’s distaste for African sensibilities, most importantly, their knowledge of oral literature and cosmic permutation, indigenous knowledge creation has become calcified, jejune, and, in some instances, mortified. It is ironic, though, that while indigenous African knowledge is being mortified at alarming rates, the majority of Africans profess to be either Christians or Muslims who believe in their holy books, the Bible and Quran, respectively. In both the Bible and the Quran, there are over one thousand verses that are prayers for prevention of evil and protection from enemies and that seek benevolence from the elements. These verses are based on the spoken words that are divinely construed. In a similar vein, Yorùbá charms and amulets evoke the same forces to seek protection, ward off evil forces, and seek good fortune from the elements that the universe is composed off: the transcendental powers. Even in their crudest forms, charms and amulets represent two dominant themes that have come to distinguish the Yorùbá people as philosophers, scientists, and technologists. This work brings to the fore the material benefits of charms and amulets to the Yorùbá people on the one hand and, on the other, its constitutiveness both religious practice and science.