The Faculty of Arts is pleased to announce that new and renewed Canada Research Chairs were awarded to Ayodeji Ogunnaike, Assistant Professor, School of Religious Studies, and Debra Thompson, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, respectively. 聽
Professor Ogunnaike was awarded a new Tier 2 . Professor Ogunnaike will develop the first anthology of Yoruba mythology as well as a monograph about Bilikisu Sungbo, a female ruler of a medieval Yoruba state. He and his research team will explore Bilikisu Sungbo鈥檚 rich mythological tradition and what her existence as a 鈥渇emale king鈥� can tell us about Indigenous notions of gender identity. Ogunnaike鈥檚 team is also collaborating with a filmmaker on a series of films and books drawing from Yoruba mythology and rituals.聽
"It is both humbling and a great privilege to receive a Canada Research chair, particularly because African religions and the study of African religions have traditionally been marginalized and not given much recognition despite these traditions shaping the lives of hundreds of millions around the world," says Professor Ogunnaike. "This wonderful opportunity leaves me very grateful to my colleagues at our School of Religious Studies and the Office of Sponsored Research who placed their confidence in me and worked very hard to make it a reality."
Professor Ogunnaike teaches interdisciplinary courses on Africa and the African Diaspora that center around the important role religion plays in these communities. His research focusses mostly on Yoruba ori峁 worship in Nigeria, but also addresses Islam in Africa, Christianity in Africa, and diaspora religions鈥擝razilian Candombl茅 in particular. He is currently working on a book project titled聽How Worship Becomes Religion, which analyzes how the worship of traditional Yoruba deities originally differed greatly from Western notions of 鈥渞eligion鈥� but eventually became the most widespread and celebrated indigenous African religion through contact with modernity and mission Christianity.
Professor Thompson鈥檚 Tier 2 was renewed for an additional 5 years. Professor Thompson and her research team are identifying why and how systemic racism operates聽across the most visible and immediate examples of state power in racialized people鈥檚 lives. They are also looking at systemic racism in less obvious exercises of state power, such as the collection of racial data (or lack thereof). Professor Thompson is a leading scholar of 聽the comparative politics of race and a member of the Royal Society of Canada鈥檚 College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Her research, teaching, and public scholarship seek to analyze the complex historic and contemporary relationships among race, the state, and inequality in Canada and other democratic societies.聽