Jacob Olupona’s Academic Vision in the Age of Remote Learning
Rather than indulge all of his energies and the fruits of his accomplishments by way of total immersion in Western academia, Olupona instead chose to give back to his native Nigeria in a way that exemplifies the utmost gratitude for his own accomplishments: he founded a school.
Jacob Olupona is an example of both the American and the African Dream, and specifically a Nigerian one. As a professor of African and African-American Studies, African Religion, a faculty associate for the Weatherhead Center for International Studies, and coordinator for the Nigeria in the World Seminar, all under the umbrella of Harvard University, Mr. Olupona is an example of a singular African exceptionalism, one whose knowledge and experience, along with his very presence, have reached the consummation point of academic eminence. And while he sits at the perch of a department at one of the most renowned universities on earth, Mr. Olupona maintains more than a nominal relationship with African studies. While the professor may live in Cambridge, MA, Africa lives in Mr. Olupona. For the professor, his homeland is much more than a biographical springboard or an academic reference point. Rather than indulge all of his energies and the fruits of his accomplishments by way of total immersion in Western academia, Olupona instead chose to give back to his native Nigeria in a way that exemplifies the utmost gratitude for his own accomplishments: he founded a school.
His Institute of Advanced Studies at Ife-Ife, Nigeria, located on the campus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, is an independent non-profit entity that Olupona founded in 2015. As he describes it, the Institute was established “to bring peace and stability to the country through education.” The Institute’s website describes the school’s purpose as “advanc[ing] post-doctoral research focusing on national identity, culture, and society, and to improve the quality of faculty and academia within Nigeria” in a way that ultimately benefits the country as a whole.
Of course, this year both campuses will be closed for at least part of the fall 2020 semester and conducting classroom instruction online. Universal Admedia decided to find out how Mr. Olupona and the Institute have responded to virtual learning in the pandemic era.
The successful activation of the Institute’s 2020 Annual Summer Institute into a well-performing virtual experience has given faculty and students alike a sense of confidence that subsequent full-semester virtual studies will be successful as well. The Annual Summer Institute is a two-week residency program for doctoral students and early-career doctoral degree holders, and they can come from anywhere in the world. The Institute’s website describes the summer sessions as “anchored by an impressive number of senior scholars” from Nigeria and other African countries, as well as scholars from Asia, Europe and North America. Scholars spend two weeks at the event engaging in an array of themes and issues designed to “deepen the understanding of research and [the] teaching mission within the academy.”
We wish the Institute and its faculty and scholars all the best in the upcoming (virtual) academic year.
For more information on the Institute of Advanced Studies, Ife-Ife, Nigeria, visit https://ife-ias.com/.