Ojogbon Globalization

A Reading of part 2 of the Draft of Chapter 2 in West African migrations : transnational and global pathways in a new century, edited by Mojúbàolú Oluf́únké Okome and Olufemi Vaughan, published by Palgrave Macmillan, NY 2012, pp. 15-40 Home, Identity and Identity Politics – an Introduction • Àjò ò lè dùn k’ónílé má re’lé (no matter how enjoyable the journey might be, one is bound to return home). • Ilé l’àbò ìsinmi oko – Home is the resting place for those returning from the farm (labor). You labor abroad and rest at home. There are many clichés about home – Home is where the heart is, for instance. However, since this is a contribution to a project on Transnational Africa and Globalization foregrounding how personal experiences, professional interests, and scholarship shaped experiences of Diaspora and Transnationality, I feel the necessity to return to Nigeria from my present location in North America, and will weave in scholarly ruminations on home, sojourn, and return, all ...

Draft of Chapter 2 in West African migrations : transnational and global pathways in a new century, edited by Mojúbàolú Oluf́únké Okome and Olufemi Vaughan, published by Palgrave Macmillan, NY 2012, pp. 15-40 Home, Identity and Identity Politics – an Introduction • Àjò ò lè dùn k’ónílé má re’lé (no matter how enjoyable the journey might be, one is bound to return home). • Ilé l’àbò ìsinmi oko – Home is the resting place for those returning from the farm (labor). You labor abroad and rest at home. There are many clichés about home – Home is where the heart is, for instance. However, since this is a contribution to a project on Transnational Africa and Globalization foregrounding how personal experiences, professional interests, and scholarship shaped experiences of Diaspora and Transnationality, I feel the necessity to return to Nigeria from my present location in North America, and will weave in scholarly ruminations on home, sojourn, and return, all within the context of h...

Full title: Domestic, Regional and International Protection of Nigerian Women Against Discrimination: Constraints and Possibilities. The paper was published in African Studies Quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 3, Fall 2002. It's hosted on Academia.edu which asked me if I wanted an AI summary. I want to embrace technological innovation, so, I agreed. Here's how AI summarized, using excerpts from the paper.

As the year ends, I look back and wonder where all the time went.  I wasn't able to accomplish much work-life balance this year because I became involved in the #BringBackOurGirls movement and led the establishment of #BringBackOurGirlsNYC.  I wrote most of this blog on a sleepless night in August this year, in a long email to a friend.  It remains relevant, particularly because it reflects the issue that has embroiled my life all year long. Nigeria is squandering her people with wanton abandonment.  Why do we not feel ashamed to say that we have the largest economy in Africa when we don't even have a decent healthcare system?  Why do our political class and elites flaunt their ability to go for medical treatment abroad and they don't realize that the lack of decent care at home reflects poorly on them, plus they are playing "Russian roulette" with their lives since they could die from very preventable and treatable conditions?  Why do we have decayed in...

234 girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria by Boko Haram on April 14, 2014 . It's heartbreaking, tragic, and unacceptable that most of them are yet to be found.  It is also unacceptable that we don't even have an accurate number of girls that were originally missing, those that were able to escape, and those yet to be found. There are alarming rumors about what may have happened to them. Nigerian security forces have not demonstrated that they're up to the task of challenging Boko Haram and ending this unacceptable situation. Human security is at stake in Nigeria.  In order to begin to inspire the confidence of its people, the Nigerian government needs to focus on this situation and must not relax until it brings the girls back to their families. While this situation is extremely painful and will remain so until all the girls are returned to their families, I am very proud of Nigerian women who have mobilized, those who marched in Abuja, who pla...

For the past year, I've been working on two edited books.  The second one was just published. Contesting the Nigerian  State: Civil Society and the Contradictions of Self Organization ,  Edited By Mojúbàolú Olúfúnké Okome   ( Palgrave -Macmillan, 2013) T his book addresses the meanings and implications of self-organization and state society relations in contemporary Nigerian politics. The conventional wisdom in public choice theory is that self-organization could generate collective action problems, via the tragedy of the commons, or the prisoner's dilemma, or a condition akin to Hobbes' state of nature, where selfish interests produce social conflict rather than cooperation. In the absence or unwillingness of the state to provide such services, entire communities in Nigeria have had to band together to repair roads, build health centers, repair broken transformers owned by the public utilities company, all from levies. Consideration of post-autho...