Modupe O Olaogun
Associate Professor
Office: Atkinson College, 732
Phone: (416)736-2100 Ext: 22223
Email: olaogun@yorku.ca
Modupe Olaogun teaches African and postcolonial literatures. She has published articles and presented papers on different genres of African literature. Her current research focuses on the aesthetics of African drama and on African literature which explores the subject of migration and dispersal from Africa. In 1998, she founded AfriCan Theatre Ensemble, which operated in Toronto until 2014.
Degrees
PhD, York UniversityM.A., University of Ibadan
B.A., University of Ibadan
Professional Leadership
Executive member — Member-at-Large for Ontario, Canadian Association of African Studies, April 2004-2007.
Research Interests
“Aesthetics, Ethics, Desire and Necessity in Mariama Bâ’s So Long A Letter,” Twelve Best Books by African Women: Critical Readings, ed. Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi and Tuzyline Jita Allan, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2009, pp. 177-198.
“Intercultural Adaptation in Market of Tales,” Performing Adaptations: Essays and Conversations on the Theory and Practice of Adaptation, ed. Michelle MacArthur, Lydia Wilkinson and Keren Zaiontz, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2009, pp. 129- 136.
“Cosmopolitan Time and Intercultural Collaborative Creation,” Collective Creation, Collaboration and Devising, ed. Bruce Barton, Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2008, pp. 231-241.
“African Canadian Theatre and the Cosmopolitan Milieu,” Research Workshop: The Culture Industries in the African Diaspora, The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African People, April 23-24, 2010.
“What is their community? Writing Theatre for a Young African Canadian Audience,” Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL) Conference on “Contested Communities: Communication, Narration, Imagination” University of Bayreuth, Germany, May 13 – 16, 2010.
Keynote Speech – “Sustainable Theatre in this Gobal Era,” at the African Theatre Association 2009 International Conference on the theme, New Directions in African Theatre and Performance, held at School of the Arts, University of Northampton, Avenue Campus, Northampton, England, July 30 – August 2, 2009.
“Artistic and Cultural Fusions,” Resonant Learning Symposium, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, March 15, 2007.
“Re-Imagining Women’s Rights,” Canadian Association of African Studies Conference, New College, University of Toronto, May 16-19, 2007.
“Transformations in Blood: Women’s Bonds in the 21st Century,” the International Women’s Congress 22nd Annual Conference, Holiday Inn at Dixon and Highway 401, September 22, 2006.
“‘AfriCan’ in Canadian Black Theatre: Adventures in Interculturalism,” AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival, August 22-27, 2006.
“Polyphonies: Tejumola Olaniyan’s Reading of Fela for the Social,” invited contribution to roundtable, “Tejumola Olaniyan’s Arrest the Music! Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics,” African Literature Association Conference hosted by University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.A, April 6- 10, 2005.
“Dynamics in Culture: Lágbájá’s Performance of Yoruba Tradition in Modernity,” African Literature Association 30th Anniversary Conference, “Verbal Performance and Visual Cultures,” University of Wisconsin, Madison, April 14-18, 2004.
“‘Struggles for the Earth’: Nigerian Narratives of Mineral Wealth Exploitation.” Paper presented with Abel Femi Adekola (Professor of Management, University of Wisconsin-Stout at Menomonie, U.S.A), at the conference, “‘Inside the Whale’: The Postcolonial and Globalization,” School of Cultural Studies, University College, Northampton, England, July 11-13, 2003.
Adaptation and Abridgment, “Softown”, adapted from Sophiatown originally created by the Junction Avenue Theatre, public performances in 50 schools in the Greater Toronto Area, February 1 – March 12, 2010; and at The Loop, Wychwood Arstcape, Toronto, March 15 -21, 2010.
Staged reading at Tarragon Theatre, August 7, 2009.
Adaptation and Abridgment, “Anansewa!” adapted with Bayo Akinfemi, from The Marriage of Anansewa by Efua Sutherland, public performance in 27 schools in the Greater Toronto Area, February 1 – 28, 2009; at Harboufront Centre Studio Theatre, Toronto, April 30 - May 3, 2009; and at Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, Toronto, May 13 – 23, 2009.
Full-length new play, co-authored with Olabisi Gwamna, “Woman King,” featured performance at the BUZZ Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, December 15, 2009.
“Reflecting on Surreptitious Spaces of Citizenship through The Second Life of Samuel Tyne,” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature (accepted 2006).
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | O | Intertextualities | ONLN |
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | O | Intertextualities | TUTR |
| Fall/Winter 2023 | AP/EN3420 6.0 | A | African Literature | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | AP/EN4420 6.0 | A | African Drama | ONLN |
Modupe Olaogun teaches African and postcolonial literatures. She has published articles and presented papers on different genres of African literature. Her current research focuses on the aesthetics of African drama and on African literature which explores the subject of migration and dispersal from Africa. In 1998, she founded AfriCan Theatre Ensemble, which operated in Toronto until 2014.
Degrees
PhD, York UniversityM.A., University of Ibadan
B.A., University of Ibadan
Professional Leadership
Executive member — Member-at-Large for Ontario, Canadian Association of African Studies, April 2004-2007.
Research Interests
All Publications
“Aesthetics, Ethics, Desire and Necessity in Mariama Bâ’s So Long A Letter,” Twelve Best Books by African Women: Critical Readings, ed. Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi and Tuzyline Jita Allan, Athens: Ohio University Press, 2009, pp. 177-198.
“Intercultural Adaptation in Market of Tales,” Performing Adaptations: Essays and Conversations on the Theory and Practice of Adaptation, ed. Michelle MacArthur, Lydia Wilkinson and Keren Zaiontz, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2009, pp. 129- 136.
“Cosmopolitan Time and Intercultural Collaborative Creation,” Collective Creation, Collaboration and Devising, ed. Bruce Barton, Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2008, pp. 231-241.
“African Canadian Theatre and the Cosmopolitan Milieu,” Research Workshop: The Culture Industries in the African Diaspora, The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African People, April 23-24, 2010.
“What is their community? Writing Theatre for a Young African Canadian Audience,” Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL) Conference on “Contested Communities: Communication, Narration, Imagination” University of Bayreuth, Germany, May 13 – 16, 2010.
Keynote Speech – “Sustainable Theatre in this Gobal Era,” at the African Theatre Association 2009 International Conference on the theme, New Directions in African Theatre and Performance, held at School of the Arts, University of Northampton, Avenue Campus, Northampton, England, July 30 – August 2, 2009.
“Artistic and Cultural Fusions,” Resonant Learning Symposium, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, March 15, 2007.
“Re-Imagining Women’s Rights,” Canadian Association of African Studies Conference, New College, University of Toronto, May 16-19, 2007.
“Transformations in Blood: Women’s Bonds in the 21st Century,” the International Women’s Congress 22nd Annual Conference, Holiday Inn at Dixon and Highway 401, September 22, 2006.
“‘AfriCan’ in Canadian Black Theatre: Adventures in Interculturalism,” AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival, August 22-27, 2006.
“Polyphonies: Tejumola Olaniyan’s Reading of Fela for the Social,” invited contribution to roundtable, “Tejumola Olaniyan’s Arrest the Music! Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics,” African Literature Association Conference hosted by University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.A, April 6- 10, 2005.
“Dynamics in Culture: Lágbájá’s Performance of Yoruba Tradition in Modernity,” African Literature Association 30th Anniversary Conference, “Verbal Performance and Visual Cultures,” University of Wisconsin, Madison, April 14-18, 2004.
“‘Struggles for the Earth’: Nigerian Narratives of Mineral Wealth Exploitation.” Paper presented with Abel Femi Adekola (Professor of Management, University of Wisconsin-Stout at Menomonie, U.S.A), at the conference, “‘Inside the Whale’: The Postcolonial and Globalization,” School of Cultural Studies, University College, Northampton, England, July 11-13, 2003.
Adaptation and Abridgment, “Softown”, adapted from Sophiatown originally created by the Junction Avenue Theatre, public performances in 50 schools in the Greater Toronto Area, February 1 – March 12, 2010; and at The Loop, Wychwood Arstcape, Toronto, March 15 -21, 2010.
Staged reading at Tarragon Theatre, August 7, 2009.
Adaptation and Abridgment, “Anansewa!” adapted with Bayo Akinfemi, from The Marriage of Anansewa by Efua Sutherland, public performance in 27 schools in the Greater Toronto Area, February 1 – 28, 2009; at Harboufront Centre Studio Theatre, Toronto, April 30 - May 3, 2009; and at Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, Toronto, May 13 – 23, 2009.
Full-length new play, co-authored with Olabisi Gwamna, “Woman King,” featured performance at the BUZZ Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, December 15, 2009.
“Reflecting on Surreptitious Spaces of Citizenship through The Second Life of Samuel Tyne,” Canadian Review of Comparative Literature (accepted 2006).
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | O | Intertextualities | ONLN |
| Winter 2024 | AP/EN1002 3.0 | O | Intertextualities | TUTR |
| Fall/Winter 2023 | AP/EN3420 6.0 | A | African Literature | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | AP/EN4420 6.0 | A | African Drama | ONLN |
