His Intellectual Majesty, Toyin Falola By Femi Mimiko, mni
His Intellectual Majesty, TF.
Toyin Falola (TF) is a prodigy; a jigsaw puzzle that you can only aspire to, but not fully understand. There hasn’t been any scholar anywhere in the world that I know of – living or dead – that has been more productive than TF! I was there in Austin, Texas, a few years ago, when his 100th, yes, 100th book was presented! In 2011, I was honoured to give the Keynote Address at the University of Texas at Austin Africa Conference, arguably the largest gathering of Africanists in the Americas, solely organised annually for more than 15 years now, by TF.
How this genius of a man finds the time to do so much, and still nurture an excellent family, and keep a community of professional as well as social friends, I still can’t fathom. His versatility is indescribable. He straddles so many academic and literary divides, distinguishing himself in all. An incredible academic mentor to many Africanists across the world, TF is unquestionably God’s own special blessing to African scholarship. I call him, “Your Intellectual Majesty,” with all the seriousness thereto.
Although TF has so many “honoris causa” to his name; several festschrift in his honour; at least one international conference dedicated to, and named after him; and a good number of largely unsolicited chieftaincy titles, I am still of the opinion that official Nigeria is yet to recognise this human world heritage well enough.
Nothing here suggests that TF is an angel. Nobody is; but this quintessential academic – Professor of History and African Studies, the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, and University Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin – deserves nothing less than our, Hearty Congratulations, on his earned D.Litt.
@FemiMimiko mni
March 1, 2021.
