Social Justice Literature Class Hosts Mr. Tomi Ogunbawo
As part of their reading of Nigerian literary classic “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Concordia’s Social Justice Literature class hosted Mr. Tomisin Ogunbawo.
Mr. Ogunbawo is from Yoruba lineage, and lived much of his life among the Igbo people. He shared his insights about the novel’s relevance to history and to the current political and social situations within his home country.
“Having Mr. Ogunbawo come as a guest speaker was an incredible experience, and I was glad to hear a firsthand account from someone who was able to use his traditions and culture –
specifically music – as a medium to integrate with an unfamiliar culture surrounded by unfamiliar people. His insights about his life in Nigeria and his journey of adapting to the Hanoi lifestyle added a valuable global dimension to our discussion in class, and I appreciated that he answered our questions thoughtfully, and even brought in a traditional Nigerian musical instrument to engage us even more,” said Mettel (G12).
“The class has also expanded my understanding of just social justice in general. I’ve learned about issues like ageism and classism and the idea of meritocracy in society. It helped me realize that social injustice isn’t just labeled into one thing, and how people can still be discriminated against for the smallest things, for things that we can’t even imagine,” said Quang (G12), adding “‘Things Fall Apart’ covers issues like how societies saw women’s suffrage differently in different regions. For example, in the Igbo tribe women were still abused even though they were still considered very important to their culture. It’s also made me realize that Africa actually developed faster and better in certain aspects than other parts of the world.”
“I feel that this class is really valuable because many people are ignorant about the cultural richness of other parts of the world. Particularly in Africa, people categorize the entire continent as one, but through reading “Things Fall Apart” I’ve discovered the depth and diversity of different cultures within Africa. It has made me realize we should pay more attention to cultures other than the European colonizers or the cultures like Greece and Rome with which we are more familiar,” said Jinseo (G12).
“This is like an English class, except all the books are focused on social justice. We have many meaningful conversations about the world, politics and issues like that in class. And I thought the visitor coming over was very cool,” said Erin (G11).