The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) offered me a career-defining moment as its Global South Visiting Professor in the Michaelmas Term of 2021. I could not go to Oxford in 2020 because of the global disruptions caused by COVID-19. I had worked hard with the great team at TORCH and we were a few weeks away from the start of my visiting professorship, in the Trinity Term of 2020, when the world became “frozen” and life snapped into a lockdown mode.
TORCH kept hope alive and things fell in place in 2021. You can imagine how excited I was when I arrived in Oxford on 17th October 2021 as the TORCH Global South Visiting Professor and Visiting Fellow at All Souls College. TORCH synergized with All Souls College and African Studies Centre, and they all ensured that I had a remarkable time in Oxford. They paid attention to detail: serene accommodation, personal office, access to library and resource persons, and general immersion in the University of Oxford’s established culture of academic excellence. I settled quickly and got to work on my research and creative targets.
On 16th November 2021, I presented a talk at a colloquium in All Souls College. My talk was entitled “To Stop Human Maternity for at least Fifty Years: A Modest Proposal,” a satirical piece that built on Swiftian humour. On 18th November 2021, I presented a paper on “Colonial Niger Delta and Intra-Regional Conflict in Selected Nigerian Plays,” which enabled me to discuss the plays of Ola Rotimi, Miesoinuma Minima, and Ahmed Yerima. On 2nd December 2021, TORCH held “Eyes of Africa: Readings from Oxford,” chaired by Professor David Pratten. I read poems from my latest book, The Lilt of the Rebel. It was a rare opportunity to share the podium with Professor Elleke Boehmer and Dr Tinashe Mushakavanhu. Jali Fily Cissokho gave a musical performance. Following this event, Professor Boehmer graciously invited me to participate in the Southern Lives Workshop from 6th to 7th December 2021. It was a rewarding experience to interact with many scholars.
In the two months that I spent in Oxford, I finished work on a manuscript of socio-political essays. It was not in my original work plan for the fellowship, but Oxford’s work environment encouraged me to write new essays and polish old ones for this book project. By that, I have given new life to a book project I had abandoned in 2016 when I lost the most updated version of an earlier manuscript. I am grateful to TORCH for giving me the opportunity to experience Oxford and to write Free Troubles: A Writer’s Eyes on the World.
TORCH are delighted to hear that since writing this piece, Dr Gomba’s poetry anthology has been shortlisted for the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) poetry prize.
