Olusegun is a PhD Student from Nigeria. His primary research focus is in the precolonial and colonial Southwest Nigeria, with a particular interest in women, gender, and sexuality; gender and cultural mores in Yorubaland; gender and festivals in Yoruba society; paternity fraud/discrepancies in Yorubaland; family history; the culture of foreplay in colonial Yorubaland, and Multi-Track Diplomacy. Olusegun is interested in researching the traditional and cultural methods adopted by the indigenous Yoruba people of Nigeria to determine the authenticity of a child’s paternity before the encounter with Western (scientific) methods and law. In May 2023, Olusegun obtained a Master of Arts in History from East Tennessee State University (ETSU). Before moving to the United States in the fall of 2021, Olusegun graduated with a Master of Arts in Peace and Development Studies in 2018, and a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Studies in 2014, both from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin.

PhD in History, Mississippi State University, Starkville MS, Beginning Fall 2023

Concentrations: African History, Women, Gender and Sexuality

Advisor: Dr. Morgan Flow

M.A. in History, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Spring 2023

Concentrations: African History, Gender and Festival

Thesis: Powerful and Powerless: Reconfiguring the Agency and Supremacy of Women in Selected Festivals in a Yoruba Town of Isaga Orile, 1900-1958

M.A. in Peace and Development Studies, University of Ilorin, 2018

Concentrations: Border Studies, Gendered-Based Abuse and Transnational Crimes

Thesis: An Assessment of the Collaboration between Nigeria and INTERPOL in curbing Transnational Crimes at Seme Border

B.A. in History, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, 2014

Concentrations: Internal Border, Ethnicities

Thesis: The History of Yewa in Ogun State, Nigeria

Languages

Fluent in English, Yoruba and Pidgin English

Academic Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant |MSU, Starkville August 2023

Course: Modern US History

Supervisor: Dr. Susanna De Stradis

Graduate Assistant |ETSU, Johnson City, August 2022 – May 2023

Course: World History since 1500

Supervisor: Dr. Zachary Rupley

Graduate Assistant |ETSU, Johnson City, August 2021- May 2022

Course: US to 1877

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Depew

Private School Teacher, 2016 – May 2021

Brian-Field Academy, Ilorin Kwara State Nigeria

Courses: Precolonial Nigeria History, Government and Policies, local government Administration

Leadership and Volunteering Activities

Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University, Fall 2022 – May 2023

Student Advisory Council, August 2022 – May 2023

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

Graduate and Professional Student Association’s Budget Committee, May 2021 – May 2023

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

History’s Graduate Student Conference ETSU, November 2022

Chair and Moderator.

Papers Presented at Conferences

• Social Changes, Continuity and Women Involvement in Cultural Festivals in Colonial Yorubaland, presented at the 22nd Annual Africa Conference – The University of Texas at Austin, March 31 – April 2, 2023
• Politics, Power, and Gendered Identities in Traditional Festivals among the Yoruba, 1897-1960 presented at Lagos Studies Association, June 21-25, 2022.
• Politics, Power, and Gendered Identities in Traditional Festivals among the Yoruba People, 1897-1960, presented at History’s Graduate Student Conference ETSU, November 29, 2021.

Under Review and forthcoming Publication(s)

Social Changes, Continuity and Women Involvement in Cultural Festivals in Colonial Yorubaland, submitted to the organizers of the 22nd Annual Africa Conference – The University of Texas at Austin, March 31 – April 2, 2023.

Forthcoming Conference(s)

African Studies Association 66^th Annual Meeting, African Presences: Envisioning Africa in Text and Deed, San Francisco, CA | November 30 – December 2, 2023.  Paper title| “When Daddy Doesn’t Want to be Daddy Anymore: An Argument against Track-Nine Diplomacy and Implications for Community Security.”

Publication(s)

Olatunji, Olusegun O. The Biafra Crisis and Multi-Track Diplomacy: Towards a Peaceful Development. Peace Studies Journal, Volume 12, Issue 2, August (2019).

Grants/Fund Received

Maroon Graduate Assistantship, August 2023 - May 2024

Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA

Graduate Assistantship, August 2021 – May 2023

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

Graduate and Professional Students Association Travel Funding, March 2023

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

Crawford Fund, February 2023

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

Barbara Jaffe Silvers Fund, August 2022

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

Honors and Awards

Sherrod Library Graduate Student Scholarship for Excellence in Research, May 2022

https://libraries.etsu.edu/opportunities/scholarships/research/past#s-lg-box-28746391

Professional Memberships

African Studies Association (ASA)

Lagos Studies Association (LSA)

Academic Organizations

Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA)

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA

Graduate Students Association (GSA)

Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, USA