MA, University of Waterloo, Canada
MA, University of Lagos, Nigeria
MPA, Lagos State University, Nigeria
BA, Bendel State University, Nigeria
Email:
p3ofili@uwaterloo.ca
Biography
I earned a BA in English at Bendel State University, Nigeria and an MA (Rhetoric and Communication Design) at the University of Waterloo, among other Masters degrees from Nigeria. I completed my PhD in English at the University of Waterloo in 2019, with a specialization in the Rhetoric of Race, Conflict, and Gender, and Postcolonial and Cultural Studies. During my graduate studies, I taught a broad range of communications and writing courses and worked as a Research Assistant to Prof Frankie Condon. I also worked as a Graduate Fellow at the Writing and Communication Center of the University of Waterloo from 2018 – 2019. I was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of English, University of Waterloo in 2011 after bagging the African Initiative Graduate Research Grant, CIGI (Centre for International Governance Innovation)
My research interests revolve around the examination of rhetoric as a tool for managing and resolving conflict. Rhetoric also plays an integral role for interrogating ideologies surrounding politics, gender, race, culture, and socio-political interactions. My doctoral project studied Mandela’s subtle/braided rhetoric as a peculiar cross between western rhetorical models and African rhetorical tradition, the framing and reframing of his identity over the decades, his strategic employment of legal rhetoric to deconstruct the racist order of apartheid in South Africa, and his unique role for instituting the Truth, Peace and Reconciliation Commission for addressing years of apartheid racist rule and violent oppression.
Selected Publications
“Provocative Discourse and Violence in Nigeria’s 2011 Elections” Available at http://www.africaportal.org/articles/2011/12/19/provocative-discourse-and-violence-nigeria by CIGI (Centre for International Governance Innovation)
“Esan Folktales as Expression of Art and History: A Stylistic Study” published in the book- Narrating (Hi)Stories in West Africa. Edited by Bea Lundt and Ulrich Marzolph. Published by Lit Verlag GmbH. 2015. in Berlin, Germany
Paradox of Barbarism and Fear in J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians” in The CSSR Journal, Rhetor Vol iii, 2018.
“A Critical Discourse Analysis of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Inaugural Speech”; Accepted for publication in the Journal of Liberal Studies, Department of Languages, Yaba College of Technology, Nigeria, 2014
Fellowships and Awards
International Doctoral Student Award, English Graduate Scholarship, and 2011 African Initiative Graduate Research Grant, CIGI (Centre for International Governance Innovation)
Current Research
I am conducting research on the role of media, diplomacy, and rhetoric in Nigeria’s 2011 post-election crisis. I plan to write a monograph on this project after I publish my dissertation, entitled “Contextual Complexities and Nelson Mandela’s Braided Rhetoric.”
Research Areas
- Rhetoric of Race and Gender
- Rhetoric of Conflict
- Cultural and Postcolonial Studies
- Media Communication
- Folk Narratives
- General Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theories