Olatunde Taiwo

Olatunde Taiwo is a Lecturer in History and Diplomatic Studies at Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria. He holds a PhD in African History from the University of Ghana, obtained through a German Lisa Maskell Doctoral Fellowship/scholarship, spanning 2020-2026 (https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/lms_taiwo). Taiwo’s latest article was published by the Oxford University Press. Its details are: Olatunde Taiwo and Oluwaseun Soile (2026), '‘S’ogun D’ogoji’: From the Mavrodi Mondial Movement (MMM) to Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX) in Nigeria and Her Diaspora', Oxford Intersections: Borders (https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198945222.003.0144

My scholarly interests center on producing new knowledge in African history, colonial studies, postcolonial theory, and diaspora studies. These interests are reflected in three journal article–oriented research projects currently underway, which I hope to develop into compelling publications with the support of KU’s online library databases, including Taylor & Francis Online, Readex, Gale, Ebook Central, SAGE, and ScienceDirect.

My first research project, titled British-Nigerian Banks, Merchants, Multilateral Payment Input, and the Legislative/Executive Councils, 1912–1960, examines banking in colonial Nigeria between 1900 and 1960. It focuses on the interplay among banking enterprises, merchants, and two of the apex corporate governance institutions in Nigeria under British colonial rule. Aspects of this study were presented at a University of Oxford conference in March 2025. Partly informed by feedback received at the conference, the study is guided by three central questions. One asks: What roles did indigenous merchants and members of the Nigerian Legislative and Executive Councils play in banking partnerships in colonial Nigeria, and how did these relationships affect the trajectory of commerce between colonial Nigeria and the wider world? Relevant archival records have been collected in Nigeria, and the coding of these materials has progressed considerably.

My second ongoing project, titled Unemployment, Power Relations, and Servility in Deportee Letters Connecting British Nigeria and the USA, 1907–1960, is a spin-off from my recently completed doctoral thesis. Foregrounding Africa, the research investigates how, and with what ramifications, ideas of communism, servility, and labor circulated through deportations connecting the United States and British Nigeria between 1907 and 1960. It also examines how deportation enforcers and deportees themselves mobilized these ideas during this period. As with the first project, extensive records have been collected from the National Archives in Ibadan, Nigeria, and the thematic analysis of these materials has reached an advanced stage.

My third project, titled Peace in the Shadow of [Dis]order: Overlapping the Intellectual Life of Adetowun Ogunsheye, 1968–2026, emerges from ongoing research into the career and private papers of Adetowun Ogunsheye, Nigeria’s and Anglophone West Africa’s first female professor. The study assesses Ogunsheye’s achievements through the lenses of peacebuilding and cosmopolitanism in West Africa, focusing on the period from 1976, when she became a professor, to 2026, the year she turns 100. Notably, I spoke with Professor Ogunsheye just days ago, following a special invitation she sent me to attend her upcoming birthday celebration.

Through the affiliate opportunity, I hope to draw on the invaluable insights of KASC scholars, including Professors Marie Brown, James Yeku, Shawn Alexander, and Anthony Bolden, to enrich these research projects and accelerate their development into compelling journal articles.