Tolulope Osayomi 

Tolulope Osayomi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His research lies at the intersection of spatial epidemiology and medical humanities, focusing on how African societies interpret and respond to health and disease. He is the founder of the COVID-19 Mapping Lab Initiative in Nigeria and has received multiple fellowships, including the AfOx–TORCH Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford. His current work explores African perspectives on global health through the project The Counter-(Narrative) of the African COVID-19 Paradox.

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, at the University of Ibadan. My scholarship lies at the interface of spatial epidemiology and medical humanities, understanding the societal interpretations of disease and health in African contexts. I began my career as a spatial epidemiologist, basically mapped morbidity and mortality arising from infectious and non-communicable diseases using retrospective clinical data and national population survey data. I now utilize concepts and tools such as ethnography, critical discourse analysis, counter-storytelling and archival research to examine how African societies interpret and respond to disease and health.

The COVID-19 pandemic marked the beginning of interdisciplinary research. In March 2020, I founded and directed the COVID-19 Mapping Lab Initiative. It comprised faculty members and graduate students who worked remotely to study the geographical aspects of the pandemic in Nigeria. We provided daily and weekly geo-visual COVID-19 updates to the public, which complemented the efforts of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and the ECOWAS CDC. Though the laboratory wound down in 2021, we have a considerably good publication record on the geography of COVID-19 in Nigeria and Africa, and presently guest editing an issue on Geospatial Responses to COVID-19 in Africa in the Journal of Geovisualization and Spatial Analysis.

I have been honoured with the following fellowships and prizes: The Ife Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) Summer Institute Fellowship (2017), 2021 Nigerian Cartographic Association Best Presentation Award, Africa-Oxford Initiative (AfOx) Visiting Fellowship at Oxford University, UK (2023-2024), Visiting Fellow, New College, Oxford (May-June, 2023), TORCH International Fellowship, Oxford University (2025) and the Nigerian Science Leadership Programme Fellowship (2025).

During the fellowship at Kansas, I plan to work on a book project entitled The Counter-(Narrative) of the African COVID-19 Paradox. The project presents a counter-story of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, asking ‘Why was Africa spared from the envisaged impact of virus?’ Through the lens of Global South epistemologies and Decoloniality framework, my key argument is that the African COVID-19 paradox is a reflection of the different expressions of a dynamic African Agency shaping the spatiality of the pandemic, and radically challenging stereotypes and changing the global health narratives. With the aid of online ethnography, disease mapping and interviews, I intend to engage competing perspectives, and to privilege the African experience in the knowledge production enterprise.

This project will benefit greatly from the holdings of the KU African Studies Center and University library. Moreover, the fellowship scheme has, in the recent past, supported similar health-related research. This, therefore, holds a lot of promise for my project. During the fellowship, I will: (1) produce a book outline and a chapter, and (2) present a seminar to share tentative findings. Therefore, I am confident that the virtual fellowship will provide the library resources, intellectual support, and time required for the project.

This project will benefit greatly from the holdings of the KU African Studies Center and University library. Moreover, the fellowship scheme has, in the recent past, supported similar health-related research. This, therefore, holds a lot of promises for my project.  During the fellowship, I will: (1) produce a book outline and a chapter, and (2) present a seminar to share tentative findings. Therefore, I am confident that the virtual fellowship will provide the library resources, intellectual support, and time required for the project.