About

Toyin Falola, Ph.D., is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is regarded as Africa’s most decorated scholars in the Humanities, and the continent’s most preeminent historian. He is the author of numerous books and essays. He is the Series Editor of Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora, Series Editor of the Culture and Customs of Africa by Greenwood Press, Series Editor of Classic Authors and Texts on Africa by Africa World Press, Series Editor of Carolina Studies on Africa and the Black World, Series Editor of African History and Modernity by Palgrave-Macmillan, and Series Editor of African Identities by Cambridge University Press. He has received various awards and honors at the University of Texas at Austin, including the Jean Holloway Award for Teaching Excellence, The Texas Exes Teaching Award, the Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, and the Career Research Excellence Award. He served as the Chair of the ASA Herskovits Prize for the best book on Africa, the chair of the M. Klein Book prize for the best book on African history (American Historical Association), and the Joel Gregory Prize for the Canadian Association of African Studies. He is the current Vice President of the International Scientific Committee, UNESCO Slave Route Project and the President-Elect of the African Studies Association. He has received 28 honorary doctorates, most recently from the University of the Free State, University of Pretoria, and University of the North West. An annual conference has been named after him: TOFAC (Toyin Falola Annual Conference on Africa and the African Diaspora). The Association of Third World Studies has named its annual best book after him as the Toyin Falola Prize for the best book on Africa. His lifetime career awards include the Nigerian Diaspora Academic Prize, the Felix E. Udogu Africa Award, the Cheikh Anta Diop Award, the Amistad Award, and the SIRAS Award for Outstanding Contribution to African Studies, Africana Studies Distinguished Global Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria, and Distinguished Africanist Award by ASA, and Member of the Order of the Niger by the federal government of Nigeria. In addition, he was the recipient of the Cecil B Currey Award for his book, Economic Reforms and Modernization in Nigeria, the Herskovits’ finalist award for A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt, the Nigerian Studies Association’s Best Book Award for Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria, and the Conover-Porter’s Finalist Certificate for Key Events in African History: A Reference Guide. For his distinguished contribution to the study of Africa, his students and colleagues have presented him with a set five Festschriften, two edited by Adebayo Oyebade, The Transformation of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola and The Foundations of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola, one by Akin Ogundiran, Precolonial Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola, another by Akin Alao, and the most recent by Nana Amponsah, Beyond the Boundaries: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola. A critical appraisal, Toyin Falola: The Man, Mask and Muse, presents bio-critical studies in a thousand pages. His first memoir, A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt, captures his childhood and has received various awards. The second memoir, Counting the Tiger’s Teeth, covers his years as a teenager. A third memoir, Malaika and the Seven Heavens narrates his encounters with Islam.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Law
• History
• Political economy
• Criminology
• Anthropology
• Development economics
• Ethnology
• Geography

Selected publications

• Understanding Colonial Nigeria

  2024 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science

  In this landmark new history, Toyin Falola analyses the impact of Britain's colonization of Nigeria from the late nineteenth century to 1960, when the country regained independence. Falola covers major events in depth, from the initial conquest and denial of Indigenous sovereignty, to the emergence and functioning of the colonial state, and later nationalist movements, offering fascinating insights into labour and trade relations, regionalism and nationalism, and Nigeria's role during the First and Second World Wars. Understanding Colonial Nigeria assesses the economic, political, social, and cultural changes that culminated in the emergence of a coalition of diverse groups agitating for the end of colonial rule from the 1940s – from labor coalitions and politicians to youth groups and market women. From the country's borders and state structure, to the present conflicts, Falola powerfully reflects on the lasting consequences of British intervention in the affairs of Nigerian states and communities.

  DOI

• AFH volume 62 issue 3 Cover and Front matter

  The Journal of African History · 2021

  • Sociology
  • History
  • Media studies

  An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore

  Springer eBooks · 2021 · 11 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Anthropology
  • History
  DOI

• Political Violence

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2021

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political economy

  “Political Violence” examines the Nigeria’s sociopolitical landscape and how violence, by the nature of Nigeria’s plural ethnicity and differing religious ideologies, shapes it. This has produced repeated instances of violence that stand in the way of the nation’s collective growth. Deeper scrutiny reveals that the violence is arranged by people looking to gain political profit, score cheap religious points, or strike fear in the heart of the people, all to promote their own interests. It puts a dangling question mark on the ability to administer governance free of prejudice. Recent events in the country have cast doubt on whether its leaders can hold the heterogeneous society together. It springs from the fact that countless violent attacks, damaging lives and property, have devastated the collective outlook and psychology of the country. Everything hinges on the inherent distrust fueled by a baseless fear of others, which is continually instigated by the political elites to hold on to power. However, there is no limit to what the country can achieve in unity, due to its interminable list of natural and human resources. This unity can thus be attained through adequate negotiation and peaceful resolutions.

  DOI

• The Palgrave Handbook of Islam in Africa

  Springer eBooks · 2020 · 15 citations

  • Political Science
  • History
  • Political Science
  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Misty L. Bastian

  2 shared

• Jacob K. Olúpònà

  Harvard University Press

  2 shared

• Abimbola A. Adelakun

  1 shared

• Helen Callaway

  University of Chicago

  1 shared

• Elizabeth Sirriyeh

  1 shared

• Elizabeth Tonkin

  1 shared

• Roy Willis

  University of Pittsburgh

  1 shared

• Matt D. Childs

  1 shared

Similar researchers at University of Texas at Austin

• Carlos Caldash-218
• Thomas J. Hughesh-154
• George Georgiouh-107
• Keith Johnstonh-106
• Jeffrey Andrewsh-104