OLODUDE Ibukunolu Isaac

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OLODUDE Ibukunolu Isaac

Lecturer I

Full name (Surname first): OLODUDE Ibukunolu Isaac

Department: Linguistics and African Languages

Rank: Lecturer 1

Phone number: 08067318667

Email address(es): ibkolodude@oauife.edu.ng

Office Address: Room 302, Department of Linguistics and African Languages, African Studies Building, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

ORCID: 0000-0002-9084-3751

Academic Qualifications:

B.A Yoruba (Ife); M.A. Linguistics (Ibadan); PhD. Linguistics (Ibadan)

Areas of Specialization: Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies

Title of M.A. Thesis:

Negation in Ikale Dialect of Yoruba

Title of Ph.D. Thesis:

Language and Identity Construction Among Hausa Muslims in Sabo, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

Scholarships:

Chief Alex Akinyele Prize for the Best Male Graduating Student in the Faculty of Arts, O.A.U., Ile-Ife (2006)

Professor Wande Abimbola Prize for the Student with the Best Overall Performance in the B.A. Yoruba Examination, Department of African Languages and Literature O.A.U., Ile-Ife (2006)

Professor Michael Crowther Prize for the Best Graduating Student in the three Creative Arts Departments, O.A.U., Ile-Ife (2006)

Fellowships:

  1. Fellow, 2025-2026 LUCAS-LAHRI Virtual Visiting Research Fellowship tenable at the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS)/Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute (LAHRI), University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
  2. Fellow, Ife Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS)

Research Grants:

  1. TETFUND Institution-Based Research Intervention 2025 (Ongoing). I am a co-investigator with Dr. Babalola Joseph Balogun (PI) and Professor Gbenga Fasiku, both of the Department of Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The project is titled, ‘Cultural Sensitisation and Capacity Building for Intending Graduates of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria’.

Total Grant: N2,998,000.00

  1. 2025-2026 LUCAS-LAHRI Virtual Visiting Research Fellowship at the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS)/Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute (LAHRI), University of Leeds, United Kingdom, from August 1, 2025 – May 31, 2026.

Project title: “Is Queerness Truly Un-African?”: Disentangling the Complexities of Gender Binaries and Sexuality in Yoruba.

Total Grant: GBP 1000

  1. CODESRIA Academic Writing and Publishing Grant for Young Scholars and Early Career Researchers (2022)

Total Grant: Five thousand South African Rand (R5000)

  1. Ife Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) Research Grant Competition (2022). The Institute is convened by Professor Jacob Oluponna of Harvard University and the Grant was sponsored by Mastercard Foundation, USA.

Total Grant: USD 500

Project title: Ọba ní kòró (The king has coronavirus): Lexical Innovations and Yoruba Naming Strategies in the Covid-19 Pandemic

Travel Grants

  1. I won a full sponsorship from SPALDING TRUST to attend the World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) held at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland from August 24-30, 2025.
  2. I won a Travel Grant from the British Academy to attend the ‘Gender, Spirituality and Agency in Africa’ Workshop held at the University of Nairobi, Kenya from July 29 to 30, 2025.
  3. I won a full conference Bursary from the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) to attend the 2024 Conference held at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom (September 2-4, 2024)
  4. I won a Travel Grant from the British Academy to attend the African Studies Association- UK (ASAUK) conference held at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom from August 29 to 31, 2024.
  5. I won a Travel Grant from the British Academy to attend the African Ecologies Workshop held at the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), Nairobi, Kenya from July 28 to 31, 2023.
  6. I won a Travel Grant to attend the 9th African Association for the Study of Religions Conference in Africa held at the University of Nairobi, Kenya from August 2 to 4, 2023.

Ongoing Current Research:

  1. Disentangling the Complexities of Gender Binaries and Sexuality in Yoruba Proverbs
  2. Binary versus Queerness: Negotiating Gender and Sexuality Discourses in Yoruba Films and Expressions.
  3. “Let Somebody Shout Hallelujah”: Language and Identity Construction in Nigerian Pentecostal Christianity.
  4. Synthetic Belonging and Exclusion: AI-Manipulated Discourses, Deepfakes and the Making of Migrant Identities in Africa

 

Publications:

  1. Balogun B. J., Fasiku G. and Olodude I. I. (2026). Strategic Ambivalence and Cultural Consciousness: Nigerian Youths, Decoloniality and the Challenge of National Development. GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis. Vol 9(1) 33-50. (Calabar, Nigeria)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2025). ‘More on Negation in Yoruba’. In Language, Context and Contextuality: A Festschrift in honour of Professor Herbert Igboanusi. Pg 288-302. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. (Cambridge, United Kingdom)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2025). Language Use Patterns among Hausa In-Migrants in Sabo, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Ọye: Journal of Language, Literature and Popular Culture. Vol 5(1): 1-19 (Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria)

 

  1. Faleye A. A. and I. Olodude (2025). The Mother and Mother Tongue: Yoruba Language Identity and Maintenance Strategies through Women’s Involvement in Folkloric Performatives. Developing Country Studies. Vol 15 (2). DOI: 10.7176/DCS/15-2-06 (USA)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2024). Ọba ní kòró (The king has coronavirus): Lexical Innovations and Yoruba Naming Strategies in the Covid-19 Pandemic. Journal of Culture and Ideas: An African Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Vol 2(1): 99-108. Retrieved from https://journal.ias-ife.com/index.php/journal/article/view/12. (Ile-Ife, Nigeria)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2024). Kukurúùkúù: Ecospiritual implications of the Sounds of the Cockcrow in Yoruba Rural Dwellings. Journal of the British Academy. Vol. 12 (1&2). (United Kingdom)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2024). Tense and Aspect in the Ìkálẹ̀ Dialect of Yoruba. Dialectologia. 33(xx-xxx). University of Barcelona. (Barcelona, Spain)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2024). Linguistic Contestations in the ‘City of 201 Gods’: Identity Construction among Hausa Immigrants in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. SCOPUS/ISI SOAS Global Council for Anthropological Linguistics (GLOCAL) African Assembly on Linguistic Anthropology (AFALA) 2023 Conference Proceedings Book. (United Kingdom)

 

 

  1. Fabunmi F. A, Salawu A. S, Olodude I. I. and Nurudeen A. A. (2024). “Ǹjẹ́ Ayédèrú Ò̩rò̩-Ìs̩e Yorùbá Ni Kú, Jú Ati Dú?” (Are Kú, Jú and Dú Fake Verbs in Yoruba). In YORUBA: Journal of the Yorùbá Studies Association of Nigeria, YSAN) Vol. 12, No 2. (Nigeria)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2023). Constituent and Sentence Negation in the Ìkálẹ̀ Dialect of Yoruba. Papers in English and Linguistics (PEL): Vol. 24 (1 & 2), 69-98. (Ile-Ife, Nigeria).

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2022). Intentional Manipulations? A Further Analysis of Selected English-Yoruba Humorous Translations. In Toyin Falola & Tunde Akinyemi (Eds). Yoruba Studies Review. Vol 7 (1). 73-85. University of Texas. (Texas, USA)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2021). Abbreviations and Acronyms in the Sociolect of Obafemi Awolowo University Administrators. Ife Journal of Languages and Literatures (IJLL). Vol 7(1), 188-199. (Ile-Ife, Nigeria)

 

  1. Olodude I. I. (2021). Focus Constructions in Ìkálẹ̀ Dialect of Yoruba. Nigerian Language Studies (NILAS): 5, 21-29. (Aba, Nigeria).

 

 

Staff Profile

Dr. Ibukunolu Isaac Olodude, is a Researcher and Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He is also a Fellow of the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS) and the Ife Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS). He holds a B.A. degree in Yoruba language and literature from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, where he graduated as the best male student in the Faculty of Arts. He also possesses MA and PhD degrees in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His doctoral research is multidisciplinary and intersects the fields of Linguistics, Religion and Migration. His areas of specialization are African Studies, Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies, while his research interests include the intersections of language with religion, identity, public health, migration, ecology and gender/sexuality studies. With a decade of research administration and over five years of teaching experience, he has published widely on African languages, identity, faith, gender discourses and ecospirituality. His research is globally recognized, earning him prestigious fellowships and travel grants, including the 2025-2026 LUCAS-LAHRI Virtual Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Leeds, a SPALDING TRUST award, and multiple British Academy travel grants. He is actively involved in professional bodies, including the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR), International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), the West African Linguistic Society (WALS), Yoruba Studies Association of Nigeria (YSAN) and the Lagos Studies Association (LSA). He has attended and presented papers in several international conferences and workshops, including the British Academy funded 2023 African Ecologies workshop and 2025 Gender/Sexuality workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya; the 2023 African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR) conference held in Nairobi, Kenya; the 2024 African Studies Association (ASA-UK) conference in Oxford; and the 2024 British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) conference in Leeds, UK.