The Governing Council, the Vice-Chancellor, Management, Senate, staff and students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, have congratulated Emerita Professor Dame Karin Judith Barber for the conference organised in her honour.

In a congratulatory message, the Pro-Chancellor of the OAU, Professor Siyan Oyeweso, said Barber’s distinguished career and contributions to African Anthropology, especially on the Anthropology of texts, oral performance, popular culture and religion of the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria, are deeply appreciated.

“Honouring Emerita Karin Barber FBA with a conference of this sort is plausible and worthwhile. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, is immensely grateful to the Department of African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham for honouring our worthy alumna, Emerita Prof. Karin Barber CBE, FBA with the 18th Cadbury Conference with focus on ‘Conventions of Creativity: Everyday Artistry in Africa’.”

Oyeweso stated that the OAU is grateful for her years of dedicated service, noting that her knowledge, passion, and commitment to the Department of African Languages and Literatures of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) have left an enduring mark on the university.

He said: “We cannot thank you enough for all you have done. We are quite aware of your impact as a doctoral student and a lecturer at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowọ University, Nigeria. Your early research on the social significance of praise poetry (oriki), based on three years of field work in a Yoruba town, Okukù, was epochal and has served and still serving as a referent point for many researchers on that veritable source of construction and reconstruction of social history till today.

“You have indeed made an indelible mark in Yoruba studies in diverse areas; language, literature, and culture. Even while you were working as a lecturer in the Department of African Languages and Literatures at Ife, you were still involved in performing and travelling with Oyin Adejobi Theatre Company and performing, both on stage and on television.

“We know that your engagement with the Obafemi Awolowo University was not limited to your time of studentship and working as a lecturer there. You have used your expertise in the field of anthropology and goodwill for the university to mentor some of our products who are also eminent professors today in the field of anthropology, in the likes of Professors Olusola Ajibade, Oyeniyi Okunoye, Akin Oyetade and Olukoya Joseph Ogen, to mention a few.”

Oyeweso added that OAU is grateful to her for the qualitative contributions to the development of the university particularly between 1977 and 1984.

“We acknowledge you as a ground-breaking and organic scholar in African cultural anthropology and as a well-decorated scholar by many international organizations. We single out your appointment as a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2003; as Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham in 2018, your appointment as the Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economies and Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 2021,” he noted.