With her latest book, African Modernity and the Philosophy of Culture in the Works of Femi Euba, Iyunolu Osagie achieves two critical goals: she delivers an intricate study of the corpus of Euba’s works and at the same time she offers an important perspective on the discourse of tradition and modernity from the prism of African metaphysics. . . . In all, African Modernity and the Philosophy of Culture in the Works of Femi Euba is a thorough exposition into not only the works, but also the artistic career of Femi Euba. Osagie’s personal relationship with Euba brings the book alive in a certain way—the book is peppered with various anecdotes that offer peculiar insight into the ideas and events that inform Euba’s dramaturgy and scholarship, as well as the critical arguments Osagie makes about his works. This book is, without doubt, a valuable addition to the scholarship on Yoruba cosmology, transnational and diasporic African identity, globalization, and modernity. The book will also serve as a useful resource to those who are studying, teaching, or researching Femi Euba and his works.

Research in African Literatures

Few have meant more to the flowering of African and African American theater over the past half-century than the Nigerian actor, playwright, director, and scholar, Femi Euba. Now, thanks to Iyunolu Osagie’s brilliant study, we at last have an interpretive companion to Euba’s life and work that will make it possible not only to teach him within the context of his times, but to gain a deeper appreciation for what his art has revealed about the crossroads of tradition and modernity and the possibilities that exist for a dynamic past within a diasporic world. I have known Femi Euba since my days as a graduate student in Cambridge under the tutelage of our mentor Wole Soyinka, and I could not be more thrilled that his genius—for signification, satire, and so much more—is finally receiving the serious treatment it deserves.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University

African Modernity and the Philosophy of Culture in the Works of Femi Euba by Iyunolu Osagie deftly navigates the intellectual and cultural terrains that create the context for Femi Euba’s work. Her brilliant assessment of Euba’s formative role as a pioneer of Black Atlantic drama and criticism deepens our knowledge of the transnational ritual, social, and artistic entanglements situated in the African diaspora. The study also significantly adds to the body of work on the trickster deity Esu in its innovative, satiric, and wise analysis of this figure as a guide and muse.

Solimar Otero, Louisiana State University