The University of Ibadan (UI), has lost another erudite female scholar, Professor Folake Oritsegbubemi Onayemi of the Department of Classics, who died at 59.
Onayemi, who was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in Classics in Nigeria and the first black woman to be a Professor of Classics in sub-Saharan Africa, died on February 14, 2024.
The cause of her death was not known as of the time this report was filed.
The deceased was an expert on comparative Greco-Roman and Nigerian literature, cultures, and mythology, particularly relating to the roles and representations of women.
Onayemi attended the University of Ibadan for her BA in Classics (1986), followed by an MA (1990), MPhil (1997), and PhD (2001).
Her thesis was entitled “Fear of Women’s Beauty in Classical and African/Yoruba Literature.” During her PhD, she spent time as a Visiting Scholar at Brown University, Rhode Island.
Onayemi was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Classics of the University of Ibadan in 1994, becoming the first woman to hold this position in the Department, and was successively promoted through the two grades of Lecturer (Lecturer II in 1996, Lecturer I in 1999), to Senior Lecturer in 2002, and Reader in 2005; in 2008, her promotion to Professor made her the first woman Professor of Classics in the University of Ibadan and the first black woman to be Professor of Classics in sub-Saharan Africa.
Her inaugural lecture, delivered on 23 June 2016, was entitled “Paradigms of Life from Ancient Greek Literature”, and explored the continuing relevance of works by Homer, Sophocles, and Plutarch to life in contemporary Nigeria.
