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‘Nigeria is my Playground’: Pẹlu Awofẹsọ's Nigerian travel writing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Rebecca Jones
Rebecca Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham, UK
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Extract

Since the turn of the millennium a crop of travel books by Africans or Africans in diaspora describing their travels within Africa have appeared to assert a fresh African self-representation in travel writing. Noo Saro-Wiwa's travel book Looking for Transwonderland (2012) tells the story of British-Nigerian journalist and travel writer Saro-Wiwa's travels around Nigeria for the first time since the death of her father Ken Saro-Wiwa. Looking for Transwonderland describes Saro-Wiwa's journey all over Nigeria, from Lagos to the north via the east and southwest, including a stop in her father's village in Ogoniland. Saro-Wiwa represents herself as a pioneer, one of the first travel writers of western-published, tourist-oriented travel writing about a country which in global tourism terms is “this final frontier that has perhaps received fewer voluntary visitors than outer space” (p.8).

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Articles
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African Research and Documentation , Volume 125: African Trajectories: Travel and the Archive: papers from the 2014 Scolma Conference , 2014 , pp. 65 - 85
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Copyright © International African Institute 2014

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References

Bibliography

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Awofẹsọ, P. (16 December 2010). Interview with author. Via email.Google Scholar
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Awofẹsọ, P. (2010) Tour of Duty, Lagos: Homestead Publications.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (2013b [2005]) Nigerian Festivals: The Famous and Not So Famous. 2nd edition. Lagos: Homestead Publications. Kindle e-book.Google Scholar
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Khumalo, S. (2007) Dark Continent, My Black Arse. Cape Town: Umuzi.Google Scholar
Khumalo, S. (2009) Heart of Africa: Centre of My Gravity. Cape Town: Umuzi.Google Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (2011) 2012 Annual Socio-Economic Report: Access to ICT. Abuja: National Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
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Nkambwe, M. (1985) “Intranational Tourism in Nigeria”, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 19 (1): pp.193–204.Google Scholar
Nnodim, R. (2006) “Configuring audiences in Yoruba novels, print and media poetry”, Research in African Literature 37 (3): pp.154–176.Google Scholar
Obono, O. and Obono, K. (2012) “Ajala Travel: Mobility and Connections as Forms of Social Capital in Nigerian Society”. In: de Bruijn, M. and van Dijk, R. (eds.) The Social Life of Connectivity in Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp.227–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitman, T. (2008) Mexican Travel Writing. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Pratt, M.L. (2008 [1992]) Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saro-Wiwa, N. (2012) Looking for Transwonderland. London: Granta Books.Google Scholar
Spurr, D. (1993) The Rhetoric of Empire : colonial discourse in journalism, travel writing and imperial administration. Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Strong, K. and Ossei-Owusu, S. (2014) Naija boy remix: Afroexploitation and the new media creative economies of cosmopolitan African youth. Journal of African Cultural Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2013.861343CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiamiyu, M. (2005) “Prospects of Nigerian Book Publishing in the Electronic Age”. In: Adesanoye, F.A. and Ojeniyi, A. (eds.) Issues in Book Publishing in Nigeria. Essays in Honour of Aigboje Higo at 70. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria). Pp. 143–157.Google Scholar
Turner, L., and Ash, J. (1975) The Golden Hordes: International tourism and the pleasure periphery. London: Constable.Google Scholar
Wood, M. (2012) “Farewell Juffureh”, The Lagos Review of Books and Society, 2: 37, pp.55–59.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (22 April 2011) Interview with author. Ibadan, Nigeria.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (16 December 2010). Interview with author. Via email.Google Scholar
Dakar: City Ready to Entertain its Guests. (1992) National Concord, January 10, p.19.Google Scholar
Ekiti visit - then tour of the world. (1961) Independent. 4-11 March, p. 6.Google Scholar
Holiday-Maker (1940) From Port Harcourt to Lagos. Nigerian Observer. 16 March, p.18.Google Scholar
Thomas, I.B. (1929) Ero L'Ona. Akede Eko, 23 May, p.7.Google Scholar
Travelling Outside Oshogbo. (1953) Nigerian Guide. July 25, p.2.Google Scholar
Travelling via Hell's Highway. (1958) Daily Service. December 31, p.4.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (n.d.) A Visit to Kano [online] Available from: http://www.travelintelligence.com/travel-writing/writers/Pelu-Awofẹsọ/page-1 [Accessed 6 May 2010].Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (n.d.) To Jos and Back Again [online] Available from: http://www.travelintelligence.com/travel-writing/writers/Pelu-Awofẹsọ/page-1 [Accessed 6 May 2010].Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (2013a) Pelu Awofeso. Facebook [online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/pelu.awofeso [Accessed 16 February 2014].Google Scholar
Kọlawọle, F. (2010) About Ntreks [online] Available from: http://naijatreks.com/about/ [Accessed 6 December 2013]Google Scholar
Ogunlesi, T. (2009) 2009 Osun Osogbo Festival - photos by Tolu Ogunlesi [online] Available from: http://toluogunlesi.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/2009-osun-osogbo-festival-photos-by-tolu-ogunlesi/ [Accessed 28 November 2013].Google Scholar
Ogwuegbu, C. and Oguwegbu, O. (2010) Celebrate Africa [online] Available from: http://africacelebrates.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 21 November 2010].Google Scholar
Otas, B. (2010) Celebrate Africa With Chioma and Oluchi Ogwuegbu [online] Available from: http://belindaotas.com/?p=1513 [Accessed 4 March 2014].Google Scholar
Adenekan, S. and Cousins, H. (2012) “African Short Stories and the Online Writing Space” in: Awadalla, M. and March-Russell, P. (eds.) The Postcolonial Short Story: Contemporary Essays, pp.199-213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adesanoye, F.A. (2005) “Book Publishing in Nigeria: An Overview”. In: Adesanoye, F.A. and Ojeniyi, A. (eds.) Issues in Book Publishing in Nigeria. Essays in Honour of Aigboje Higo at 70. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria), pp.115–141.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (2003) A Place Called Peace: A Visitor's Guide to Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Lagos: Homestead Publications.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (2010) Tour of Duty, Lagos: Homestead Publications.Google Scholar
Awofẹsọ, P. (2013b [2005]) Nigerian Festivals: The Famous and Not So Famous. 2nd edition. Lagos: Homestead Publications. Kindle e-book.Google Scholar
Adler, J. (1989) “Travel as Performed Art”, The American Journal of Sociology, 94(6), pp.1366–1391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, K. (2009) “I.B. Akinyele and Early Yoruba Print Culture”. In: Peterson, D. R. and Macola, G. (eds.) Recasting the Past: History Writing and Political Work in Modern Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, pp.31–49.Google Scholar
Barber, K. (2012) Print Culture and the First Yoruba Novel: Thomas, I.B.'s ‘Life Story of Me, Segilola’ and Other Texts. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coetzee, C. (2013) “Sihle Khumalo, Cape to Cairo, and Questions of Intertextuality: How to Write About Africa, How to Read About Africa”, Research in African Literatures, 44 (2), pp.62–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faoṣeke, J.O. (2009 [1997]) Cultural Travel Guide to Nigeria. 2nd ed. Keystone Travel PressGoogle Scholar
Gregory, D. (1999) “Scripting Egypt: Orientalism and the Cultures of Travel.” In: Duncan, J. and Gregory, D. (eds.) Writes of Passage: Reading Travel Writing. London: Routledge, pp.114–150.Google Scholar
Hallen, B. (2000) The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful: Discourse About Values in Yoruba Culture. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Holland, P and Huggan, G. (2000) Tourists with Typewriters. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ike, V.C. (1993) Problems of Book Industry in Nigeria. In: Bello, S. and Augi, A.R. (eds.) Culture and the Book Industry in Nigeria. Lagos: National Council for Arts and Culture, pp.129–147.Google Scholar
Jones, R. (2013) “The Benefits of Travel: travel writing in the Lagos newspapers 1912-1931,. Journal of History and Cultures, 2, pp.39–56.Google Scholar
Khumalo, S. (2007) Dark Continent, My Black Arse. Cape Town: Umuzi.Google Scholar
Khumalo, S. (2009) Heart of Africa: Centre of My Gravity. Cape Town: Umuzi.Google Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (2011) 2012 Annual Socio-Economic Report: Access to ICT. Abuja: National Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Newell, S. (2002) “Introduction”. In: Newell, S. (ed.) Readings in African Popular Fiction. London: International African Institute, pp.1–10.Google Scholar
Nkambwe, M. (1985) “Intranational Tourism in Nigeria”, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 19 (1): pp.193–204.Google Scholar
Nnodim, R. (2006) “Configuring audiences in Yoruba novels, print and media poetry”, Research in African Literature 37 (3): pp.154–176.Google Scholar
Obono, O. and Obono, K. (2012) “Ajala Travel: Mobility and Connections as Forms of Social Capital in Nigerian Society”. In: de Bruijn, M. and van Dijk, R. (eds.) The Social Life of Connectivity in Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp.227–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitman, T. (2008) Mexican Travel Writing. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Pratt, M.L. (2008 [1992]) Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saro-Wiwa, N. (2012) Looking for Transwonderland. London: Granta Books.Google Scholar
Spurr, D. (1993) The Rhetoric of Empire : colonial discourse in journalism, travel writing and imperial administration. Durham and London: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Strong, K. and Ossei-Owusu, S. (2014) Naija boy remix: Afroexploitation and the new media creative economies of cosmopolitan African youth. Journal of African Cultural Studies, DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2013.861343CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiamiyu, M. (2005) “Prospects of Nigerian Book Publishing in the Electronic Age”. In: Adesanoye, F.A. and Ojeniyi, A. (eds.) Issues in Book Publishing in Nigeria. Essays in Honour of Aigboje Higo at 70. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria). Pp. 143–157.Google Scholar
Turner, L., and Ash, J. (1975) The Golden Hordes: International tourism and the pleasure periphery. London: Constable.Google Scholar
Wood, M. (2012) “Farewell Juffureh”, The Lagos Review of Books and Society, 2: 37, pp.55–59.Google Scholar