Bolanle Awe

Awe was born on January 28, 1933 in the town of Ilesa, Nigeria to Samuel Akindeji Fajembola and Mosebolatan Abede. Her father was originally from the town of Ibadan, and was a cocoa trader a manager at the John Holt & Co., a shipping and general merchandise company. Her mother was from the town of Ilesa, and was a member of the Abede family, a branch of the Royal House of Bilayirere, one of the 4 royal houses of Ilesa. Her mother was a teacher. Upon her father's transfer to one of the branches of John Holt & Co. in Ilesa, Awe was born. She described as her life in Ilesa as one of rich diversity, where practitioners of Islam, Christianity, and the Yoruba religion lived harmoniously.[1][2] She attended Holy Trinity School, Omofe-Ilesha, before moving with her family to Ibadan when she was 8 years old, where she continued her education at the St James Primary School, Okebola, Ibadan and St Anne's School, Ibadan.[3] She took her A-levels at the Perse School in Cambridge. She went to St Andrews University in Scotland where she obtained a masters in history, before taking a doctorate in history at Oxford University. Awe then returned to Nigeria, where she became a lecturer at the University of Ibadan.

She rose to be a professor at the same university.[4] She was one of the historians who allowed their evidence to include oral traditions. This meant that she was able to trace back histories before the arrival of Europeans. She was also active in identifying how the role of women in history was being overlooked and she co-founded the Women's Research and Documentation Centre (WORDOC) to promote the coordination of women's studies research and new methodologies to study Nigerian women.[5] In 1982, she was made an Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.[6]

On Christmas Day, 1960, she married Olumuyiwa Awe. He would also become a professor and they would have children. Her husband died in 2015 at the age of 82.[4][7]

From 1990 to 1992 she served as the first chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW). However, she resigned the post in 1992 after the government restructured the Commission, placing it under the control of the First Lady of Nigeria, Maryam Babangida.[8]

In 1998, she retired[6] and the following year, the department of African studies published a small book about her.[9] After her retirement, she continued to research and in 2005 she became the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka.[6]

• Awe, Bolanle Praise Poems as Historical Data: The Example of the Yoruba Oríkì. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute; Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct., 1974), pp. 331–349
• Bolanle Awe, ed. Nigerian Women in Historical Perspective. Sankore Publishers; Ibadan: Bookcraft, 1992 (ISBN 978-2030074).
• Ojetunji Aboyade and Bolanle Awe, editors. Footprints of the Ancestor: The Secret of Being. Special edn. Ibadan, Nigeria: Fountain Publications, c.1999
• Awe, Bolanle. OBA (DR), Samuel Odulana Odugade I: the 40th Olubadan of Ibadanland: a biography / Bolanle Awe, P. Adedtun Ogundeji S, Ademola Ajayi. 2nd edition, Centenary edition, Mapo, Ibadan: Tafak Publications, [2014].