Professor Biodun Jeyifo, respected academic, literary critic and public intellectual, has passed away at the age of 80. The eminent scholar, widely known as BJ, died on Wednesday following complications from renal failure, just over a month after marking his 80th birthday in Lagos.
Born in Ibadan, Jeyifo began his academic journey at the University of Ibadan, where he obtained a first-class degree in English in 1970. He later earned a master’s degree from the same institution in 1973 before proceeding to New York University for his doctorate in 1975.
In addition, he received an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from Obafemi Awolowo University, formerly the University of Ife, where he lectured for several years. He once reflected that his years at Ife shaped him into the teacher and individual he had always aspired to become.
Beyond Nigeria, Jeyifo held distinguished academic positions at leading global institutions, including Cornell University and Harvard University. At Harvard, he served as Professor Emeritus of African and African American Studies as well as Comparative Literature until his death.
Over the decades, his scholarship covered a broad spectrum of fields, including African and Caribbean literature in English, dramatic theory, Marxist literary and cultural criticism, colonial and postcolonial studies, and revolutionary social thought.
He was widely recognised as a foremost authority on the works of Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. His book, Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (2004), is considered one of the most detailed and influential studies of Soyinka’s writings and a major contribution to African literary criticism.
Among his other notable publications are The Truthful Lie: Essays in the Sociology of African Drama (1985), Things Fall Apart, Things Fall Together (2010), Against the Predators’ Republic (2016), and Apostrophes: To Friendship, Socialism and Democracy (2021), alongside numerous essays and commentaries.
Jeyifo also played a significant role in Nigeria’s academic union movement as the first National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Throughout his life, he remained an active voice in national and global discourse through journalism and critical engagement.
Professor Jeyifo’s death marks the end of an era in African literary scholarship and intellectual activism, leaving behind a legacy of rigorous thought, principled advocacy and enduring contributions to education and social justice.
