CrimSL warmly welcomes our new postdoctoral fellow, Omowumi (Wumi) Asubiaro Dada!
In September 2024 Wumi successfully defended her dissertation “Mai Kariya (Female Protectors): The Evolving Role of Women in Conflict in Kaduna State, Nigeria" exploring the role of women in preventing conflict in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Prior to her PhD studies, she worked as a human rights lawyer on issues of social inequality, gender-based violence and inclusion. She received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Lagos State University, Nigeria, was called to the Nigerian Bar, and obtained a Master of Law Degree from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Wumi has worked in law and public policy for the past 21 years to design and manage projects for non-governmental organisations, government agencies and international development agencies. As a feminist, she makes significant personal and technical contributions to the women’s movement in Nigeria and Africa. She co-convenes the Feminist Womanifesto, one of the biggest platforms for feminists organising in Nigeria, and sits on the boards of BAOBAB For Women Human Rights, Gatefield Africa, Women Advocate and Research Centre, and the Centre for Redefining Alternative Civic Engagement for Africa.
In her postdoctoral role at CrimSL, Wumi will continue the work she began as a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Kamari Clarke. She says,
This postdoctoral project is an extension of my doctoral work and, as such, it seeks to deepen our understanding of transformative memory as a social force that both documents and reconstitutes experiences of violence and political conflict.
My doctoral research foregrounded women who, contrary to dominant narratives of vulnerability, assumed roles of protection and resilience within their communities amidst conflict.
In this phase, my work explores the ways in which individuals and members of communities invoke memory—through art, song, ritual, and other expressive forms—not only as a means of healing but as a deliberate mode of transformation and resistance.
Guided by Professor Kamari Clarke, my project will explore how these "inscriptions of memory" function within processes of transitional justice, shedding light on the cultural and ethical practices through which societies seek to metabolize trauma and reimagine their futures.
Wumi will also co-teach a research-based excursion course in summer 2025, immersing students in emergent theories and methodologies related to transformative memory and the politics of remembrance in post-conflict settings. The course will offer a unique, critical exploration of memory work as both a scholarly inquiry and a lived, communal practice of resilience and renewal.
Please join us in giving Wumi a warm CrimSL welcome!