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Felix Ayanbode

Profile picture for Felix Ayanbode

Contact Information

3112 FLB
PhD Candidate, Graduate College Dissertation Fellowship

Biography

Felix Ayanbode earned the Bachelor's degree in German from the University of Ibadan, and a Master's degree in German literature, with distinction, from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His Master's thesis was written on "Die Darstellung der Scheuβlichkeiten des deutschen Kolonialismus in Südwest Afrika am Beispiel Uwe Timms Morenga," and he argued that German colonialism has had irredeemable negative consequences for the Herero people. Therefore, there is a need for Germany to offer an open apology in order to come to terms with her colonial past.

Prior to joining the German department at Illinois, Felix taught French and German in several schools in Nigeria, including the Corona Secondary School, a Pasch-school of the Goethe-Institut, and Madonna University. Last year, Felix presented on "The Future of German in Nigerian Secondary Schools" during the Goethe-Insitut's Deutschlehrertag conference.

Felix has also attended several trainings for German teachers in both Nigeria and Germany. In 2018 he received a DAAD scholarship to attend a summer school at the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, and a Goethe-Institut scholarship to attend a teacher training course in Dresden.

Felix has published the book La maitrise du Français, and produced CDs to help people learn French and German.

Currently Felix is a Ph.D. candidate on fellowship in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Illinois.

 

Research Interests

Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, Racism, Holocaust and Memory studies, 20th- and 21st-century German literature, Second Language Acquisition.

Education

Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois

M.A., University of Nigeria

B.A., University of Ibadan

Awards and Honors

  • Certificate of Merit: Prize for the most punctual student of the German Club, Department of European Studies, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, 2012.
  • Goethe Institut scholarship for outstanding students, 2011
  • DAAD scholarship award for Summer language program, Kiel 2018
  • Goethe Institute Scholarship Award for German Teachers, Dresden 2018
  • Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures (DGLL) Summer Fellowship Award for Language program in Germany, Kiel 2020
  • DGLL Summer Fellowship Award for Research, 2020
  • Max Kade Fellowship Award, 2021
  • DGLL Summer Fellowship Award for Research, 2021
  • DAAD Scholarship Award for German Teachers’ Training, Atlanta December 2021

 

Courses Taught

GER 101: Beginning German I

GER 102: Beginning German II

SCAN 251: Viking Mythology

 

Recent Publications

  • Ayanbode, Felix. Revolution in Uwe Timm’s Morenga: Towards a Comparative Analysis of the Herero and the  German  Democratic  Republic  Revolutions.  Sprin  Journal  of  Arts,  Humanities  and  Social  Sciences,  1(05).  https://doi.org/10.55559/sjahss.v1i05.21
  • Ayanbode, Felix. Black Shame/ White Disgrace: Rhineland Bastards and the Nazi Construction Black Identity in Hans Massaquoi’s Destined to Witness. Veda’s Journal of English Language and Literature, 9 (02). http://dx.doi.org/10.54513/JOELL.2022.9208