The Soft Issue
August 2017
Profile
staff should be released to go for further studies
irrespective of the time they started the job.
Before then you should have worked for a few
years before you can go for any academic pursuit.”
Kadiri has spent most of her life on the path to
self-discovery. Around the time she grew up
children already knew what they wanted to
become by the time they were leaving primary
school. But it was not so for her. So, she modelled
her life along that of her twin brother.
“I followed Taiwo to science class. When I got
there I failed woefully. So, I had to leave him.”
Her voice trembles, “I realised later that life is an
individual race.”
Before that time, literature
had been an important part of
her life. She read magazines,
newspapers and books of all
kinds, avidly. Although, she
had a lot of people around
her, she often found herself
resorting to literature as an
outlet to express thoughts
and ideas. She wrote poetry,
essay, and other forms and
they were published in select
newspapers and magazines.
But somehow she gradually
drifted away and her writing
suffered for it.
She left science class for
commercial class. By the time
she got to SS2 things started
to appear clearer to her.
She did not enjoy working
with numerals. It was time
to move again. This time it
would be to art class. Deep in her mind she knew
this would be the right move: the possibilities that
literature offered fascinated her. Truly, she was
right. Because she began to flourish after that
move.
There is a knock on her door. Her colleagues
from other departments are here to see her. The
metal door clangs open. The scene is solemn and
they immediately take reverse, obviously contrite
for the unwitting interruption they have caused.
Kaykay exchanges pleasantry with them and
offers to attend to them.
“Aha-aha, no-no-no, we’ll come back.” One of the
visitors says, the man appears mortified.
This is a meeting between Kaykay and her
students and when Kaykay is with her students her
full attention is always difficult to get. Her students
often wonder how smooth it is for her to change
narratives: they can be talking about Consumer
Behaviour now and the next minute it is Tiwa
Savage and Mercy Aigbe’s marriages or personal
hygiene for boys. She does not judge. And
gradually the students’ defensiveness withers and
they start to give insights into things they would
normally not talk about, except of course among
themselves.
One special thing about Dr. Kadiri is her
unabashed admittance of imperfection. She is
often not afraid to say “I didn’t know that before.”
A typical conversation with her is that of idea
exchange and banter.
Dr. Kadiri speaks the
language of millennials—
who make up majority of her
The scene is solemn
and they immediately
take reverse,
obviously contrite
for the unwitting
interruption they have
caused.
students. Her familiarity with
popular culture makes this
seamless. While she is putting
finishing touches to a paper
she intends to publish on a
journal she is also on Facebook
dropping stylish photographs
and sharing likes on other
people’s photographs.
“Academic writing is extremely
pretentious and unclear half of
the time.” One of her students
had told her.
“Academic writings have to
be academic writing. Not the
unserious things you people
write.” She had laughed in
defence. Then she proceeded
to ask, “what is weh done, Ma?
“Weh done, Ma?” another
student had repeated, question-
like. “That’s the new trend. It’s like a salutation. Like
they are greeting you, Ma.” She laughed, then logged
onto her Facebook and Instagram accounts. She
uploaded a photograph of she and a couple of her
students: their smiles were bold, and they had their
hands across their face in that greeting fashion. Weh
done Ma!
Photography to Dr. Kehinde Kadiri is like every other
forms of art she had had interest in—it is a means of
expression. During her PhD she would often take
photographs and upload the photos on social media.
She knew she wanted she wanted to do something
with photography. But what she wanted to do, she still
was not quite sure of yet. Then she continued to take
photographs as an avenue to “ventilate” her emotions
and thoughts.
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