Nigerian playwright and theorist Majekodunmi Oseriemen Ebhohon has received an Honorable Mention in the 2026 Best Student Paper Award category of the New York African Studies Association (NYASA), recognising his research on African knowledge systems, decolonisation, and the role of dramatic literature in shaping Africa’s future.
His paper, titled “Episteresurrecism in The Great Delusion: The Dramaturgy of African Knowledge Recovery as a Blueprint for the African Future,” was selected for the recognition at the association’s 48th Annual Conference, held on October 30–31, 2026, at the State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo in New York, United States. The Honorable Mention was formally presented to Ebhohon during the conference’s awards ceremony on Friday, October 30. He also received an official NYASA Certificate of Honorable Mention.
In a letter conveying the decision, NYASA President Dr. Susana Castillo-Rodríguez, writing on behalf of the association’s executive board, conference organising committee, and Student Paper Awards Committee, congratulated Ebhohon on the achievement.
“Your submitted paper has been selected for Honorable Mention in the 2026 NYASA Best Student Paper Award competition. This recognition acknowledges the scholarly merit of your work and its contribution to African and Africana Studies,” she wrote.
The association commended the paper for examining how dramatic literature can recover African and Black knowledge marginalised by colonialism and racial domination. It highlighted Ebhohon’s engagement with Yoruba Ifá traditions, historical memory, Black scientific achievement, and his concept of Afrocession in exploring questions of African self-determination.
NYASA also praised his development of Episteresurrecism, a framework concerned with the recovery and revival of suppressed African and Black intellectual traditions and their application to contemporary education, intellectual renewal, and institution-building.
“Your work offers a valuable contribution to interdisciplinary discussions of African epistemologies, cultural memory, decolonization, and the role of creative expression in shaping future possibilities,” Castillo-Rodríguez stated.
The association noted that the research aligns with the 2026 conference theme, “The Future Is Africa: Ideas & Innovation at the Epicenter of Transnational Africa,” particularly through its emphasis on African intellectual inheritance as a resource for collective agency and future development.
Ebhohon’s recognised paper draws on his play “The Great Delusion”, which explores the recovery of African knowledge through dramatic encounters with history, indigenous intellectual traditions, and Black scientific contributions. The research argues that recovering this knowledge is not merely an exercise in historical reclamation but a means of informing Africa’s intellectual and institutional future.
The recognition adds to Ebhohon’s growing profile as a Nigerian playwright working at the intersection of creative writing, African epistemology, and sociopolitical thought. His debut play, “The Great Delusion”, won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Drama in 2025. The play has also been adopted by the Department of English and Literature at the University of Benin and by Edo State University, Iyamho, for academic engagement.
Through his creative and scholarly work, Ebhohon examines historical erasure, intellectual sovereignty, and the place of African knowledge in contemporary global discourse. His research brings these concerns into conversation with wider debates about decolonisation, cultural memory, and the role of African intellectual traditions in shaping the continent’s future.
