Hello! I’m Philip Ojo, Kathy and Lawrence Ashe Professor of French at Agnes Scott College, a selective liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia.  Born in Côte d’Ivoire to Nigerian parents who were themselves born in Ghana, I see myself as a ‘TCK’ (third country kid).  I have lived and studied in Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Ghana, France, Switzerland, and the United States which became my homeland in 1998.  My professional and personal travels have taken me to Canada, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Martinique, Morocco, Qatar, Romania, Spain, and the Czech Republic.  I co-led a global connections trip to Benin in 2006 and two global awareness trips to France in 2013 and 2016.  I speak Yoruba (my native language), Baoulé and Dioula (two West African languages I grew up with), French (my first language), and English (my official language).  I also have some skills in Spanish and Hausa.

I received my Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, and my research focuses on Francophone literature with a concentration on Africa and the Caribbean. I have explored the articulation of identities in contemporary Francophone Caribbean and Sub-Saharan African death narratives as contexts and catalysts for re-examining and reinterpreting people and their environment; I have studied literary representations of migrant experience in which I posit that migration is a positive phenomenon that may serve as a vehicle for the realization of the dreamed global village.   I am also interested in global issues and expressions of identities and social conditions in popular culture as a potential tool for criticism, change, and nation building.  I have published on the articulation of these issues in fiction, music, cartooning, cinema, and drama.  My current focus is on the role of African communities in the transformation of the landscape of European mega-cities.

There is a synergy between my research and my teaching: the issues I address in my scholarship inform my teaching, and vice-versa.  The centerpiece of my teaching philosophy is that language learning must be based on communicative interactive strategies that can enhance proficiency and foster new insights.   French courses at Agnes Scott College seek to develop linguistic and cultural competencies students need to live, work, and succeed in an increasingly diverse and multicultural world.

Besides teaching and scholarship, I feel privileged to take part in matters affecting Agnes Scott College through service to the French Program, formal committee work, as well as student advising and supervising.

If you would like to contact me, please do so via email at pojo@agnesscott.edu or philipaojo@yahoo.com