TU's Oluwatoyin Oduntan named U.S. Fulbright scholar

Towson University's Oluwatoyin Oduntan, a professor in the Department of History, is the latest of many TU faculty members to win a U.S. Fulbright scholarship.

A professor of African history in the College of Liberal Arts, Oduntan is using the award to research physician genealogies in Botswana and Malawi.

“The Fulbright offers a chance to live and promote the ideals I teach,” Oduntan says. “I was introduced to the Fulbright while attending an African history conference. I found that its ideas of world peace, cultural understanding and international cooperation aligned closely with my scholarship and what I think my purpose as a teacher is.”

Exploring the eradication narrative

In anticipation of the 50^th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, Oduntan is focusing on how the history of the disease’s eradication is narrated.

“The dominant story at this point is that Western—especially American—medical science made the eradication of the disease possible,” Oduntan says. “It implies that Africans were helpless, contributed nothing or little and owe their lives to the saving graces of Western medicine.”

In Botswana, Oduntan is meeting with national agencies, physicians, public health personnel, vaccinators and more who secured consent to gain access to private spaces and contribute to the eradication of smallpox.

“By focusing on such local community efforts, I hope to demonstrate a more accurate history of the eradication of smallpox,” he says.

Oduntan will soon travel to Malawi to collect more data.

New perspectives

In his 14 years at TU, Oduntan has sought to dismantle assumptions about African history through his courses African History and The World from 1300.

“I have always struggled with [others] thinking that I teach and study African history and culture because I am an African,” Oduntan says. “On the contrary, I came to African studies from much ignorance and through questioning the stories that I was told or read but which did not make sense to my lived reality.” In both classes, Oduntan demonstrates to students that modern divisions are not natural but recent and constructed.

In both classes, Oduntan demonstrates to students that modern divisions are not natural but recent and constructed.

“I hope that such curiosity, an awareness of diversity and an understanding that dominant systems are constructed and can be remade and improved come across in my teaching. I hope they see that our societies were made and can be improved,” Oduntan says.

The Fulbright offers a chance to live and promote the ideals I teach.

PROFESSOR OLUWATOYIN ODUNTAN

TU and the Fulbright

TU was named a Fulbright Top Producing Institution in 2023 and 2024.

The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is one of the nation’s most prestigious international exchange programs, supporting faculty and professionals as they engage in research and teaching abroad to foster mutual understanding between nations. Since 1946, it has provided more than 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad.

Learn more information about the Fulbright Program.