By Ngalame Elias
The Professorial Inaugural lecture for Professor Enongene Mirabeau Sone, lecturer of African Literature and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Law and Humanities and Social sciences, Walter Sisulu University, has been scheduled for the 27th of August, 2025.
A statement from the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor RN Sonngra, notes that Professor Enongene Sone will be delivering the lecture titled “ Orality and Intellectualism; the role of Oral Literature in Shaping Africa’s Knowledge Systems.”
WHO IS PROFESSOR ENONGENE SONE
Enongene Mirabeau Sone is Professor of African Literature and Folklore Studies at Walter Sisulu University in South Africa.
He is a C rated scholar and researcher by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and a Catalyst Fellow of the Centre for African Studies of the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.
Prof. Sone holds a BA, MA and MPhil in African literature from the University of Dschang in Cameroon and completed his PhD in African oral literature studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
He has taught in many universities in Africa including the University of Dschang in Cameroon, University of Burundi, University of Swaziland (Eswatini) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has published extensively on various aspects of African oral literature and folklore in reputable academic journals across the globe.
His collaboration with leading world and African folklorists led to the publication of two seminal books in Oral literature and Folklore studies: The Challenge of Folklore to the Humanities (2021) edited by Dan Ben-Amos, and The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore (2021) edited by Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola.
His research interests are in African literature and folklore studies, orality studies, popular culture, medical and environmental humanities, post-colonial discourse, mythology and place symbolism (in oral and written literatures), literary entomology, eco-culture and African (literary) aesthetics and philosophy.
His several research efforts and academic experiences have established him as an authority in the above research disciplines.
