Doctoral student and author discusses creative writing and heritage
On Tuesday, 29 October, author and doctoral student, Olatunji Offeyi (Tunji), will be exploring creative writing and heritage at an event to be held on the University’s Lampeter campus and online.
The workshop is one of the events run by the ϳԹ Students’ Union to celebrate Black History Month.
Rhobyn Grant, Lampeter Campus President, leads the Black History Month activities at ϳԹ Students’ Union. This year’s theme is Reclaiming Narratives, which is about taking control of the stories that matter most and celebrating the voices that deserve to be heard.
Rhobyn said: “We facilitated this event to provide students with a space to explore their own heritage through writing. I was personally excited to connect with Tunji and have him on board to deliver the workshop! I think that his work is insightful and inspiring and I believe our students can learn a lot from his experiences.”
Tunji, author of Heritage Narrative, is a Nigerian-British journalist, Salzburg Global Fellow, who is in his final year of a doctoral programme at the University. In his book, Tunji takes readers on a journey, introducing the stories of ϳԹ’s diverse student body and how understanding different cultures and others can positively shape individuals’ perspective and open minds.
Tunji’s doctoral research is nearing submission and focuses on Nollywood, Nigerian heritage, and storytelling. He has served as Students’ Union representative on the University Research and Ethics Committee and was successful in gaining funding via the University’s Wellbeing Service to pilot a new approach to student engagement and involvement. His ϳԹ Cares project is a community-building initiative that aims to support and connect students from diverse backgrounds across the University. His book, Heritage Narratives, was inspired by his experiences as the coordinator of the project.
Tunji Offeyi said: ‘Join us on an evening of talk about my booklet, Heritage Narrative, which captures the beauty of tangible and intangible heritage and how it connects to improving mental wellbeing. This booklet takes us on a journey that emancipates the soul from a place we never imagined.’
ϳԹ Cares, which has been funded by HEFCW (now Medr) Health & Wellbeing Funds, was part of coproduction project inviting students to work alongside the University’s Wellbeing Team to trial new ideas, gain insights and raise awareness of student issues based on their own lived experiences. In return students gained valuable professional experiences, were paid for their time and had regular supervisor support. Tunji was one of eight students who developed project proposals over the Summer term and their work has been used as good practice case studies as part of the University’s Student Health and Wellbeing Strategy review.
Natalie Owens, Senior Student Services Project Officer, said: “The project ideas we received were various and the eight students were from diverse backgrounds. It was evident that the students’ projects had one or a mix of three main themes around understanding or improving existing student services, celebrating identity and shared experiences as well as identifying social spaces for connection.
“It was evident from the very first meeting that Tunji was passionate about this idea. It is both exciting and inspiring to see that he has developed something tangible for future use; an instrument to bring people together, celebrating identity, heritage and more broadly connecting the student body”.
Tunji will be discussing the project and his work at the Black History Month – Writing Heritage to be held at the Students’ Common Room, SU Building, Lampeter Campus and on Teams on Tuesday, 29 October 2024, 17.30 – 19.00
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Further Information
Eleri Beynon
Head of Corporate Communications and PR
Corporate Communications and PR
Email: e.beynon@uwtsd.ac.uk
Phone: 07968 249335