About Us
Advancing Scholarship in Pragmatics from Africa and Beyond
Africa Pragmatics is a leading organization that represents innovators and solution providers driving pragmatic progress across Africa. Our mission is to accelerate access to practical solutions that address Africa’s most pressing challenges. We collaborate with policymakers, industry leaders, and stakeholders to advocate for policies and initiatives that foster innovation, sustainability, and growth. Our network is committed to delivering high-impact solutions that improve lives and communities, and we strive to be the voice of pragmatism and innovation in Africa.
Meet Our Executive Officers
Prof. Akin Odebunmi
President
Akin Odebunmi was born in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria on December 21, 1967. He obtained his
BA (Ed) and MA degrees in English from the University of Ilorin and took a PhD in English
(Pragmatics) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He took up an appointment
with the University of Ibadan as a Lecturer Grade I in the Department of English in September, 2005,
and rose to the rank of Professor of Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis in 2013 in the same university
as a high flyer.
Professor Akin Odebunmi is, in the main, a specialist in Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis. He is
specifically interested in Clinical Pragmatics, Linguistic Pragmatics, Critical Discourse Analysis and
Literary Pragmatics. He has to his credit about 90 academic publications in local and international
outlets in all the continents of the world. Some of his journal articles have appeared in Ibadan Journal
of English Studies (Nigeria), Ife Studies in English (Nigeria), Studia Anglica Posnaniensia (Poland),
Pragmatics (Belgium), Intercultural Pragmatics (Germany), California Linguistic Note (United
States), Marang (Botswana), Review of Cognitive Linguistics (Spain), Pragmatics and Society
(Amsterdam), Pragmatics and Cognition (Amsterdam), Multilingua (Germany), Iranian Journal of
Society, Culture and Language (Iran) and Journal of Pragmatics (United States).
He has provided refereeing services for several international journals, some of which are Pragmatics
and Society (Amsterdam), Nordic Journal of African Studies (Finland), California Linguistic Notes
(United States), Journal of Modern Languages (Malaysia), International Journal of Society, Culture
and Language (United States), International Journal of Information Communication Technologies
and Human Development (United States) and Apples: a Journal of Applied Linguistics (Finland)
Professor Odebunmi won the German Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship award for Experienced
Researchers between 2010 and 2011; and won the follow-up and renewed-stay awards of the same
fellowship in 2012, 2014 and 2017. He is currently a research collaborator with Professor Karin
Birkner of the Bayreuth University, Germany on the Humboldt Alumni Joint-linkage Project,
“Interactive dynamics and contexts of German and Nigerian hospital encounters”. He has been an
official external examiner and a PhD external examiner/adjudicator to universities in Nigeria, India
Ghana and Malaysia. He has supervised about 27 PhD theses at the University of Ibadan and has
served as a consultant to the United Nations, under the direction of the International Labour
Organisation, on academic and research-based projects.
He is the incumbent national President of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria and the Interim
Secretary of African Pragmatics Association with the headquarters at the University of Legon, Ghana.
Also, he was elected into the international board of the International Pragmatics Association in 2023,
a position he would hold until 2028.
Professor Akin ODEBUNMI is, and the marriage is blessed with three children: Ayotomiwa, Gloria
Prof. Jane Oduor
Vice President
Jane Akinyi Ngala Oduor is an associate professor of linguistics at the Department of Linguistics and Languages at The University of Nairobi. Her area of specialization is phonology and she has a post-doc training in experimental phonetics. She is also a trained language documenter and has carried out a preliminary documentation of the Okiek language of Kenya through an Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) grant. Her research interests are in the interfaces between pragmatics and phonology of African languages and pragmatics generally. She has supervised PhD and Master of Arts projects in pragmatics. She is also very interested in African sociolinguistics, especially, multilingualism and language policy issues. Apart from these, she has ongoing research and consultancy projects on reading and improving the teaching strategies of secondary school teachers of English in Kenya. She is a fully paid-up member of the African Pragmatics Association.
Prof. Helga Schroeder
Secretary
Helga Schröder was born in Stirpe, Nord Rheinwestfalen, Germany. She optained her MA in Education, Philosophy and History from the University of Cologne, Germany. Since 1976 she is a member of Summer Institute of Linguistics and started to work as Linguist and Bible Translator under the Auspices of the Ministry of Education of South Sudan together with her husband among the Toposa of Eastern Equatoria in 1981.
She obtained her MA in Linguistics from Reading United Kingdom 1994 and her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Nairobi in 2004. In 2002 she was made Linguistics Consultant for SIL International and worked in this capacity in many different countries in East Africa.
Furthermore, for over 20 years she was a member of the University of Nairobi in the department of Linguistics and Languages, where she became an Associate Professor 2018, and retired 2022. Right now, she works as an Adjunct Professor for Africa International University, Nairobi, Kenya.
Prof. Schröder’s main interest is Pragmatics and Discourse analysis in African/Nilotic languages. In these domains she has done research in the pragmatics of clause chaining and clause linkages, typology of spatial relationships, Cognitive Linguistics (Cognitive Metaphor Theory), Relevance Theory, Ethnosyntax and lately Ethnopragmatics.
Prof. Schröder has been the Chief-Editor of the Special Issue of Ghana Papers in Linguistics (Publications from the 1st African Pragmatics Conference, July 2021) and Chief Editor of Current Issues in Nilo-Saharan. Publication August 2018. She has about 35 academic publications in local and international journals to her credit and she successfully supervised 9 PhDs in Pragmatics and related areas.
Dr. Ruth Oji
Publicity Secretary
Dr Ruth Karachi Benson Oji is an applied linguist at the Pan-Atlan6c University. She teaches
wri6ng, business communica6on, engineering communica6on, technical wri6ng and
communica6on across disciplines at the University. Her research interests are in pragma6cs,
cri6cal discourse analysis, and gender studies. Her publica6ons appear in journals indexed in
SCOPUS, AJOL, and elsewhere. Such journals include Pragma6cs and Society, Research in
Pragma6cs, Ghana Journal of Linguis6cs, Ibadan Journal of English Studies, Journal of English
Language Teachers of Nigeria, and LASU Journal of Humani6es. She is a columnist with two
Nigerian dailies, Vanguard and The Sun,where she syndicates topics on wri6ng and speaking.
Dr Oji is an associate member of the African Transregional Centre, University of Freiburg,
Germany; the publicity secretary of the African Pragma6cs Associa6on, and a charter
member of the Na6onal Associa6on of Ar6ficial Intelligence Prac66oners.
- Email:[email protected]
Prof. Ana Deumert
Exec. Member
Ana Deumert is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Cape Town. Her research program is located within the broad field of sociolinguistics and has a strong transdisciplinary focus. Her current work explores the use of language and art, especially sound and music, as well as the contributions decolonial thought can make to sociolinguistic theory. Recent publications include Colonial and Decolonial Linguistics - Knowledges and Epistemes (2020, with Anne Storch and Nick Shepherd), and From Southern Theory to Decolonizing Sociolinguistics (2023, with Sinfree Makoni).
Prof. Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie
Exec. Member
A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary
- Phone:+1 (859) 254-6589
- Email:[email protected]
Ms. Nana Akua Amanfu
Admin Secretary
Ms. Nana Akua Inkoma Amanfu is an experienced executive administrative professional based in Accra, Ghana. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (2023 – 2024). Before that, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Sociology from the University of Ghana (2013-2017), graduating with Second Class Honors (Lower Division).
Ms. Amanfu has been working as a Senior Administrative Assistant at the University of Ghana's Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (ASA) since 2021. Her responsibilities include drafting and managing official correspondence, responding to emails on behalf of the Unit head, assisting students with course registration, and coordinating with various university departments on student issues.
Before her current role, she served as a Project Administrator for three research projects at the University of Ghana, one focused on "Languages and Communication in Specific Domains" and "Illuminations: Patterns of Knowledge on Africa and Latin America" at the Centre for Latin American Studies, from August 2018 to September 2021, and "Managing Small-Scale Mining" from January 2019 to July 2019. Her duties involved organizing workshops, drafting correspondence, liaising with researchers, and facilitating travel arrangements.
Since February 2020 till date, Ms. Amanfu has served as the Administrative Secretary for the African Pragmatics Association (APrA) at the University of Ghana. In this role, she acts as the secretary to the Executive Team, writes minutes and reports, and manages the group's email correspondence.
In addition to her professional endeavors, Ms. Amanfu is an active volunteer. She has been involved with The Tatas and Friends Foundation (TFF) since November 2016, which helps students in need of educational support. She has also participated in various community service initiatives, including donations to orphanages and schools.
With her diverse experience in administrative support, stakeholder engagement, confidentiality, and project coordination, coupled with her educational background and language skills, Ms. Amanfu is an asset in her professional and volunteering roles.