Dr Habibat Oladosu-Uthman

Short Bio

Dr Habibat Oladosu-Uthman was born more than five decades ago. She obtained her first and Masters degrees in Islamic studies from University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria between 1999 and 2004 respectively. She obtained her Ph. D from International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in 2011 with an award as the best graduating Ph. D candidate in Islamic Thought and Civilization.

As a member of staff of the University, she is involved in various activities of the University both at the departmental and Institutional levels. She is currently one of the Focal persons at the University of Ibadan Gender Mainstreaming Office (GMO). She is an International fellow of King Abdullah bn AbdulAziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) Lisbon, Portugal (KIFN 2019 Cohort).

Currently, she is a senior lecturer at the department of Arabic and Islamic studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan Nigeria.

Dr Habibat’s area of specialization includes Islamic Thought and Civilization, Islam in Africa, Gender, Cultural criticism, and interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

Selected Publications

• Oladosu-Uthman, Habibat (2011). Muslim Women and the Politics of Emplacement: Re- Reading Space, Sex and Gender. Berlin: LAP Lampert Publishers. 221pp. ISBN 978-3-84547491-5 (Germany)
• Oladosu-Uthman, Habibat (2011). That Office Doesn't Belong to You: On Islam, Women and Governance. Orita, Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies vol. 43 No. 2:129-144. (Nigeria).
• Oladosu-Uthman, Habibat (2012). In Search of the Female's Voice: Re-reading Patriarchal Influences On Nigerian Politics. Journal of Religion and Culture vol.12:1-9. (Nigeria).
• Oladosu-Uthman, Habibat (2019). Boko Haram and Gender-based Terrorism in West Africa. The Annual Review of Islam In Africa (ARIA), Issue No. 16, (South Africa).
• Oladosu-Uthman, Habibat (April, 2021). “This Man is my Wife”: The Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2014 in Nigeria. Journal of Law and Religion (JLR), vol. 36, Issue 1, 92-104 (USA).

Project Description

The research explores identity politics in the various Houses of God in West Africa. It situates its discussions around the gender politics and dynamics among Vodun worshippers in Lome, the capital city of the republic of Togo and Sango worshippers in Yoruba land, Nigeria vis a vis the practices in the Mosques amongst the Muslims. It interrogates reasons for the cultural practice where female Vodun worshippers, unlike their male counterparts, are required to perform religious rites in nudity as well as why a female worshipper within the Sango cult cannot impersonate Sango just like her male counterparts. It also probes into the gender politics that seems consensual to almost all the religions in the world.