Toyin Ajao


Toyin Ajao is a Nigerian scholar, feminist activist, and healing researcher-practitioner whose work focuses on restorative healing, conflict transformation, and Afro-feminist approaches to social change. She is the founder of Ìmọ́lẹ̀ of Afrika Centre, a non-profit working on the collective wellbeing of marginalised African communities by addressing intergenerational and collective trauma through integrating indigenous and contemporary healing methodologies.

Education

Born in Ikirun, Osun State in 1978, Ajao holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pretoria, with a focus on conflict transformation and New Media. She received an MA in Conflict, Security, and Development from King’s College London and a B.Sc in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University.

Career

Ajao intersects Afro-feminism, healing justice, Ubuntu philosophy, critical consciousness, conflict transformation, and neuroscience in her restorative healing work within civil society, queer and feminist spaces in Africa. She was named one of the “10 African scholars to watch” in 2024 by The Africa Report alongside Simukai Chigudu, and Naminata Diabate. The University of Exeter also recognised her as an “Inspirational Black Scholar” alongside Audre Lorde and Kimberlé Crenshaw during Black History Month in 2024.
Ajao is an alumna and research associate at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London. Her feminist activism has addressed gender, sexual, and technological rights, as well as women’s leadership. She has worked with organisations such as the Women's Technology Empowerment Centre and blogged about issues of gender inequality, systemic oppression, and women’s experiences in patriarchal societies, earning her two international awards, including the BlogHer International Activist Award, 2009.
Her research has been published in Routledge, Palgrave, MacMillan, Matatu, Kujenga Amani, and by the African Women's Development Fund, addressing themes such as conflict transformation, citizen journalism, digital activism, mental health policy, LGBTQ+ rights and collective wellbeing in Africa.
She founded Ìmọ́lẹ̀ of Afrika Centre in 2020, where she leads projects that incorporate indigenous healing traditions and ancestral knowledge with contemporary restorative strategies to address intergenerational trauma and strengthen community resilience. She bridges activism and academia by interlinking indigenous knowledge, Afro-feminism, peacebuilding, and healing justice.

Publications

'. Digital Technologies, Elections and Campaigns in Africa edited by Duncan Omanga, Admire Mare, and Pamela Mainye. Routledge: London & New York, 2024: 191-209.
  • '. Youth and Non-Violence in Africa’s Fragile Contexts edited by Akin Iwilade and Tarila Marclint Ebiede. Palgrave Macmillan Switzerland, 2022: 163-188.Religious Fundamentalism and Historical Analysis of Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities in Nigeria. Project of The Initiative for Equal Rights and Education as a Vaccine, with support from the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. Co-authored with Chioma Ogwuegbu and Lydia Ogundare, 2022. ., edited by Winston Mano and Viola C Milton. Routledge: London & New York, 2021: 155-165.. King’s College, London, 2022.
  • . In AWDF Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Knowledge Series, AWDF Publication, 2021. A counter-productive economic decision or a politically retrogressive move? 2019, Kujenga Amani, The Social Science Research Council.: The Ushahidi’s Response to Kenya’s 2008 Post-Election’ Violence. 2017. Coauthored with Dr. Cori Wielenga in Matatu Brill online Books and Journals, African Studies, Volume 49, Issue 2, pages 467 – 486.: The Emergence of Youth Agency in South Africa’s Largest Post-Apartheid Protests. 2016, Kujenga Amani, The Social Science Research Council.: A People-Centred Approach to Conflict Transformation in Kenya. 2014, Kujenga Amani, The Social Science Research Council.'. 2014, in the African Studies Association, Pambazuka, and Sahara Reporters online publications.
  • '. 2014, in Strife, Pambazuka, and Sahara Reporters online publications.