Biography
Philip Uko Effiong is a teaching-focused Professor of Theatre Studies and Integrative Humanities at Michigan State University (MSU). He has been teaching at the college level for over 25 years and holds a PhD in Drama from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He received his Master’s in Literature of the African Diaspora and Bachelor’s in English, both from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Prior to joining MSU in the Spring of 2017, Philip taught drama, fiction, nonfiction, orature, and writing at the University of Calabar, Nigeria; Regent University College of Science and Technology, Ghana; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the University of Tennessee, Martin; the University of Delaware, Newark; Lincoln University, Pennsylvania; and Morehouse College, Atlanta.With a growing interest in interdisciplinarity, Philip teaches drama, fiction, nonfiction, and history classes at MSU. His research interests also crisscross multiple disciplines and include:• Appropriating and performing divine authority as a tool for wielding dictatorial power.• Performance (dance, music, song, drama, oral traditions) as a survival and resistance tool among Jamaican Maroons, the Garifuna, and other Caribbean communities.• Influence of European drama and Greek tragedy on African and African diasporic drama.• Historical narratives that redefine African achievements in education, architecture, science, healthcare, war, and astronomy.• Biafran refugee descendants in the Ivory Coast and Gabon.• The music of Nigerian legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.• African diaspora in India and the Philippines.Philip’s work as a consultant has helped diversify his writing across multiple areas, including technical manuals, coffee table books, development proposals, reports, and newsletters. He has also worked in information technology as an Oracle programmer.Philip has published a novel, a book on African American drama, and several articles covering topics on Africa, the African diaspora, and the humanities. As a creative writer, he has completed several fictional and nonfictional manuscripts, including his memoir on the Nigeria-Biafra war, recently accepted for publication by Pen and Sword Books in the UK.
Works
Books
- My Biafran Scar, Seacoast Press, Portsmouth, NH, 2025.
- Nigeria’s un-Civil War: Memories of a Biafran Child, Pen and Sword Publishers, South Yorkshire, UK, 2023. https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Nigerias-Un-Civil-War-Hardback/p/23467.
- Monty, a novel. Author House, 2001 (undergoing revision).
- In Search of a Model for African American Drama, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780761817505/In-Search-of-a-Model-for-African-American-Drama-A-Study-of-Selected-Plays-by-Lorraine-Hansberry-Amiri-Baraka-and-Ntozake-Shange.
Articles (Academic)
- “Sent by the Gods: François Duvalier’s Appropriation and Performance of Divine Authority.” Bokutani: The Journal of the African Studies Association, Vol 1, Issue 1, Sep. 2025, 58-71.
- “When the Zombie Becomes Critic: Misinterpreting Fela’s ‘Zombie’ and the Need to Reexamine His Prevailing Motifs.” Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, June 30, 2021. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6q14n95b.
- Review of African Women Playwrights (2009). CONTINUUM: A Journal of African/Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance, vol. 3, no. 2, 2016.
- “Unleashing Power from Within: Rejecting the Foreign Aid Farce.” West Africa Review, vol. 24, 2014, pp. 22-40.
- “Forty Years Later, the War Hasn’t Ended.” The Nigeria Biafra War, edited by Chima J. Korieh, Cambria Press, 2012, 261-276.
- “Haya” and “Ginen.” Encyclopedia of African Religion. 2009.
- “Baraka, Amiri” and “Drama, African American.” Encyclopedia of Africa and the Americas. Vol. 1, 2008.
- “Hansberry, Lorraine.” Encyclopedia of Africa and the Americas. Vol. 2, 2008.
- “Pageant, The African American” and “Shange, Ntozake.” Encyclopedia of Africa and the Americas. Vol. 3, 2008.
- “History, Myth, and Revolt in Hansberry’s Les Blancs.” African American Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 1998, pp. 273-283.
- “Civil Rights Movement in Literature” and “Nation of Islam in Literature.” Identities and Issues in Literature, edited by David R. Peck and Eric Howard, Salem Press, 1997.
- Twenty entries on “Drama and Film.” Dictionary of Twentieth Century Culture. African American Culture Volume, 1996.
- “The Subliminal to the Real: Musical Regeneration in Ntozake Shange’s Boogie Woogie Landscapes.” Theatre Studies, vol. 39, 1994, pp. 33-43.
- “Tracing the Nigerian Literary Heritage.” Nigeria: The People and Their Culture, edited by J. U. Obot, Wusen Press, 1987, 214-224.
Articles (Nonacademic)
- “Rebranding Africa” (personal essays): https://effiongp.msu.domains/category/rebranding-africa.
- “Personal Thoughts”: https://effiongp.msu.domains/category/personal-thoughts.
- “Biafra and the Politics of Blame.” The Republic. 23 Dec. 2017, https://www.republic.com.ng/octobernovember-2017/biafra-politics-blame.
- “Retelling Our Stories, Redefining Our Heroes.” Africa Unbound, Spring 2011.
- “The Career Africanists in Washington D.C.” Africa Unbound, Fall 2009.
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