Yomi Chibuikem Folaranmi

Yomi Chibuikem Folaranmi is pursuing an MSc in Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology at the School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford. He is a Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholar and a member of St Cross College.

Yomi is a Nigerian (Yoruba-Igbo) writer, translator, and visual artist. He holds a BA (First Class Honours) and an MA (Distinction) in Comparative Literature from University College London. His BA dissertation offered a comparative analysis of Machado de Assis’ Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas and Luigi Pirandello’s Il Fu Mattia Pascal, focusing on their proto-modernism, undead narrators, and philosophical skepticism. His MA work examined Mario de Andrade’s Macunaíma alongside Amos Tutuola’s Palm-Wine Drinkard, exploring postcolonial modernism and their mythological poetics. Yomi also spent a year abroad at Sapienza University of Rome, studying Italian art history and film, and touring major museums and galleries across Italy.

As an interdisciplinary scholar, Yomi’s interests span global and postcolonial modernisms, avant-garde poetics, and the intersection of art, culture, and anthropology. His creative and scholarly works explore hybridity, liminality, and the complex relationship between art and society. His writing has been featured in platforms such as Poetry Magazine, and he has volunteered in literary and cultural education programmes in Nigeria.

Yomi is also interested in medical anthropology, particularly in gender, trauma, and ethnomedicine, and has worked with SmileTrain Africa, a charity focused on cleft care.

After completing his MSc, he plans to pursue a PhD and work in curation, cultural diplomacy, and filmmaking, with a focus on addressing colonial legacies, the restitution of African antiquities, and global social justice.