Elizabeth Olayiwola is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Broadcast, Film, and Multimedia at the University of Abuja, Nigeria. Her research and teaching explore the intersections of film, women, and religious studies. She is the recipient of the 2024 Fatema Mernissi Postdoctoral Fellowship in Social and Cultural Studies at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU), Sharjah, UAE. Additionally, she has been awarded the prestigious Leventis Fellowship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, among others.
During her fellowship residency, Olayiwola will work on a book project tentatively titled Film for Evangelism: Pentecostal Film-making Culture in Nigeria and Beyond. This project examines a 35-year-old Pentecostal filmmaking culture in Nigeria that has achieved global reach. The book converges Film Studies and Pentecostalism, while also intersecting with Gender Studies, Migration Studies, and Cultural Studies.
Drawing on her eleven years of extensive field research, this project explores the production and exhibition processes of grassroots evangelical cinema in Nigeria and its influence across Africa and diaspora communities. The study highlights how these cinema cultures contribute to the de-Westernization of African screen culture through their transnational spread, supported by vast church networks and resources. By analyzing content, production methodologies, and distribution strategies, Olayiwola’s research seeks to provide new insights into how evangelical filmmaking is shaping contemporary African cinema traditions.
Olayiwola completed her undergraduate studies at Kogi State University, Nigeria, and obtained her MA and Ph.D. degrees from Benue State University and the University of Abuja, Nigeria. Some of her key publications include: 'Cinema in the Church: The Evangelical Film Worldview in Nigeria,' in Contemporary African Screen Worlds, edited by Lindiwe Dovey, Añulika Agina, and Michael W. Thomas, Duke University Press, forthcoming; 'New Nollywood and the Female Gaze: Changing Female Stereotypes in Nigerian Cinema,' Quarterly Review of Film and Video 40.1 (2023): 94-111; and 'Nigerian Evangelical Film Genres: The Spectacle of the Spiritual,' Journal of African Cultural Studies 32.2 (2020): 115-130. Olayiwola is also a member of the Lagos Studies Association’s (LSA) publication committee and a board member of the Journal of African Cultural Studies.