Eniola Afolayan

Hello Lakes REU friends,

It's been a while! Last time I wrote for the alumni posts, I was getting ready to start my first year of grad school at UVA and now I'm getting ready for my second year. It's been a wonderful and challenging first year and there's nothing else I would rather being doing.

I am currently writing to you from Nigeria as I am here for my first summer of preliminary field work at the Osun-Osogbo Grove (which is in th background of the picture I attached). My research, believe it or not, is still highly influenced by the summer project I did with LAKES: I am interested in the relationship between African indigenous religions and the environment with specific interests in African Sacred groves and landscapes. I'm also working on a short film project about religious collaboration here in Nigeria.

In other news I cut my hair a few weeks ago and I'm debuting it on the lakes blog:) I'm getting used to it. 

I'm so happy to see LAKES is growing and has expanded beyond the original three years that was planned. This was/is such a great program to be a part of and I'm so very happy I got the opportunity to participate.

Till next summer! 

Eniola

Eniola Afolayan
PhD Student
University of Virginia
Department of Anthropology