Introducing Professor Origunwa

OBAFEMI ORIGUNWA, MA

Education: 

• MA - San Diego State Univerity
• AB - University of California, Berkeley, California

Biography: Obafemi Origunwa is the President of the Orisa Lifestyle Academy. Between 2003-2007, he operated arts and outdoor educational programs for school aged children in Oakland. In the fall of 2010, he began to oversee the organization’s multiyear commitment to advance thought leadership, resources and practices to build healthy orisa communities across the United States of America. Since 2011, Origunwa has served as the Spanish instructor at Ile Omode, Oakland's premier independent Black institution.

In 2013, he authored the Fundamentals of Orisa Lifestyle and started delivering a 16 week course by the same name. In 2015, Origunwa organized the Ifa Festival of Oakland, which featured an array of public events and activities that helped to bridge orisa devotion and the broader Oakland community. 

As a practicing babalawo (Ifa priest) who has served thousands of individuals, he delivers an innovative healing practice designed to implement culturally-relevant healing modalities. Through his workshops and retreats, Origunwa has touched the lives of over fifty thousand people Nationally.

Mr. Origunwa's primary focus includes the cultural vitality of African Americans and the contributions of culture, family, wealth, education, geography, and employment to health status.  In Spring 2017, Mr. Origunwa joined the faculty of the African American Studies department at San Francisco State University, where he teaches a course on Health and Healing in the African American Community.