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Dr Louisa Egbunike is a Visiting Research Fellow from 18 September to 20 December 2024
Louisa Uchum Egbunike听is an Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University, having previously taught at City, University of London and Manchester Metropolitan University. Her current research examines the literary and visual arts as repositories for memories of the Nigeria-Biafra war. Louisa is the curator of touring art exhibition and co-writer and producer of the documentary film . She is one of the founders and conveners of the annual international Igbo Conference held in association with SOAS, and currently serves as the President of the African Studies Association UK.
Project Description
The Nigeria-Biafra war of the 1960s left deep-seated trauma among those deeply affected by the conflict. The absence of public discourse about the war and its aftermath, along with the fear of retribution faced by survivors, led to the collective silence of a generation. As the arts serve as a vital outlet for expression, this project seeks to examine the extent to which literary and visual arts have become repositories of memory for the war, from which the post-war generation(s) of artists draw inspiration. It will employ a critical framework that centres memory studies and postcolonial visual and literary arts, exploring the role of the arts in bearing witness to this fraught history. The project will survey intergenerational conversations occurring across artistic mediums, raising important questions about the degree to which the arts shape Nigeria鈥檚 cultural memory of the war, and whether the arts can be understood as both a site for and product of memory. Focusing on works produced in the latter half of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century, Biafra鈥檚 Afterlives will also examine the relationship between visual and literary arts, and investigate the war鈥檚 lasting impact on Nigeria鈥檚 artistic landscape.
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