Dancing Memories

On 28 May 2024, the 'Dancing Memories' exhibition took place, on the topic of the underexplored legacies of the Nigeria-Biafra war. This was part of a series of public engagement activities in Enugu, south-eastern Nigeria implemented by The Legacies of Biafra Heritage Project (LBHP). These activities were aimed at engaging both young and old through creative artistic expressions to promote intergenerational dialogue, collective memory and historical awareness on the legacies of the Nigeria-Biafra war.

"The Nigeria-Biafra War (1967-1970) resulted in the death of over one million people mostly from the Igbo ethnic group, after it led an unsuccessful attempt to form a breakaway independent state called Biafra over perceived marginalisation. Successive Nigerian governments have tried to stifle the war’s history and memorialisation, leading to a gap in knowledge about the war, particularly among young people. This has resulted in the manipulation of the war narratives and the weaponisation of its memory by resurgent secessionist groups and parochial political actors. The LBHP was developed to address this via youth-focused art-based public engagement activities, including the ‘Dancing Memories’ exhibition. The title ‘Dancing Memories’ aims to portray the dynamic nature of the memories of war, which are neither static nor unidirectional but often have patterns to them: as some dances are vibrant and fervent in rhythm, others are gentle and lethargic, and this can be observed in the memories of the Nigeria-Biafra War." - Stanley Jachike Onyemechalu

Some of the painting submissions from the Narrative Art Contest on display | Image credit: Stanley Jachike Onyemechalu

The exhibition was a display of the submissions from the LBHP narrative art contest held in March – which included paintings, poetry, and short stories – alongside other channels through which the memory of the Biafra War has been kept alive, particularly the 'Ojile Dance' from Enugu-Ezike, Nsukka, Enugu State. The exhibition also featured an intergenerational conversation between war veterans, survivors (and their descendants) with some young people.

Bringing these stakeholders and diverse age groups together through artistic representation fostered intergenerational dialogue and empowered participants to exchange and express their knowledge/memory of the Biafra war and its legacies – a sensitive part of their collective history that has been suppressed by successive Nigerian governments. In addition to promoting historical awareness and research-based policy actions for post-conflict interventions, the LBHP promoted community-researcher collaborations and relationships for research sustainability.

Audience members taking a tour of the Dancing Memories exhibition | Image credit: Stanley Jachike Onyemechalu

Stanley addressing the audience during the event | Image credit: Stanley Jachike Onyemechalu

Stanley addressing the audience during the event | Image credit: Stanley Jachike Onyemechalu

The LBHP was developed by Stanley Onyemechalu, a Gates Cambridge doctoral candidate in 91探花视频 and a graduate member of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre, 91探花视频. Stanley’s PhD research explores the complex intersection of cultural heritage and the legacies of violent conflicts in the context of the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970) in south-eastern Nigeria, and he uses the LBHP to address one of his research aims on the intergenerational transmission of the Biafra war history and memory.

The project was implemented in collaboration with – a youth-led cultural centre focused on preserving and promoting Igbo historical events – in Enugu, southeastern Nigeria. The exhibition built on the initial research Stanley conducted last year, reported by .

The project was funded by the 91探花视频's Public Engagement Starter Fund and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

More information about the LBHP can be found on .

Published 2 July 2024

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