Legacies of Biafra Conference Schedule - SOAS, University of London, April 21-22

H-AfrLitCine Legacies of Biafra Conference Schedule - SOAS, University of London, April 21-22

Discussion published by Louisa Uchum Egbunike on Monday, April 24, 2017

Legacies of Biafra Conference Schedule - April 21-22, SOAS, University of London

Registration is to completed online at www.igboconference.com/tickets

For further details about the conference, visit www.igboconference.com

Conference Schedule:

Thursday 20th April, Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS

6:00pm – 8:00pm

Preconference Welcome,

Film screening: Most Vulnerable Nigerians: The Legacy of the Asaba Massacres by Elizabeth Bird, followed by a Q & A session. Elizabeth Bird will introduce the documentary film and talk about her research and upcoming book about the Asaba Massacres.

Film Screening: Onye Ije: The Traveller, An Igbo travelogue on the Umuahia War Museum & The Ojukwu Bunker produced by Brian C. Ezeike and Mazi Waga. The film will be introduced by the producers of the Documentary series, followed by a short Q & A Session.

……………………………………………

FRIDAY, 21st APRIL 2017, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre & Suite, SOAS

8:30am Conference Registration Opens

9:30am Parallel Panels (A) A1 Panel: Revisiting Biafra A2 Panel: Writing Biafra (please scroll down for speaker details on the A Panels)

11:00am Parallel Panels (B) B1 Roundtable: Global Media and Humanitarian Responses to the Biafra War B2 Roundtable: Real Life Accounts of the War B3 Panel: Child Refugees of the Nigeria-Biafra war (please scroll down for speaker details on the B Panels )

12:30pm Obi Nwakanma in Conversation with Olu Oguibe

Citation: Louisa Uchum Egbunike. Legacies of Biafra Conference Schedule - SOAS, University of London, April 21-22 . H-AfrLitCine. 04-24-2017. https://networks.h-net.org/node/15766/discussions/174720/legacies-biafra-conference-schedule-soas-university-london-april Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-AfrLitCine

1:15pm LUNCH

2:45pm Stephen Chan (SOAS) in Conversation with Oby Ezekwesili ‘From Biafra to North East -- Citizens' Legacy of Healing and Empathy’

3:30pm Plenary Panel: Trauma, Memory and Re-Membering

Chair: Oladipo Agboluaje (Goldsmiths University)

Femi Adebajo, Life After Trauma- The Nigerian Civil War: Before and After

Akachi Ezeigbo,(Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo) War Without End: Visions and Versions of Remembrances of Biafra

Chinwe Madubuike, The Politics of Navigating Humanitarian Crises in Nigeria: Global and Local Perspectives

4:45pm Dramatised performance of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Inua Ellams, set in Biafra

5:00pm Plenary Roundtable: Contemporary Creative Representations of Biafra

Chair: Chibundu Onuzo Inua Ellams, Eno Mfon, Oladipo Agboluaje

5:45pm Break

6:15pm Plenary Panel, Cultural Production and the Biafra War

Chair: Kwadwo Osei-Nyame Jnr (SOAS)

Ernest Emenyonu (University of Michigan-Flint) ‘The significance and impact of civil war writing on Nigerian Literature’

Akuma Kalu-Njoku (Western Kentucky University)‘Enyi Biafra: regimental drill, duty songs, and cadences from Biafra’

Obiora Udechukwu (St. Lawrence University) NKỌLỊ KA or Reminiscing is Supreme: Cultural Production and the Biafran War

7:30pm Emeka Keazor in conversation with Charlyboy (Charles Oputa) ‘Dream Biafra, Think Nigeria’

8:30pm Close

……………………………………………

SATURDAY, 22nd APRIL 2017, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre & Suite, SOAS

8:30am Registration Opens

9:30am Parallel Panels (C) C1 Panel: Women’s Writing on the War C2 Panel: Biafra and the World C3 Panel: Biafra and Britain

11:10am A Word from the Conference Organisers / Launch of the Online Igbo Studies Centre

11:30 A Soldier’s Story by Onyemechi Kadamawa Okonkwo, Former teenage soldier in Biafra followed by

Film screening: Afia Attack: The Untold Survival Stories of Women in the Nigeria-Biafra War by Ujuaku Akukwe (Frances-Ashley Media Productions)

Chair: Chude Jideonwo

12:30 Tim Modu in conversation with Philip Effiong II : Key Actors in the War

1:30pm Lunch

2:00pm – Lunchtime Film Screening: Ugwumpiti – Maurice’s Story – A child’s journey from Biafra to London, followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Eithne Nightingale, Mitch Harris, and Maurice Nwokeji

3:00pm Dramatised Poetry Performance – Biafran Nights by Afam Akeh

3:30pm A Tribute to Ben Obumselu led by Emeka Keazor

3:35pm Plenary Panel: Christopher Okigbo: Literature and Resistance

Introduction by Obi Okigbo, chair of the Christopher Okigbo Foundation

Chair: Kwadwo Osei-Nyame Jnr (SOAS, University of London)

Obi Nwakanma (University of Central Florida) Christopher Okigbo: A Poet and His War

Emeka Keazor (Eagle House Media and Publishing) Intellectual Fervour In Biafra. The Christopher Okigbo Case Study

Kalu Ogbaa (Southern Connecticut State University) From Genocidal Resistance to Restoration of Education Leadership: The Examples of Christopher Okigbo and His Generation

5:00 pm A Tribute to Buchi Emecheta led by Akachi Ezeigbo (Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo)

5:15 pm An address from Ndidi Nwuneli about the Centre for Memories Project

5:25pm A video address from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on ‘Legacies of Biafra’

5:30pm Break

6:00pm Plenary Roundtable Discussion with The Nigerian Art Society UK (NASUK): Legacies of Biafra Art Exhibition

Chair: Obiora Udechukwu (St. Lawrence University) Hassan Aliyu, Chike Azuonye, Obi Okigbo

6:40pm Plenary Roundtable: Trauma, Memory and Re-Membering

Chair: Mpalive Msiska (Birkbeck, University of London)

Unoma Azuah, Abubakar Ibrahim, Onyekachi Wambu,

7:40pm Ernest Emenyonu (University of Michigan-Flint) in Conversation with Pat Utomi

8:30pm Close

……………………………………………

A Panels

A1 Panel: Revisiting Biafra

Chair: Philip Effiong (Michigan State University)

Nnamdi A. Kalu How the ontological [policy] of ‘African Pessimism’ exhibited by Biafrans is influenced by ideas expressed in the Ahiara Declaration

Rebecca Wolff (University of California Los Angeles) Confronting the Memory of the Nigeria-Biafra War through the Art of Obiora Udechukwu

Chikwendu Anyanwu Biafra War Songs and the War Story

Dominique Otigbah Remembering and misremembering: A reconsideration of narratives of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-70

A2 Panel: Writing Biafra

Chair: Kwadwo Osei-Nyame Jnr (SOAS)

Tiziana Morosetti (University of Oxford) On Sozaboy’s Darkness: Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Biafra War Charlott Schönwetter (Humboldt University of Berlin) The Nigeria-Biafra War and Literary Child Soldier Narratives Oliver Coates (Cambridge University) Biafra, Afrocentrism and the perils of division in Azikiwe’s poetics Rose Sackeyfio (Winston Salem State University) War, Memory and the Literary Imagination

B Panels

B1 Roundtable: Global Media and Humanitarian Responses to the Biafra War

Chair: Chude Jideonwo Jonathan Aitken, Former Biafra War Correspondent for the BBC Peter Okwoche, Presenter, BBC Focus on Africa Anne-Marie Pegg, Former emergency Coordinator, MSF France

B2 Roundtable: Real Life Accounts of the Nigeria-Biafra War

Chair: Unoma Azuah (Illinois Institute of Art) Ujuaku U. Akukwe Afia Attack: War, Women and Survival Chigozie C. Udemezue Widowhood & The Biafran War: pre and post war patterns and trends Catherine Onyemelukwe Powering Biafra, One Key Actor Christine Locke Trauma, Memory & Remembering – my lived experience of the Civil War.

B3 Panel: Child Refugees

Chair: tbc Odile Goubali Talon (Université de Cergy-Pontoise) Rescuing Biafra’s Children: Child Refugees in French-Speaking Countries Françoise Ugochukwu (Open University) Healing festering wounds – The dream of a little girl Josephine Akabogu (University of Nigeria, Nsukka) Trauma and Memory: Revisiting the Biafran Child Refugees’ Loss of Identity

C Panels

C1 Panel: Women’s Writing on the War

Chair: Akachi Ezeigbo, (Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo) Ebele E. Okafor (University of Lagos) The Role of Igbo Women in the Biafran War: Insights from Selected Igbo Novels Sadia Zulfiqar (Lahore College for Women University) Women and Biafra

C2 Panel: Biafra and the World

Chair: Kalu Ogbaa (Southern Connecticut State University) Chukwudum Ikeazor Ahiara Declaration: Biafra’s voice and a new African vista Chuka Udemezue Biafra: The birth of a new world order on intra-state disputes Chinwe Oriji (University of Texas at Austin)Unearthing Racialized Post-Colonial Silences: Remembering the Nigeria-Biafra War in the U.S

C3 Panel: Biafra and Britain

Chair: Ndu Anike Uche Akahalu (Nottingham Trent University) Biafran War and British Intervention: Its Legacies 50 Years On Dele Ogun Fifty Years on: From Biafra to Brexit