About

[Re:]Entanglements is the website of a project entitled ‘Museum Affordances’ funded by the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council, which is re-engaging with a remarkable ethnographic archive – including objects, photographs, sound recordings, botanical specimens, published work and fieldnotes – assembled by the colonial anthropologist, N. W. Thomas, in Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone between 1909 and 1915. As well as better understanding the historical context in which these materials were gathered, the project seeks to re-think their significance in the present. What do they mean for different communities today? What actions do they make possible? How might we creatively explore their latent possibilities?

The project is being led by Paul Basu now based at the Pitt Rivers Museum and School of Anthropology at the University of Oxford and involves a growing number of partnerships in the UK, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and beyond. These include the many institutions across which this ethnographic archive has been dispersed, including the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the British Library Sound Archive, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the UK National Archives.

As the project develops, we’ll be adding lots of material to the website relating to the culture and heritage of Nigeria and Sierra Leone. If you are interested in finding out more or would like to get involved please contact us!

Project Team and Research Associates

Paul Basu
SOAS University of London
Paul Basu is Professor of Anthropology and a Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. He is Principal Investigator of the Museum Affordances / [Re:]Entanglements project. He specializes in issues around cultural memory, history, and democratizing/decolonizing access to colonial archives and ethnographic collections.
George Emeka Agbo
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
George Agbo is a lecturer in Fine & Applied Arts at the University of Nsukka, Nigeria, and postdoctoral researcher on the Museum Affordances / [Re:]Entanglements project. He is particularly interested in photography and how it figures at the intersection of art, heritage, history and politics.
Benjamina Efua Dadzie
University of Cambridge
Benjamina Efua Dadzie is a Collections Assistant at the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, where she has been attached to the [Re:]Entanglements project and exhibition. She is interested in Akan and Yoruba cultures, and is pursuing PhD research examining the impact of missionary presence in 19th century Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Glory Chika-Kanu
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Glory Chika-Kanu obtained her undergraduate degree in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and is currently studying for a Masters degree in the same department. Glory is an emerging scholar with a particular interest in ethnographic research. She has participated actively in fieldwork for the [Re:]Entanglements project as a research assistant to George Agbo.
Yvonne Chioma Mbanefo
Igbo Studies Initiative
Yvonne Mbanefo is a multidisciplinary IT professional & advocate. Her work connects the dots between languages, culture and identity, by making African languages accessible through digital and traditional media. Yvonne's extensive research led to the publishing of the first and bestselling illustrated Igbo Dictionary for children. She is a convener of the annual Igbo Conference at SOAS, University of London.
Godfrey Ekhator-Obogie
Institute for Benin Studies
Osaisonor Godfrey Ekhator-Obogie is Research Fellow at the Institute of Benin Studies and Principle Researcher in Nigeria for the Digital Benin project. An expert on the cultural history of Benin and Edo-speaking people, he also acts as a tour guide for visitors to heritage sites associated with the Ancient Kingdom of Benin.
Carmen Vida
University College London
Carmen Vida is a museum conservator based at UCL's Institute of Archaeology. She has worked on ethnographic, archaeological and social history collections. She is conserving Northcote Thomas collections for the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition and, as part of the project, is also pursuing her interests in the larger role of conservation within heritage practice, and in engaging with diverse audiences through practical conservation, education and storytelling.
Enotie Ogbebor
Nosona Studios
Enotie Ogbebor is a prolific artist and singer-songwriter, and an authority on Benin Court Art. He established Nosona Studios in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, which has become a creative hub for training young artists and a space for visiting artists to Benin.
James B. M. Vincent
Research Consultant, Sierra Leone
James Vincent is a research consultant based in Sierra Leone, specialising in governance, development and youth issues. Alongside his consultancy work, he has been a long-standing partner in Paul Basu’s research on cultural memory and heritage in Sierra Leone. For [Re:]Entanglements he and Paul Basu retraced Northcote Thomas’s journeys in Sierra Leone.
Katrina Dring
University of Cambridge
Katrina Dring is a Collections Assistant at the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge. She is particularly in expressions of identity and gender through personal adornment, traditional craft practices, ritual and performance.
Samson Uchenna Eze
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Samson Uchenna Eze is a lecturer in the Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and an alumnus of the same institution. He holds a Diploma in Music Education, a BA in Music and MA in Music Performance. He is interested in researching and re-recording Northcote Thomas’s recordings of traditional Igbo folksongs.
Taye Pedro
National Museum, Lagos
Taye Austin Pedro heads the Library and Archive unit at the National Museum Onikan, Lagos, Nigeria. He holds a BA in Business Education from Ogun State University and an MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Ibadan. Among its many important archival holdings, Taye is responsible for the care of several albums of Northcote Thomas's photographs held at the National Museum.
Ikenna Emmanuel Onwuegbuna
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Ikenna Emmanuel Onwuegbuna is senior lecturer and head of the Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is editor of the International Journal of Arts and Humanities. He is particularly interested in working with the historical sound recordings of N. W. Thomas from an ethnomusicological perspective.
Jean Borgatti
University of Benin
Jean Borgatti obtained her PhD in Art History at UCLA in 1976 and has been engaged in field research on the arts of the North Edo area for almost her entire career. She first started working with the Northcote Thomas's photograph and object collections in 1969. She has a long-standing relationship with the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.
Charlie Haffner
Monuments & Relics Commission
Charlie Haffner is Chairman of the Monuments & Relics Commission, the statutory body reponsible for the management of Sierra Leone's cultural heritage and National Museums. He is one of Sierra Leone's foremost dramatists and performers. Among his plays is Amistad Kata-Kata, about the famous slave revolt led by Sengbe Pieh, one of Sierra Leone's 'national heroes'.
Kent Onah
Auchi Polytechnic
Kent Onah is senior lecturer and until recently Head of Painting in the School of Art and Industrial Design at Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, Nigeria. A master painter member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, he draws upon traditional motifs, material culture and cultural performance in his work.
John Kelechi Ugwuanyi
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
John Kelechi Ugwuanyi teaches in the Department of Archaeology and Tourism at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and is currently completing a PhD at the University of York in which he is investigating the traditional village square in Igbo culture and cosmology. His broad research interests include museum and heritage studies, as well as indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies.