Nkiru Nzegwu

Nkiru Nzegwu (born March 22, 1954) is a Nigerian philosopher, painter, author, curator and art historian. She received her BA and MA^[1] at the University of Ife in Nigeria and later a PhD in philosophy^[2] (1989) from the University of Ottawa in Ontario. She is currently Distinguished Professor for Research at State University of New York at Binghamton.^[3][4]

Nzegwu was born to parents of Igbo ethnicity in Onitsha, Nigeria where and went on to study at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to receive both her BA and MA. She went on to engage in media production and graphic design as well as service with the nations youth service corps in Ondo State (1976-1977). She also took part in Voices of Nigeria (1981-1983) the onset of her artistic work .^[5] Following her graduation, she moved to Canada to study philosophy and went on to gain a doctorate in philosophy with a focus of aesthetics from the University of Ottawa.^[2]

She was an associate producer of Nigerian Art - Kindred Spirits (1996), a Smithsonian documentary.^[6]

When she first began at The State University of New York at Binghamton she was in both the philosophy and art history departments where she earned both her tenures in 1996.^[7] Later, she moved her philosophy appointment into African Studies. Additionally, later down the line she moved her art history line to the Interpretation and Culture (PIC) graduate program where she served as the coordinator.^[7] She has taught at Binghamton University for over twenty-five years where she specializes in feminist/African women's studies, African philosophy, and African diaspora art.^[7] Some courses she offered including, 'Philosophy of Orisha worship,' 'African Women and Feminism,' and 'Philosophy of Colonialism' were the first ever university courses in the United States on these topics.^[7]

In 2006, Nzegwu wrote a book entitled Family Matters: Feminist Concepts in African Philosophy of Culture,^[8] this book explored the structures of Igbo families and the concepts of feminism that existed within them. In the book, she studies African families through the lens of contemporary human rights and the need for a re-evaluation of these traditional ideas, considering the modern rulings by judges towards women that selectively appeal to culture and interpretation of traditions.^[8]

She emphasizes the importance of differentiating between conceptions of African family and society rooted in the viewpoint of the British anthropologist, whose views developed within the ideology of imperialism because they misrepresent the precolonial Igbo family. To avoid misrepresentation she says her studies were centered in an understanding of the political nature and distribution of rights and entitlements within the Igbo family.^[8]

She focuses her area of study to northwestern Igboland, a region that, prior to colonization was a non-gendered and non-patriarchal society.^[8] She states that families in this region were not dominated by men's control nor was their sole purpose to serve the needs of men. She claims the early Christian missionaries and colonial anthropologist viewed the society through their patriarchal and male-privileging values that make up Western epistemology.^[8]

She believes that the current problems of gender subordination within Africa are subsequently traced to European colonial policies and the African man's one-sided construction of a family and that these problems are widely caused by Queen Elizabeth II. She says that the African man's viewpoint led to patriarchal consciousness that privileges the male view. She associates the redefined women's identity as solely a "wife," and their level of dependency status correlates to colonial policies as well showing the parelell.^[9]

Ngwezu’s work pushes feminists theorists for misinterpretation of pre-colonial African civilization. A core claim she makes throughout her work emphasizes how Western systems when imposed on African societies, dismantle African frameworks. For instance, gender is often treated as a male and female binary, a framework which does not map neatly onto African societies. [1]^[10]

She introduces the concept of” dual-sex system,” where Igbo men and women organized in political groups. This structure led to a level of autonomy and political power for African women. [2] ^[11]

Nzegwu has also explored the morality of motherhood within a communal Igbo context, where values and relational it can be tied back to the relationship between a mother and child. Her essay “The Epistemological Challenge of Motherhood to Patriliny,” she makes the claim, a child’s awareness of right and wrong stems from their mother and, this early relationship shows how the child relates to other people. From this perspective, the mother child-bond expands to the way one relates to their community. According to Nzegwu, Igbo communal life and ethics are fashioned through the notion of motherhood, where breaking ties of relationship leads to a crippled community. Her argument with patrilineal claims that have formed colonial anthropology and feminist thought. She claims, colonial anthropologists operating from the idea wives were subordinate to their husbands, dismissed motherhood from a social aspect. With this claim, Nzegwu, attempts to reaffirm the role motherhood plays within Igbo society. She explains colonial literature could not have recognized it due to constricted worldview. She draws comparison of Igbo ethics, highlighting the importance of relational its developing from maternal bonds. While, individualism is key to Western thought.

Nzegwu’s essay, “Omummu: Disassembling Subordination and Reasserting Endogenous Powers” (2020), Nzegwu further develops her claims from a political perspective. She analyzes Ikporo-Onitsha , an organization made of adult daughters who establish “omummu,” to explain the role of motherhood in politics. For her work, “Omummu” represents autonomy among woman. Nzegwu also discusses the role of the “omo” or Queen Mother as a representative of authority who lends her voice to many conversations even control over the military. [3]^[12]

Her 2006 monograph “Family Matters” is heavily quoted throughout the practice of African studies, woman studies, post colonial studies and African feminist theory. Lewis R.Gordon recognized her works and claims “she has created her place in Africana philosophy.” ^[13]

Extending her work, Nzwegu has an extensive career in art history, visual art and curation as well. These roles coincide with her work in academia, researching and writing, continuing the work of establishing pre-colonial Africa from through creative interpretation. A major theme throughout her art work is the assumptions of Africa and misinterpretations that exist as a result of colonialism. In the Journal of Aesthics and Art criticism, Nzwegu argues with artist Susan Vogel and Arthur Danto that make claims about African conception of art which, Nzegwu heavily critiques as Euro centered . ^[14] In 2018, she wrote an essay in Journal of Art Historiography analyzing oriki as a Yoruba art form based off of Rowland Abiodun’s work. Her claim posited, African art must be evaluated through it’s original cultural framework based on where it came from opposed to imposed Western structures. ^[15]

She continues the work of decolonizing concepts around gender and African women, using literature. Nzegwu has edited two volumes on Nigerian and Contemporary African art in the 1990s. Issues in Contemporary African Art (1998) and Contemporary Textures: Multidimensionality in Nigerian Art (1999),^{[16] [17]}are her original essays. She also played a role in editing major works such as a chapter in A Comlanion to African Ohilosoohy, edited by Kwasi Wiredu in 2004 and wrote an entry in African Diasporic art for the Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora in 2008. ^[2]

Nzegwu curated exhibitions across the diaspora in United States, Canada and Nigeria. She has had shows at the Art Gallery of Toronto, The Power Plant, and a Space. She has also had shows at the Mitchell Musuem in Illinois and Lagos in 1989. She founded her own gallery, Onira Arts Africa gallery in Ottawa, one of the earliest galleries in Canada dedicated specifically to African art. Afterwards, she created Africa House in New York, a multipurpose cultural space as well as art gallery, highlighting African visual art. ^[2]

She was an executive producer on the documentary “ Nigerian Art: Kindred Spirits (1996), an Emmy award winning Smithsonian documentary. ^[2]

In the year 2020, Nzegwu was offered distinguished professor from SUNY in the African studies department at the University of Binghamton.

2019 in South Africa she received the title Professor Extraordinarious in the School Trans-disciplinary Research and Graduate Studies at the University of South Africa ^[18]

Her digital journal JENDa : A Journal of Culture and African Women Struggles earned multiple accolades.

• Nzegwu, Nkiru (1994). "Gender Equality in a Dual-Sex System: the Case of Onitsha". Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence. 7, 199401: 73. doi:10.1017/S0841820900002575. ISSN 0841-8209. OCLC 8271677568.
• Issues in Contemporary African Art. Binghamton: International Society for the Study of Africa [ISSA], 1998. (editor)
• Contemporary Textures: Multidimensionality in Nigerian Art. Binghamton: ISSA, 1999. (editor)
• Nzegwu, Nkiru (2004). "The Epistemological Challenge of Motherhood to Patriliny". JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies (5): 1–18.
• Nzegwu, Nkiru (2020) “Temporality, Oriki and Nigeria’s Contemporary Art.” In “Aesthetic Temporalities Today”.Ed. Gabrielle Genge and Angela Stercken. Colombia University Press. Pp. 87-100.
• Family Matters: Feminist Concepts in African Philosophy of Culture. Albany, NY: SUNY Pres, 2006.
• The New African Diaspora. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009. (co-editor, with Isidore Okpewho)
• His Majesty Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe: A Ten-Year Milestone. Endicott, NY: Africa Resource Press, 2013. (editor)
• Onitsha at the Millennium: Legacy, History and Transformation. Endicott, NY: Africa Resource Press, 2013 (editor)
• Rethinking Motherhood: African and Nordic Perspectives. Endicott, NY: Africa Resource Press, 2020 (co-editor, with Signe Arfred)