Heritage, Memory, and Identity: The Politics of Archaeological Knowledge Production in Igboland

The production of archaeological knowledge about Igboland has been entangled since its origins with colonial, postcolonial, and contemporary political projects that have shaped what has been excavated, what has been preserved, and how findings have been interpreted and communicated. This dissertation critically examines the politics of archaeological knowledge production in Igboland, developing a reflexive political archaeology framework that illuminates the interplay between heritage, memory, and identity in determining whose past gets told and how. The study draws on science studies, critical heritage theory, and postcolonial African thought to analyse the politics of knowledge production at three scales: the institutional scale of university departments and state heritage agencies, the project scale of specific excavation and publication histories from Igbo-Ukwu, Ezira, and Igbo-Isaiah, and the community scale of village heritage committees and Obi palace custodianship of archaeological objects. Empirical methods include archival research in the archives of the NCMM, the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and the Oxbridge collections relating to Nigerian archaeology, alongside extended ethnographic fieldwork in three Igbo communities with active engagement with their archaeological heritage. Analysis reveals that major excavation projects have consistently prioritized questions interesting to international scholarly audiences over questions posed by Igbo communities themselves, that women's heritage perspectives and material practices are systematically underrepresented in published archaeological accounts, and that the most politically charged sites, particularly those associated with Igbo autochthony claims, have been subject to selective non-investigation. The dissertation argues for an explicitly politically reflexive archaeology in which communities become co-investigators rather than research subjects. Keywords: politics of knowledge, Igboland, heritage and identity, reflexive archaeology, community archaeology.