Towards a Nigerian Design Heritage Studies Framework: Theorising the Relationship Between Material Culture and Design History

Design history as an academic discipline has produced rich analyses of the designed artefacts, movements, and institutions of Europe and North America, while African material culture has been primarily theorised within anthropology and art history frameworks that inadequately address design intentionality, production knowledge systems, and the agency of makers. This doctoral study develops an original Nigerian Design Heritage Studies Framework that theorises the relationship between Nigerian material culture and design history, establishing methodological and conceptual foundations for a new sub-field of design scholarship. Drawing on design history theory, African material culture studies, postcolonial historiography, and heritage studies, the research conducts a systematic analytical survey of pre-colonial and early colonial Nigerian designed artefacts held in national museums and private collections, combined with oral history research with heritage communities in Benin City, Ile-Ife, Kano, and Igbo-Ukwu. The framework developed distinguishes three analytical dimensions uniquely relevant to Nigerian design heritage: technological intentionality in material production, design knowledge transmission systems, and the social biography of artefacts across use, exchange, and ceremonial contexts. The framework is demonstrated through six extended case analyses of iconic Nigerian designed objects, each applying the three analytical dimensions to produce design historical accounts that transcend purely anthropological or art historical interpretations. The study proposes a postgraduate Nigerian Design Heritage Studies curriculum and calls for repatriation partnerships between Nigerian institutions and international museums holding significant collections. Keywords: design heritage, material culture, design history, Nigeria, postcolonial scholarship.