[L-R] Alternative Heritage illustrators, Arinze Obidike Nnanyelu, Shalom Ojo and Ukandi Atsu with mentor, Diana Ejaita. Ibadan, Nigeria. August, 2024. TOYIN ADEDOKUN.
EDITOR’S FOREWORD
Reimagining Nigerian Heritage
[L-R] Alternative Heritage illustrators, Arinze Obidike Nnanyelu, Shalom Ojo and Ukandi Atsu with mentor, Diana Ejaita. Ibadan, Nigeria. August, 2024. TOYIN ADEDOKUN.
EDITOR’S FOREWORD
Reimagining Nigerian Heritage
At The Republic, we’re always thinking about what it means to be Nigerian, especially beyond our immediate Lagos environment. This year, on two occasions we had the opportunity to be even more ambitious with our thinking. In April 2024, as part of the Nigeria Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale we produced a magazine that explored Nigerian identities with visual art as the focal point. Months after that, in August, we embarked on another journey, this time to Ibadan, where, in collaboration with StoryMi Academy and the French Embassy in Nigeria, we convened a team of eleven creatives from across Nigeria, launching a programme we called ‘Alternative Heritage’. Our research question was simple: what does Nigerian heritage look like outside the mainstream?
Our inaugural Alternative Heritage ‘cohort’ featured writers, photographers and illustrators. Additionally, we had experts serve as on-site mentors: journalist, Dipo Faloyin, mentored the writers; photographer, Andrew Esiebo, mentored the photographers; and illustrator, Diana Ejaita, mentored the illustrators. Our goal: to highlight, celebrate and ruminate on the unknown and underdiscussed aspects of what it means to be Nigerian today. Perhaps a quieter goal: to deconstruct the magazine as a storytelling platform and to reorient Nigerian storytelling around collaboration, especially between visual and text-based storytellers. We spent one week in Ibadan exploring the city, meeting local cultural experts, and partaking in workshops. Afterwards, we sent the cohort into ‘the field’ to develop original stories with the continued guidance of their mentors.
This is only one several examples of the rigorous work that went into developing this edition. Alongside select stories from the Alternative Heritage workshop, The Republic also commissioned stories from across our network, which now boasts more than 1,000 writers, photographers and illustrators spread across Africa and the African diaspora. Our contributors uncovered the alternative Nigerian heritage as found within areas ranging from food to textiles and even our rainforests. Unique as each story might be, they build up to an iridescent display of what Nigerian heritage has been, is and could potentially be.
My deepest thanks to everyone who supported and contributed to this issue; to our many visionaries, shepherds and colleagues who deftly guided each story through our editorial process. Special thanks to Sophie Bouillon of StoryMi, Emmanuelle Harang of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to Quintin Leeds of XXI Magazine, who worked closely with our graphics team. This issue is the first of two magazines we will be developing under the Alternative Heritage programme, and I am excited to share it with you.
Now, the essays.
‘We’re disrupting the notion of museums as exclusive domains for experts,’ Ore Disu, director of the institute at the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City, Edo State, told me. Ahead of MOWAA’s official launch set for 2025, I spoke with Disu about her vision for Africa’s most ambitious cultural institution yet. Under her guidance, MOWAA embraces an expansive view of heritage beyond the historical objects the West value and stole from Africa, to include natural environments such as rainforests. According to Disu, ‘For MOWAA to succeed, it is not just enough to showcase West African heritage at home. Our ambition is to serve as a conduit for African institutions to be more active in global practice—confronting “villagization” and segregative practice.’
‘William Onyeabor’s music is somewhat strange. A listener can attempt to feel its pulse—psychedelic, physical, pulsating—but there’s an eerie twist to the movements,’ Emmanuel Esomnofu writes, profiling the folk musician. ‘There’s a unicorn feeling his voice carries, pained and subdued,’ he continues. ‘That stuffy characteristic might be the dominant make-up of Onyeabor’s catalogue.’ While Onyeabor, who passed away in 2017, led an enigmatic life, Esomnofu reflects on how his mysteriousness paradoxically fed the brilliance of his music.
‘The phenom of the Nigerian female pop icon is almost impossible to call up in the public imagination before Onyeka Onwenu,’ Kéchi Nne Nomu writes, considering the legacy of the widely beloved musician who passed away earlier this year. ‘This is, of course, an illusion of history. The Lijadu Sisters exist. Alongside Onwenu, Christy Essien-Igbokwe, Evi Edna Ogholi, and Tyna Onwudiwe made music,’ she continues. However, ‘it was Onwenu’s embodiment of this idea of the pop icon, in its unwieldy mix, that stood her apart.’
Reimagining Nigerian Heritage
Our latest issue, Reimagining Nigerian Heritage, celebrates and ruminates on the unknown and underdiscussed aspects of what it means to be Nigerian today.
Making the Museum of West African Art
Ahead of the official, public launch of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City, Edo state, set for 2025, MOWAA director Ore Disu discusses her vision for...
The Strange Genius of William Onyeabor
The Nigerian musician William Onyeabor lived an enigmatic life, and his mysteriousness continues to foreground the light his music represents.
In an essay revisiting Tunde Kelani’s pioneering film, Ṣaworoìdẹ, 25 years since its release, Republic senior editor, Yusuf Omotayo, explores how the film remains timely issues while embodying the rich history of Yoruba cinema. ‘There has never been a greater and better time in history to hold the government and society more accountable than we have now,’ Kelani told Omotayo. According to Omotayo, ‘Many have praised [Ṣaworoìdẹ’s] acting, storytelling, cinematography and cultural significance… 25 years later, it seems the film was made to reflect Nigeria’s current socio-political realities giving the film a sense of timeless image.’
Additionally, food writer, Ozoz Sokoh, explores motherhood and food through Buchi Emecheta’s 1979 novel, The Joys of Motherhood. Nnu Ego, the protagonist, experiences everything from intense joy to the depths of sorrow. ‘Pain, hopes, dreams, madness, distress, tears, laughter, sleepless nights, heartache, stretch, loneliness, community, happiness, excitement, silence, voice, courage, defiance, stubbornness, grace, despair and more…of motherhood,’ Sokoh writes. Offering recipes we urge you to try, Sokoh shows the culinary versatility of kola nut, ‘of which there are ten mentions in this book.’
The Timelessness of Tunde Kelani’s Ṣaworoìdẹ
Tunde Kelani released Ṣaworoìdẹ, the film many consider his best, 25 years ago in 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic governance. The film continues to address important issues happening in...
In line with our new format, this issue features authors writing on topics ranging from arts & culture to history. Our Arts section includes a photo-essay by Alternative Heritage participants, Abdullahi Ahmad (photography) and Judith Hassan (writing), exploring the beauty and fragile state of traditional northern Nigerian architecture found in Zaria. This section also includes a photo-essay by Alternative Heritage participants Oyewole Lawal (photography) and Olaoluwa Olowu (writing and photography); together, Lawal and Olowu show the connections between family history and aṣọ òkè. ‘Beyond its visual appeal, aṣọ òkè has mythical meaning,’ Olowu explains. ‘It is associated with the divine teachings of Orunmila—the Yoruba god of wisdom and divination—and has spiritual significance for the Yoruba people.’
Our Personal Relationships with Aṣọ Òkè
More than just fabric, aṣọ òkè is a piece of family history tied to celebrations and important events. aṣọ òkè often symbolizes the connections, legacies and pride handed down from...
The Fragile Beauty of Northern Architecture
An exploration of traditional northern Nigerian architecture takes you into Zaria City, where you experience centuries-old tradition and the march of modernity. Through the eyes of a traditional builder, a...
In Business and the Economy, Alternative Heritage participant, Emmanuel Azubuike, writes on Igba Ọsọ Ahịa, an old business practice among Igbo people, that revolves around middlemen. While such middlemen are often misunderstood as purely transactional agents, Azubuike and Alternative Heritage participant Ukandi Atsu (photo-illustration), invite into the profound humanity behind their work, particularly their goals of financial independence. According to Azubuike, ‘This practice is not just about economic survival; it is a social framework that reflects the values of mutual support and kinship in Igbo culture.’
The aṣọ-òfì sits at the apex of traditional Yoruba attire, revered as a symbol of status and cherished as a family heirloom. In her essay, Foyin Ejilola explores the lives of Iseyin-based weavers of aṣọ-òfì, and their long, inter-generational history of producing this handwoven fabric. ‘For these people whose lives revolve around the making and marketing of aṣọ-òfì,’ Ejilola writes, ‘the craft is woven into their identities, shaping their familial bonds, community relationships, beliefs and financial traditions.’
The Weavers of Iseyin
Aṣọ-òfì does more than exist as a treasured Yoruba fabric and a commodity in Iseyin, its original home. It reflects a societal fabric interwoven with the changing cultural values, social...
The Misunderstood Economics of Igba Ọsọ Ahịa
Igba Ọsọ Ahịa is not just another middleman scheme, but a social business practice deeply rooted in Igbo society that integrates regional traders for the purpose of facilitating entrepreneurialism and...
In Culture, Sada Malumfashi considers how Hausa magic-medicine systems such as ‘Tsibbu’ continue to exist between religion and culture: ‘Today, you will find two kinds of Hausa people: those who believe in Hausa animism, magic and astrology, and those who consider it nonsense—un-Islamic and unscientific.’
Alternative Heritage participant and illustrator, Obidike Arinze Nnanyelu, brings the visual culture of street hair salons to life in his Visual History of Nigerian Hair illustration series. Nnanyelu takes us behind his approach to illustrations and the themes he sought to convey through the hairstyle illustration series. This section also includes an essay by Alternative Heritage participant Gabriella Opara, who explores the revival of Nsibidi, an ancient Nigerian ideographic script, ‘peculiar to the Cross River region in Nigeria and can be traced largely to the Ibibios, Efiks and Arochukwus in Nigeria’s South South and South East regions.’ With visuals from Alternative Heritage participants, Aleruchi Kinika (photography) and Ukandi Atsu (illustrations), Opara highlights Nsibidi’s cultural significance, its evolution into the more accessible neo-Nsibidi, and its modern applications in art, fashion and heritage preservation.
Additionally, as the holiday season approaches, writers and booksellers—including Theresa Lola, Noo Saro-Wiwa and Adedayo Agarau—told us what books make the best gifts for loved ones. Whether you’re shopping for a friend who loves to laugh or a family member who enjoys soul-searching stories, these recommendations make the perfect holiday gifts.
Portraits of Nigerian Hair
Obidike Arinze Nnanyelu, who created the Visual History of Nigerian Hair illustration series, discusses what it means as an artist to document hair-making in Nigeria and unpack its cultural significance.
The Reinvention of Nsibidi
Nsibidi, Nigeria’s historical writing script, offers a glimpse into the complexities and intricacies of African cultures. Today, a universe of creators, researchers and enthusiasts is on a quest to promote...
The Books Writers Think Make the Perfect Holiday Gifts
As the holiday season approaches, we asked writers and booksellers—including Theresa Lola, Noo Saro-Wiwa, and Adedayo Agarau—for their top book recommendations to gift a loved one. Here’s what they told us.
In History, Ahmad Adedimeji Amobi considers the spiritual and cultural relevance of Yoruba wood carvers and the historical transformation of door carving as a design practice in Yoruba societies. ‘While the lack of trees led to the scarcity of door carvers and the gradual erosion of carved doors in the Yoruba culture,’ he writes, ‘colonialism as well as the influences of Brazil and Portugal on Nigeria’s architecture furthered the gradual transformation.’
The Last Guardians of Yoruba Door Carving
Yoruba carvers were once revered for their intricate spiritual and cultural door designs. The few carvers remaining today persevere against a world that increasingly overlooks the value of their art.
Since our last issue, The Republic has announced funding from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), which will go developing a network of universities in Nigeria. We also announced funding from the Mellon Foundation, which will support the expansion of our editorial work across multiple formats. This issue being our last for 2024, from all of us at The Republic, happy holidays and see you next year!
As usual, we encourage our readers to engage with our essays and articles and to provide insightful comments. Readers may send their views directly to the Editor by addressing emails (of no more than 700 words) to wale@republic.com.ng, with the subject, ‘Comment on Xyz Essay’, or ‘Letter to the Editor’ as applies. Comments and letters will be archived and, depending on the quality of the arguments presented, we may reach out to assist in developing your letters and comments further for publishing in the magazine.
At The Republic, we will always prioritize the meaningful exchange of ideas. We commit to pressing forward: on the most critical of social, political and economic issues; by innovating through knowledge gaps; and by providing guidance through thickets of opinion, ignorance and misinformation—three key features of our time—in search of glades of insight⎈
shop the republic
-
The Republic V8, N4 Reimagining Nigerian Heritage
₦12,000.00 Buy Now -
‘Homecoming’ Print by Shalom Ojo
₦70,000.00 – ₦75,000.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page -
‘Kongi’s Harvest’ Print by Diana Ejaita.
₦70,000.00 – ₦75,000.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page