Cynthia Anyadi- Visiting Researcher

In May 2022, Cynthia Nkiruka Anyadi joined African Digital Heritage as a visiting researcher. Below she shares more about her work and a few reflections on culture and technology.

I am a PhD student in the Geography Department at Royal Holloway, University of London. My research explores how connections to ancestral spirits and lands within Igbo Nigerian culture are being challenged through migration. I am also working on a mini project to understand how connections to land, nation, and deceased ancestors are mediated in the mass grave sites of Mau Mau fighters.  

My journey into the sector was a pretty natural progression, as I narrowed down my interests while doing my BA in Geography and an MRes in Cultural Geography. I first discovered African Digital Heritage, specifically through my work with Black Geographers.

My research uses a combination of methods including memory work, oral histories, 3D object mapping, and sensory ethnographies; areas which I believe the ADH team has a lot of experience and expertise in.  

As I become more involved in the sector, I witnessed that investment in the arts and culture sectors have been cut significantly, and the situation getting worse, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this has been hard, it has also revealed just how resilient this community is. In the face of slashed funding and cancelled events, people have adapted, come together, and continued to find ways to thrive. I stay hopeful to see where this energy and sense of unity will take the field, and I am particularly excited to see how I can contribute to this through her my with ADH.  

I join ADH to support the development of a cultural practitioners’ toolkit under the #Skills4Culture programme. 

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