PhD Oral Exam - Ifeoma Ugonnwa Anyaeji, Humanities

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

“Children don’t want you to tell them what to do. They do what they see you do. They are learning from you, As Africans, which is one of the major education scams they (colonialists) gave to us. Africans are not wired to go to school and cram. We are wired to see and do. So we learn from what we see our parents do…(Story telling)”…ID Cabasa 20231

The reclamation of discarded material objects and cultural forms should not end in the physical aesthetic juxtaposition of both, in protest of our high-culture environment and the nuances of beauty, as is often seen in subversive forms of most contemporary art practices. Neither should the idea of re-use be allowed to drift into mere panoply of reclaimed materials within the spectrum of art creation. Rather, there should be clear alliances to formulate interventions, which will not only identify and challenge our environmental exigencies, but also formulate processes and methods of making and remaking that bring about a balance between our interactions with the depletive environment and its replenishment and continuity. Therefore, this research-creation thesis, through the ecological channels inherited from traditional Nigerian craft practices, responds to that intervention by defining a specific and unique path despite what is applicable on a universal platform. Just as the methodologies that inform this research are unconventional so will the style of documentation and discussion2 you will find here be different from the conventional academic format of written scholarship. It will be more akin to the traditional pedagogic mannerisms of oral lore manifested through visual descriptive interpretations adapted from an alignment with my historical Nigerian (Igbo)3 heritage. The nature of this research-creation departs from accounts which permeate the regular spectrum of normative documentation and interpretation of research findings. Today’s academic environment must give room for shifts in the methods of modern learning and can only be encompassing when it gives equal acknowledgement to indigenous scholarship and their modes of documentation.