@article{THESIS,
      recid = {3739},
      author = {Firew, Sion},
      title = {The Nigeria-Biafra War: Looking to Art to Interpret  Realities},
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {M.A.},
      address = {2022-06},
      number = {THESIS},
      abstract = {Popular and academic representations of Africa often  assume violence as an integral characteristic of the  continent. While the narratives surrounding Africa and  Africans are still evolving, it is important that scholars  who are central to the shaping of Western perceptions of  Africa are aware of their contributions to the false  narratives. Within the context of the Biafran War, a  conflict that often goes undiscussed by political  scientists despite its devastation, there has been an  oversimplification of the war to the point that the actual  causes of the conflict have been obfuscated. I examine the  political science literature that discusses the Biafran  War, noting the ways in which it falls short in explaining  the roots of the conflict, the extent to which British  indirect rule on the colonial and postcolonial Nigerian  state impacted the war, and who the Biafran people were. I  then argue that political scientists would benefit from  drawing on Nigerian art and artists to understand the  actual lived experiences of people during the Biafran War,  and I do so by examining five pieces from four Nigerian and  Biafran artists. By using art created by those who lived  through the war or experienced the effects of the war’s  legacy on the Nigerian state, political scientists would be  able to understand the conflict in a non-Western  perspective while honoring the experiences of those who  lived through the conflict and its legacies, and be able to  understand the ways in which scholarly discussions of  causes of the war and intervention within the war help  perpetuate Western bias in the field.},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/3739},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.3739},
}