Our postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. J. Kelechi Ugwuanyi, participated in and presented his work in progress at the 5th UK-German Frontiers of Humanities Symposium, which was held at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Berlin, 5-8 June 2024.
The topic of the symposium was “Natures, Cultures and Communities”. The symposium allowed participants to exchange ideas, to network and to plan for future collaborations among early career scholars in different disciplines working on this subject in the UK and Germany.
Kelechi’s collaborative work presented at the meeting focuses on heritage and more-than-human ontologies with a case study of the human relationship with green snakes (locally called Aka) among the Ishiagu people of Southeastern Nigeria. The study examines a cultural practice, rites and narratives that preserve green snakes and the associated biodiversity in the area. It uses the evidence to engage in how such cultural practice drives local ontologies that survive the relationality of all ‘beings’ in a cyclical continuum. This work argues that such practices that maintain a mutual relationship between culture and nature should be encouraged alongside conventional conservation to secure the survival of human and nonhuman beings in this era of climate emergency and the so-called Anthropocene.
Photo: Dr. J. Kelechi Ugwuanyi