Nkiru Nzegwu

Nkiru Nzegwu (born March 22, 1954) is a Nigerian philosopher, art historian, scholar, curator, and painter. She is a Distinguished Professor at State University of New York at Binghamton.

She is the author of several books, and has over sixty published articles and book chapters. In 2020, she was appointed Professor Extraordinarius for the School of Transdisciplinary Research and Graduate Studies at the University of South Africa. She was the Nelson Mandela Visiting Professor at Rhodes University from 2023 to 2024. Education and early life Nzegwu was born to parents of Igbo ethnicity in Onitsha, Nigeria. She went on to study at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), where she received both her BA and MA. Before academia, she engaged in media production as a radio producer and graphic designer. She also took part in Voices of Nigeria (1981-1983), which was the onset of her artistic work.

Nzegwu went on to receive a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Ottawa in 1989. Nzegwu’s dissertation Encounters in Aesthetic Appreciation observed challenging theories of aesthetics, under Andrew Lugg.

Philosophical career When she first began at the State University of New York at Binghamton, she was in both the philosophy and art history departments, where she earned her tenure in 1996. Later, she moved her philosophy appointment into African Studies. She moved her art history line to the Interpretation and Culture (PIC) graduate program, where she served as the coordinator. which explored the structures of Igbo families and the concepts of feminism that existed within them. In the book, she studies African families through the lens of contemporary human rights and the need for a re-evaluation of these traditional ideas, considering the modern rulings by judges towards women that selectively appeal to culture and the interpretation of traditions.

Intellectual contributions and theoretical framework Nzegwu's work pushes feminist theory. A core claim she makes throughout her work emphasizes how Western systems, when imposed on African societies, dismantle African frameworks. For instance, gender is often treated as a male and female binary, a framework which does not map neatly onto African societies. She introduces the concept of "dual-sex system," where Igbo men and women organized in political groups. This structure led to a level of autonomy and political power for African women. Nkiru Nzegwu argues that colonial rule, through the introduction of new laws and policies, dismantled social systems that had previously supported women’s independence.

Nzegwu has also examined the morality of motherhood within a communal Igbo context, emphasizing how African values and social relationships are rooted in the bond between mother and child. In her essay The Epistemological Challenge of Motherhood to Patriliny, she argues that a child’s understanding of right and wrong originates from the mother, and that this foundational relationship shapes how the child later interacts with other people. According to Nkiru Nzegwu, communal life and ethics among the Igbo are structured around the concept of motherhood, and the breakdown of relational ties weakens the community as a whole. She argues that colonial anthropologists, working from the assumption that wives were subordinate to their husbands, failed to recognize the broader social significance of motherhood.

Through this argument, Nzegwu seeks to reaffirm the central role motherhood plays within Igbo society. She maintains that colonial-era scholarship was unable to properly acknowledge this because it operated within a limited and restrictive worldview.

Her 2006 monograph Family Matters is heavily quoted throughout the practice of African studies, women's studies, post-colonial studies, and African feminist theory.

Art scholarship and curation Nzegwu has had a long career in art history, visual art, and curation. A major theme throughout her artwork is the assumptions of Africa and the misinterpretations that exist as a result of colonialism. In the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Nzegwu argues with artist Susan Vogel and Arthur Danto that make claims about African conception of art which Nzegwu heavily critiques as Euro centered. In 2018, she wrote an essay in Journal of Art Historiography analyzing oríkì as a Yoruba art form based on Rowland Abiodun's work. Her claim posited that African art must be evaluated through its original cultural framework, based on where it came from, as opposed to imposed Western structures.

She continues the work of decolonizing concepts around gender and African women, using literature. Nzegwu has edited two volumes on Nigerian and Contemporary African art in the 1990s.

Nzegwu curated exhibitions across the diaspora in the United States, Canada, and Nigeria. She has had shows at the Art Gallery of Toronto, The Power Plant, and A Space. This documentary explores the life of Nigerian Art and included notable artists such as sculptor Ben Enwonwu, whose work emphasizes traditional masquerade and African belief systems, and environment-themed paintings by Ona Brekpaya. Her website africaresource.com is an educational website that "features content that raises awareness of conversations taking place in African communities on topics ranging from feminism to economic development." This site has had over 10 million visitors and has received a “Best of the Web” citation from PBS."

Scholarly accomplishments Nzegwu is the founder and editor of several scholarly journals, including Ijele: Art Journal of the African World and Journal on African Philosophy. She is "one of the original founding editors" of the award-winning JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Struggles.

She currently serves on the Advisory Board for The Black Scholar journal.

From 2004 to 2010 she served as chair of the Igbo Studies Association.

Publications

Nzegwu, Nkiru (2020) “Temporality, Oriki and Nigeria’s Contemporary Art.” In “Aesthetic Temporalities Today”. Ed. Gabrielle Genge and Angela Stercken. Columbia University Press. Pp. 87-100. Family Matters: Feminist Concepts in African Philosophy of Culture. Albany, NY: SUNY Pres, 2006. The New African Diaspora. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009. (co-editor, with Isidore Okpewho) His Majesty Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe: A Ten-Year Milestone. Endicott, NY: Africa Resource Press, 2013. (editor) Onitsha at the Millennium: Legacy, History and Transformation. Endicott, NY: Africa Resource Press, 2013 (editor) Rethinking Motherhood: African and Nordic Perspectives. Endicott, NY: Africa Resource Press, 2020 (co-editor, with Signe Arfred)