Dept. of Archaeology

Rita Onah will be defending her PhD proposal, 'The Archaeology of Resilience', on Friday, May 7th at 1:00pm.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

This will be a virtual proposal defence using the Webex platform, and the link to the Online Room is here: https://mun.webex.com/mun/j.php?MTID=mbdd8236c96f773de55da6ee5f4097df8
Meeting number (access code): 132 228 1708
Meeting password: PAtuhe4HV44

Rita explains her research: "The resilience of culture is often ignored when describing colonized communities, but my research emphasizes the agency of Indigenous people through periods of marginalization by shifting the focus to the continuity of local activities. This research is both essential and rewarding for contemporary Indigenous communities who need to make renewed connection with our own history, and to repair connections to the past that have been severed by colonialism. This work will also provide settler archaeologists with direction to help counter the legacy of scientific colonialism in archaeology by ensuring that the products of research uphold and benefit the community. Ultimately the goal is to dispel that negative colonial connotations of Indigeneity and instead to celebrate the cultural diversity in our society. To do this I am presenting archaeological research from Nigerian Igbo settlements to compare with Inuit sites collections from southern Labrador which date to the contact period. I will also critically review extant archaeological writings from these two regions and use documentary evidence, oral histories and interviews to infuse the archaeological record with the traditions of Igbo."