The Asaba Massacre ..

Members may be interested in this new book: "Surviving Biafra: A Nigerwife's Story" (Hurst Publishing 2018). The books takes a personal, non-political look at life in Biafra during the civil war. It can be bought at Amazon or at Hurst, where readers can get a 25% discount by quoting the code BIAFRA25. Link to site: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/surviving-biafra/#!/

From the publisher's catalog:

"In 1961, Rosina ‘Rose’ Martin married John Umelo, a young Nigerian she met on a London Tube station platform, eventually moving to Nigeria with him and their children. As Rose taught Latin in Enugu, they found themselves caught up in Nigeria’s Civil War, which followed the 1967 secession of Eastern Nigeria—now named Biafra. The family fled to John’s ancestral village, then moved from place to place as the war closed in. When it ended in 1970, up to 2 million had died, most from starvation. Rose (‘worse off than some, better off than many’) had kept notes, capturing the reality of living in Biafra—from excitement in the beginning to despair towards the end.

Immediately after the war, Rose turned her notes into a narrative that described the ingenious ways Biafrans made do, still hoping for victory while their territory shrank and children starved by the thousand. Now anthropologist S. Elizabeth Bird contextualises Rose’s story, providing background on the progress of the war and international reaction to it. Edited and annotated, Rose’s vivid account of life as a Biafran ‘Nigerwife’ offers a fresh, new look at hope and survival through a brutal war."

Some may remember Rosina Umelo as the author of young adult novels, especially in the Pacesetters series.

Reviews

‘Here is a book on Biafra that juxtaposes the dualities: the historical and figurative narratives; history and memory; the complexity and simplicity of politics and warfare; the incredulity and reality of facts; the very essence of life and death; and the personal engagements with plenty and hunger, desire and denial.’ — Toyin Falola, Professor of African Studies, University of Texas

‘A captivating account of Nigeria’s war. Having heard the voices of a cross-section of Igbo and Nigerian women, we welcome the voice of a woman from across the seas who lived through the tragedy with us.’ — Egodi Uchendu, Professor of History, University of Nigeria and author of Women and Conflict in the Nigerian Civil War

Some members may be interested in our new book: "The Asaba Massacre: Trauma, Memory and the Nigerian Civil War." It is based on several years of research, including interviews with survivors, witnesses, former government and military figures, and archival sources. It is published by Cambridge University Press, and is available directly from them: www.cambridge.org/BIRD2017, or through Amazon and other outlets.

It has been interesting to see the way this discussion has gone. We are doing this research because we thought it was important to develop some kind of objective acccount, drawn from evidence, about an event that has received little attention in the official history of Nigeria. Yes, we're outsiders, but maybe that helped us get some perspective -- we are not arguing that Igbo people are any better than anyone else, or blindly taking one side here. In the end, we were hoping that recovering a lost history would be helpful, and could possibly lead to people reflecting on the terrible consequences of war -- for everyone.

People in Asaba did not lie to us; of that I am sure. One of the most heartening things we learned was that even during the killing, there were many examples of federal soldiers (non-Igbos)who risked their own lives (and in some cases died) to protect civilians when other soldiers were slaughtering them. These soldiers spoke up and acted from a sense of shared humanity, and that leaves us with hope for the future. Our work is not about deciding which ethnic group is better than the other; it is is about the importance of facing some uncomfortable truths and moving forward. I'm sorry if this sounds presumptuous coming from a non-Nigerian, but this work has become important to us.

There has been previous discussion here about the 1967 Asaba massacre; people may be interested in our new article, published recently in African Studies Review, a peer-reviewed academic journal. It draws on two years of research, including videotaped interviews with over 50 people who survived the killings. I posted it in the Culture section, but that may have been the wrong place. To download the article, please go to: www.asabamemorial.org and click on the pdf under News. The article was too long to attach here. Comments are welcome.
[url][/url]www.asabamemorial.org

My colleague and I have recently published an academic article on the Asaba Massacres in the prestigious, peer-reviewed journal, African Studies Review. We thought some people here might be interested in it. To read the article, go to www.asabamemorial.org, click on the pdf under News. The file is too big to upload to this forum.

[url][/url]www.asabamemorial.org