J. Kelechi Ugwuanyi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Tourism, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Global Heritage Lab, Transdisciplinary Research Area: Present Pasts, University of Bonn. Kelechi had his PhD in heritage studies at the University of York and MA and BA in Archaeology and Tourism and Diploma in Tourism and Museum Studies at the University of Nigeria. He is a co- editor of the Journal of African Cultural Heritage Studies and sits on the editorial board of the Studies in Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory book series published by the Archaeopress in Oxford as part of the British Archaeological Report series of monograph. Kelechi has published chapters and articles in national and international journals of repute and has presented papers at different professional conferences across the globe. He is an African Humanities Program (AHP) fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and a recipient of other fellowships/grants including the Overseas Research Scholarship (ORS) of the University of York, Tweedie Exploration Fellowship of the University of Edinburgh, Gilchrist Educational Trust, etc. Kelechi’s research interests are critical heritage studies, museum, indigenous knowledge systems, tourism, and contemporary archaeology. His current research at the Global Heritage Lab revisits the originating communities of ethnographic archives collected during colonialism to re-engage members of the descendant communities to understand the significance of archival materials in the present.
Experience
2022–present
Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Bonn
2020–present
Senior lecturer, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
2020–2021
AHP Postdoctoral Fellow, American Council of Learned Societies
2013–2020
Lecturer, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
2011–2013
Graduate Assistant, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Education
2019
University of York, PhD Archaeology (Heriteg Studies)
2013
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, MA Cultural Resource Management & Tourism
2010
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, BA Archaeology and Tourism
2006
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Diploma in Tourism & Museum Studies
Publications
2021
Time-space politics and heritagisation in Africa: understanding where to begin decolonisation, International Journal of Heritage Studies
2021
Heritage ontologies in Nigeria: an analysis of how heritage connects and disconnects people, Journal of African Archaeology
2021
Íhé Ńkètá and Òkè: concepts and practice of indigenous cultural heritage management in the Igbo cultural area of south-eastern Nigeria, Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development
2020
Masking and oral tradition in the re-enactment of village-based hierarchy among the acephalous Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria, World Archaeology
2020
Human-nature offspringing: indigenous thoughts on posthuman heritage, Chapter in Deterritorializing the Future: Heritage in, of and after the Anthropocene edited by Harrison, R. and Sterling, C.
2018
Permanence, temporality and the rhythms of life: exploring significance of the village arena in Igbo culture, World Archaeology 50 (1)