FULBRIGHT YEAR SEPT

FULBRIGHT YEAR SEPT.2002-DEC.2003	Jean M. Borgatti, Associate Professor /PT, Art History, Visual & Performing Arts, Clark University, Worcester Massachusetts

1973: Okpella (Nigeria) Gathering of Titled Elders	2003 (Benin City): Audience with the Oba

Host University: University of Benin, Ugbowo Campus	Entrance Sculptures by Chris Ebighbo, Dept. of Fine Arts

University of Benin - Ekenwan Campus	Home of the Dept. of Fine & Applied Arts

Faculty Seminar - October 2002	Art History Classroom - currently under renovation to house equipment purchased through a UNIVERSITY INNOVATION INITIATIVE FUND Grant received in November 2003.

Auchi Polytechnic, entrance to School of Art & Design where I did some volunteer teaching and lecturing, and the sculpture garden. Auchi Poly graciously gave me office space and the occasional use of the official car.

Three of the 140 students I taught in Auchi	High Table at my official Send Off from Auchi and the occasion on which I formally presented more than 200 books (some purchased through Fulbright funds but many donated by colleagues in the USA for a departmental library.

2003 Research Project - Aesthetics & Social Change Panel Study - 25% of original 400 respondants re-interviewed. Interviewers: Abdul Nur Anidu and Abdul Hamid Anidu.

Interview with Asetu Momoh (Iddo)	Portrait: Asetu Momoh 2003	Portrait: Asetu Momoh 1979

Interview with Ester Sadoh (Afokpella)	Portrait: Ester Sadoh 2003	Portrait: Ester Sadoh 1979

Qualitative Assessment of Change: Despite change, there continues to be continuity in many areas of traditional life.

Otuo Igugu Festival 2003	Otuo Igugu Festival 1973	Lawrence Ajanaku 2003	Costumes by Lawrence Ajanaku 1973

Okpella Ancestral Festival herald 2003	Okpella Ancestral Festival herald 1979	Okpella wall paintings linked to men's title ceremony 2003	Okpella wall paintings linked to men's title ceremony 1973

Efforts, Activities and Accomplishments

Created Web Page for Dept. of Fine and Applied Arts, Uniben			Attended Pan African Circle of Artists (PACA) Conference, Lagos 2002

Presented paper (Globalism and Culture: An Art Historical Perspective) at Fulbright Alumni Conference, Nov. 2002			Presented paper (Achetu Obamina: Traditional African Artist) at the inaugural meeting of the Art Historical Association of Nigeria (AHAN), Nov. 2002
Researched Funding Opportunities for African Scholars and published them in the Uniben News. Brought two young Nigerian colleagues through the application process for the 5 Colleges Residency Program: Dr. Freeborn Odibo (L), art historian and Dr. Felicia Nwalutu (R), ethnographer & historian. Continue to encourage (and vet) proposals for Fulbright, Sainsbury (UK), Cambridge fellowships Downloaded and distributed Unesco Bursary information for Residencies in the Visual Arts to Uniben faculty (one selected for award – Ademola Williams, Brazil), Auchi Poly Faculty and all those at the Harmattan Workshop run by Bruce Onobrakpeya.
	Provided information on portraiture in traditional African art for an article in the local newspaper, the Observer. Likeness and Beyond is an exhibit that I conceived and then executed with Dr. Richard Brilliant and the late Alan Wardwell.
Because the University lecturers were on strike, I took the opportunity to lecture throughout the country.			Photographed the coronation of the Okumagbe of Agenebode, assisting Dr. Nwalutu.
At the National Museum, Lagos, courtesy of USIA, I spoke about Modern Artists, Nigerian and Native American, who face similar problems regarding the definition of identity vis-a-vis strong historical art traditions as well as the culture of international art. In addition, I spoke at a forum on the Empowerment of Women sponsored by the American Consulate during International Women’s month (a program that made the national news in Nigeria), carried out a series of evening programs at Auchi Polytechnic for faculty and students, and gave two papers at Bruce Onobrakpeya’s Harmattan Workshop for Practicing Artists (Delta State)--photo opposite: Papa Bruce at work.
			In May I gave three lectures in Abuja, under the auspices of the American Embassy, one on the arts of Edo North, one on Portraiture in African Art, and one on Modern Nigerian Art. I also did a program on Nigerian textiles for the Niger Wives organization, Benin City chapter. Photo left shows Niger wife Val Buraimah from Auchi with Mrs. Hilda Ogbe, author of "Crumbs from the Wife's Table" - a chronicle of her life in Nigeria. I applied for an extension of my Fulbright in order to complete my teaching assignment when classes resumed in June, giving final lectures in June, collecting class assignments, and grading exams.
One of those assignments involved a series of drawings. To overcome the discomfort that many Nigerian students seemed to feel in the presence of traditional art, I had them to draw a representational image of a traditional form, from a photograph, research the piece and write about the culture, then to “be Picasso”—breaking the form up into its geometric components and reorganizing them into a new composition.
Meanwhile, in Edo North, I completed documentary coverage of the Okpella ancestral festivals between March & June.

Commemorative Masquerade (Afokpella)		Elders' Masquerade (Ogiriga)		Festival Herald (Afokpella)

Returned to U.S. for a short period of time during the summer to meet with members of my university community to discuss the possibility of an exchange program and plan for a Fulbright Alumni grant proposal to bring several artists from the U.S. to conduct workshops at University of Benin and then to select works to travel back to the U.S. for exhibition. Arrived back in Nigeria by Sept.4. Met with Dr. Ben Elugbe (University of Ibadan) to discuss collaborating on a paper focusing on Otuo (photo below-left), his community, and a community where we have both conducted research and did some cultural sightseeing in Benin, visiting Igun Street, home of the famed bronzecasters who serve the Benin Court and a designated Unesco Cultural Heritage Site (photo below-right), and gave a lecture at the Norwegian Embassy in Abuja.

Applied for and received a 2 million naira grant from the UNIVERSITY INNOVATION INITIATIVE FUND administered through the American Embassy. This grant will purchase computers, software, portable generators, books and videos for the department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin. It will augment such equipment as an LCD projector, VCR & television and flat-bed scanner, and over 250 volumes that I donated as a visiting Fulbright scholar.
Continued research in Okpella and other Edo North communities (completing 21 additional interviews and documenting festivals & masquerades in three additional Edo North communities – L-R: Ikao, Ekperi and Weppa Wano)

Biggest problems: Transport & Fuel Shortages and NEPA dependency.

Age of car (and fear that it would be unreliable, although this was relatively unfounded in retrospect). First this fear and later fuel shortages forced me to take public transport between Benin (teaching site) and Auchi (research site) to prevent excessive wear and tear on an already old vehicle. Fuel shortages made it both costly and time-consuming to travel, even though travel was a necessity for my research.

Having to depend upon NEPA - public electricity - meant being unable to plan efficiently. Frequent power outages caused us to cancel classes and made it impossible to plan a work schedule or complete work needed for research (notably enter data and print photographs as gifts of appreciation for respondents), or work comfortably during the day in offices where I did have air-conditioning.

Best decisions or great good luck: (1) To move from the Uniben Ugbowo campus to the house of an old friend in the GRA, providing me with help and company when wanted and enabling me to drive easily to my teaching site at Ekenwan Campus in Benin. My host (opposite) and fellow graduate student at UCLA in the late 1960s, Dr. Eghosa Osagie, now Vice Chancellor, Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, with his mother on the occasion of her 90th birthday (L) and (R) his wife, Ame Osagie, with one of their children.

In Edo North: (1) To be a volunteer lecturer at Auchi Polytechnic & request housing with a family rather than remaining in a hotel.

My original host: Helen U. and then my long term host family: (L-R) Seated with me: J.Buraimah, Deputy Rector-Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and his wife Val, Instructor, School of Art-Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. Standing: The Buraimah Children: Fatima, Aishat, and Jubril

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Other special people...
	Achetu Obamina, 100+\| Praise singer, painter, weaver, textile designer and special friend said to me in Fall 2002: I wondered if I would see you again before I died.		Barnabas Alonokua, 100+ Retired police officer and elder: Upon seeing me in Fall 2002, he said: I dreamed about you not long ago...I often think of the work we did together..

Anidu Audu, my original research assistant, collaborator and colleague in 1973-74, who always made me work harder than I wanted to -- and I am profoundly grateful to him. He is responsible for the transcriptions of hours and hours of tape recordings and their preliminary translations. His two sons Abdul Nur Anidu and Abdul Hamid Anidu, became my assistants and interviwers in 2003. Anidu's comment upon playing the digitized tapes that we had recorded together: "We don't speak Okpella like this anymore. We don't speak as well."			Alhaji Usman Abuda (center), journalist and local historian, conducting an interview in Ikao - Edo North.

Chief Andrew Yesufu Eshiorhoamine Dirisu, the Okuokpellagbe of Okpella, and his wife.		The Okpella Development Association USA annual meeting, August 2003, Minneapolis. ODA-USA is sponsoring a library in Okpella and have already shipped a container load of books to Nigeria.
This web page would never be finished if I listed all of those individuals to whom I am grateful for friendship and help - whether sharing their own histories and specialized knowledge with me, helping me keep my computer going, inviting me for a swim, or simply being there - whether as embassy officials or just friends. I would like to acknowledge specifically, however, Professor A. Anao, Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin during my stay; members of his office Charles Omonaide and R.E.D. Airiohuodion; the then Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Abraham I.Imogie who hails from Okpella, the site of my most intensive research (and his gracious wife Abigail); Barrister Godwin Umoru of Uniben Enterprises, also an Okpella man; Dr. Cordelia Nwagu and Dr. Folu Ogbe, who both helped me commute between campuses; the staff of Edo Cement; the Ambassador of Norway; the Sisters of Notre Dame in Uzairue; and, last but not least, American Embassy personnel, especially Kristin Kane, Bola Ikebua, and Atim George in Lagos and Dehab Gebrea, James Maloom and Claudia Anyaso in Abuja.

Thank you all.