The MSU Museum has selected the 2013 Nelson Mandela Museum-Michigan State University Museum Curatorial Fellowship recipient, Cajetan "CJ" Nwabueze Iheka, a Ph.D. student in the Department of English at MSU.
Iheka is specializing in African literature and culture, with a focus on preserving expressive cultures and indigenous environmental knowledge. A native of Nigeria, he has studied the way local knowledge has shaped discourses on climate change, sustainability and global warming through the writing of authors from Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Prior to coming to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies, Iheka worked as a research officer for the Mbari Museum and Cultural Center, in Imo State, Nigeria. While there, he developed community outreach programs and presentations surrounding traditional environmental knowledge in Africa, preservation of African expressive cultures, and the Igbo language.
Iheka will spend part of his fellowship based at the MSU Museum and he also work with the Nelson Mandela Museum in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. While there, he aims to research local knowledge and practices surrounding environmentalism and create a digital repository and online platforms to preserve the information and make it more accessible.
Learn more here.