Olusegun Stephen Titus
AfOx Fellow 2019
My research examines the musical representation of oil exploitation and degradation in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. The central thesis of my research is that the people of the Niger Delta have ideas, assumptions, and values about the environment – like, indigenous ecological knowledge – that they express in music and that they bring to bear on socio-environmental problems related to natural resource extraction. Musicians whose works represent the dominant trends in environmental humanities of Niger Delta oil include Felix Liberty, Inatimi Alfred Odon, Nneka Nnodim. I study music as a productive tool that connects people emotionally to their environment and helps advocate for sustainability.