Upcoming Publication: Fragile Legacies



The next year looks to be an interesting one for the kinds of publications that I take an interest in. I already mentioned Kenda Mutongi's book on the Matatus of Nairobi (to be published June 2017) and now I just stumbled across another interesting book to be released in 2017. It doesn't seem to be advertised on the publisher's page (or at least, Amazon lists Giles as the publishers) yet but here is its description from Amazon (yes, I know the company is evil but … it's so useful now that I don't live in a major city).

Fragile Legacies: The Photographs of Solomon Osagie Alonge

29. August 2017, by Amy J. Staples (Autor), Flora S. Kaplan (Autor)

Fragile Legacies showcases the fascinating photographs of Chief Solomon Osagie Alonge (1911-1994), Nigeria's premier twentieth-century photographer and the first official photographer to the Royal Court of the Kingdom of Benin. Alonge's historic photographs document the rituals, pageantry, and regalia of the Benin Court for over a half-century, and provide rare insight into the history of Nigeria from an insider's perspective. With important contributions by leading Nigerian writers, this volume examines the transformations of colonialism in Africa, and more specifically Nigeria, within the context of global capitalism in the early to mid-twentieth century.

As far as I can tell Tam Fiofori is one of the contributors – yes, the Tam Fiofori I repeatedly quoted here back in the day of Next Magazine and its art and culture columns. Other contributors are Jide Adenyi-Jones, Daniel Inneh (former minister of Edo State), Kokunre Agbontaen-Eghafona, and George Osodi.

The editors (or at least, I assume that's why they are mentioned above), Amy J. Staples and Flora S. Kaplan are based at the National Museum of African Art and the New York University respectively.

If that doesn't sound promising!

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