Kokunre Agbontaen-Eghafona

University of Benin (Nigeria)

The significance of the Benin Bronzes: before and after 1897 in the repatriation question

2022-2023: Fall

Koki Eghafona has been teaching in the University in Nigeria since 1984 as a cultural anthropologist. Her research interests include: qualitative research methodology; oral literature and ethnography; peoples and cultures of Nigeria and Africa; cultural resource management and indigenous knowledge systems. She has conducted over twenty Social Impact Assessments (SIA) focusing on socio-economic surveys in rural communities. She has over sixty academic publications mainly in the area of culture, tradition, and modern slavery. Her doctoral thesis, titled “Curating Benin Cultural Materials: Towards Integrating Indigenous and Orthodox Methods,” (2001) investigated and highlighted the indigenous curatorial, conservation, and exhibition practices of the Benin people during the pre-colonial era, drawing out similarities that existed with such practices in today's museums. The thesis proposed integration of both indigenous and orthodox ways of caring for Benin cultural objects in museums.