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PhD Candidate
Department of Information Studies, University College London
Visiting Graduate Student, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto (January 2023 to April 2023)
Provisional Thesis Title
An Information Space of Coloniality: Exploring Methodological Amnesia through Information Journeys on Sierra Leonean-UK Colonial Travel Pathways
Research Summary
My doctoral study is a methodological exploration on how migration information materialises at the epistemological levels of observers (governments) and participators (people as migrants). With a focus on colonial travel pathway between Sierra Leone and the UK, it situates (ongoing) movement between a (formerly) colonised country (Sierra Leone) and the metropole (the UK). From this exploring the construction of migration information with a focus on return migration on this colonial travel pathway. The exploration is supported through the concept of an information space of coloniality. Drawing from the theories of information space, information journeys and coloniality, an information space of coloniality recognises and examines localised-global and colonised-local of migration information context. By placing colonial travel pathway as the migration information context under a coloniality view, there is a means to situate and explore the observers’ and participators’ approaches to migration information.
Research Interests
Information journeys, tran-local information sharing, information ethongraphy, Bordering Thinking, bordering, return migration, information landscapes, information environments, Sierra Leonean diaspora, information systems, circular migration, transnationalism, (post)colonialism, population longitude studies, narrative cartographies, Spatial Humanities, Sierra Leone Studies, Black British Studies.
Wider Research Interests
West African Studies, Digital Humanities, Critical Race Theory (CRT), data visualisation, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), African studies, African diaspora, journaling practices, self-documentation.
Supervisors
Dr Oliver Duke-Williams (Department of Information Studies, UCL)
Professor Annemaree Lloyd (Department of Information Studies, UCL)
Dr Adam Crymble (Department of Information Studies, UCL)
Dr Ben Page (UCL Department of Geography)
Grants
UKRI and Mitacs: UK-Canada Globalink doctoral exchange scheme at the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto. Project title: Aesthetics of Order - An Exploratory Field Study of Journaling Launches in Toronto (Supervisor: Dr Jenna Hartel, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto)
Arts Humanities Research Council (AHRC), London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP): studentship
Global Engagement Office Fund, UCL: research and study abroad visit to Fourah Bay College, The University of Sierra Leone.
Academic Background
MSc in Digital Humanities, UCL
MA in Arts Policy and Management, Birkbeck, University of London
BA (Hons) in Combined Arts in History of Art and History, University of Leicester
Public Engagement
ɛmti bag nɔ ba tinap - Documenting the intangible with the diaspora and the homeland
Partners: Krio Heritage Foundation and Freetong Players
Funder: UCL Centre for Critical Heritage Studies Small Grants 2019-20
Blog piece: Collaborating with those at home and overseas, UCL DIS Student blog
Creating & Finding Voices: The Role of Oral History and Community-Led Archives in the African Diaspora
Lead: Dr Hannah Ishmael (Senior Teaching Fellow, DIS)
Partner: Salone Abroad
Funder: UCL Culture, Beacon Bursary 2018-17
Diaspora & I Talk Series
Funder: UCL Culture, Beacon Bursary 2018-17
Diaspora & I Talk with Yovanka Paquete Perdigao
Diaspora & I Talk with Sheila Maurice-Grey
Diaspora & I Talk with Jojo Sonubi, Black in the Day
Centres and Networks
iSchools Black Coalition, co-chair (2022-present)
UCL Centre for Digital Humanities
Racism and Racialisation PhD group
Migration Research Unit (MRU)
UCL Black Doctoral Student Network
Contact Details
Email: nenna.chuku.17@ucl.ac.uk