Egodi Uchendu is currently midway through preparing for a . The Professor from Nigeria and other researchers from her home country are to speak on the topic of ‘Waste and the Environment’. And specifically the aspect of how to combat the problem of waste dumping in the environment. Egodi Uchendu is an historian. She is Professor of History at the University of Nigeria (UNN) in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. She has invited colleagues from different disciplines to attend the conference: sociology, engineering, art, environmental sciences and more. ‘We require a multidisciplinary approach and need to consider this phenomenon from different perspectives’, explains the 57-year-old. She feels that the conference is an example of the importance and value of diversity. She says: ‘I use diversity as a scientific method.’

Diversity as a challenge and an opportunity in Nigeria

t in Nigeria. The country’s history is characterised by ethnic and religious conflicts. Civil war broke out in 1967, just a few months after Egodi Uchendu was born. It cost hundreds of thousands of people their lives and caused severe famine. And there have been repeated conflicts ever since. ‘There are more than 400 different ethnic groups living in Nigeria and alongside Christians and Muslims there are numerous religious minorities. Academia can provide a model in this respect.’

Socially relevant research

Egodi Uchendu was already fascinated by history at primary school. An interest in research developed as she became older. . Her parents encouraged her, because they wanted all seven of their children to have a good education – the girls as well as the boys. Her father would have liked his second oldest daughter to study law, but accepted his daughter’s decision.

Egodi Uchendu’s research now intentionally deals with topics relating to current social debates or conflicts. She conducts research into gender roles, masculinity and patriarchal structures in Africa, into Islam and its role in democracy, and into many other topics. The historian is currently investigating how previous generations dealt with waste and what has changed since then. ‘Every topic has an historical background and we can always learn aspects from history that enable us to solve day-to-day problems.’

Award-winning lecturer and researcher

Egodi Uchendu has received numerous accolades for her work. As early as 2002, her PhD thesis ‘Anioma Women and the Nigerian Civil War’ was deemed to be the best thesis in her faculty and the entire university. It was the first ever study to deal with the role of women in this conflict. In 2017, she was awarded the Wangari Maathai Prize for Innovative Teaching and Leadership by the University of Texas in Austin, USA. Between 2006 and 2008, Egodi Uchendu was also a  supported by the at the in Berlin. She used her time in Berlin to research the proliferation of Islam in Nigeria.

Commitment to greater diversity

Egodi Uchendu is committed to empowering minorities and disadvantaged groups. This includes her advocating at her university for the inclusion of people with disabilities. She has also conducted research into the rejection of homosexuality within Catholicism and Islam. Homosexuals, transgender people or those who assume other sexual identities still need to reckon with persecution in Nigeria. Both the major religious communities are among the drivers of homophobia and transphobia. ‘An individual’s sexual orientation should be a private matter and not a political issue’, says Egodi Uchendu.

Science and academia as the road map to peaceful coexistence

She understands that tolerance and the appreciation of diversity are significant prerequisites for peaceful coexistence in a federal country like Nigeria. ‘And respect for nature is an integral part of this.’ . That is why she was honoured with the . The conference in April will enable her to continue this commitment in a wider context.