Oral history storytelling presentation by Chinyere Erondu submitted to ARC Southeast Southern Echoes Fellowship 2024. The Repeating Womb is an oral history 8 narrative storytelling project that analyzes the connections between the 1967-1970 Biafran genocide (known as the targeted extermination of the Igbo people by the Nigerian Government) to our present collective witnessing of the Palestinian Genocide through a reproductive justice lens. As an Igbo-American writer & storyteller, Chinyere Erondu has conducted this project interviews with personal family members with highlighted objectives around reproductive imperialism. With the interviews conducted this segment will include audio clips from their family members and the available resources provided of those who survived the Biafran genocide about their recollections about their home. the land. and space. Chinyere envisions their work from The Repeating Womb and beyond to remain committed to clarifying the groundings of two of the reproductive justice frameworks, specifically, the 3rd and 4th tenets: • The right to parent in a safe, healthy, and supportive environment with adequate resources and without fear of violence from individuals or institutions. • The right to absolute autonomy and freedom from all forms of reproductive oppression. Here, she finds her work fulfilling this goal through oral history and ethical storytelling by analyzing the expansiveness of reproductive oppression that has continually occurred within the Global South (from Nigeria to the U.S.) and embedded in this history of Black diaspora people, i.e., the separation of children from their families as a result of internal displacement and warfare, death-dealing cultures rooted in accumulation and the targeted extermination and elimination of colonized people due to settler colonialism, imperialism, and fascism (in this case, my study of the international connections within reproductive justice). Rather than solely focus on the generational damages that have been caused by reproductive oppression, settler colonialism, imperialism, and fascism, they intend to produce work that centers on examining the resistance tactics towards survival from our people, investing in returning to our anti imperial feminist epistemological sources and studying the basis of reproductive justice as a political strategy to advance the material conditions for Black birthing people.
Audio Clip of the interview of Mr. Joshua Nwachuku, conducted by Chinyere Erondu October 18, 2024. Mr. Nwachuku is answering the question, "Can you provide a background on why the Biafran War/Genocide started?"
*Audio Clip of the interview of Dr. Ugboaku Esochaghi conducted by Chinyere Erondu on October 8th, 2024. Dr. Esochaghi is answering the question, "What do you remember about the Biafran Genocide?"
*Audio Clip of the interview of Mrs. Oluchi Ukomadu, conducted by Chinyere Erondu on October 11, 2024. Mrs. Ukomadu is answering the question, "Where were you when the Biafran Genocide began?"
Audio Interview conducted by Chinyere E. of Mrs. Elizabeth Nwachuku 8 Mr. Joshua Nwachuku's Personal recount of the Biafran Genocide.
Audio Interview conducted by Chinyere E. of Ugboaku Esochiaghi. October 2024. Dr. Esochaghi answering the question: What were the burial practices Igbo people prior to and after the Biafran Genocide?