Dr Chukwuemeka Nwigwe is a Nigerian art historian and artist with a special interest in textile/fashion design. He earned a PhD in Art History in 2016 and an MFA in textile design in 2008 from the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he currently occupies a Senior Lecturer position. His doctoral dissertation is on changes in the clothing practice of the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria. His postdoctoral project, which was funded by ACLS under AHP focuses on female cross-dressing in Southeastern Nigeria. The latter concluded in 2019, has furthered his research interest in gender and dress in postcolonial Africa. A paper drawn from the project has been published in Fashion Theory journal (see: https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2019.1697025). As part of an ACLS-AHP postdoctoral fellowship requirement, he was an AHP fellow in residency at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania around the mid-2019; there he conducted an ethnographic inquiry on female cross-dressing. In the early part of 2019, Nwigwe had participated in the College Art Association’s 107th Annual Conference in New York as a travel grant recipient. He presented a paper on female cross-dressing in Southeastern Nigeria at the pre-conference colloquium held at Parsons School of Design. Nwigwe had a two-month AHP remote mentoring and mentorship with Prof. Ruth Simbao from Rhodes University, South Africa between October and November 2020. Following COVID-19 induced ban on international travel, Nwigwe missed travelling to the AHP residency centre at the university. He, however, enjoyed all other privileges from the institution while writing “Resisting female cross-dressing? Women in trousers and the challenges of gender ideology in Tanzania” at the University of Ibadan’s AHP residency centre in Nigeria.

Last Modified: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 15:16:01 SAST