Houston: Welcomes Sanders; Hosts Two Book Events

Two organizations held events in the city of Houston with Ambassador Sanders to discuss US-Africa business, Africa trade with China, increasing Diaspora ties across the Atlantic, particularly strengthening the Diaspora small business relationship, and the need for the Diaspora community to pay more attention to  endangered cultural signs and symbols, like Uli -- all subjects are themes in Sanders' recent books.

 During the discussions, Sanders highlighted the importance of the Diaspora small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) looking at particular sectors such as small manufacturing; being a service provider in key development areas (e.g. health, education, food security, or transport solutions); and, creating climate-smart solutions as areas to establish business relationships.

At both events -- Ogun Restaurant & Gite Gallery (see pics) -- book signings also were held for Sanders' two books The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria," and "The Rise of Africa's Small and Medium Size Enterprises: Spurring Development & Growing the Middle Class." On Africa and China, Sanders shared that China is not only the Continent's largest trading partner but that it currently has a fuller, focused and more strategic relationship with the region than the US, especially given the economically-focused BRICS grouping (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa. BRICS summits and meetings also include other African and South-South countries). Key with signature results has been the creation of the BRICS' New Development Bank (better known as NDB); China's targeted Belt and Road Initiative, which began in 2013, and Chinese President Xi's annual trips to the region, with 2018 marking his 4th trip. On the endangered Uli sign and symbol system in Nigeria, Sanders noted the cultural expression is one of some 4,000 languages and cultural practices in the world which are endangered of disappearing. (This is a FEEEDS BlogSpot).

Ambassador Sanders and Dr. Johnnetta Cole Discuss Sanders' Uli Book @ Smithsonian African Art Museum BHM Event

Smithsonian Nat'l Museum of African Art Director Dr. Johnnetta Cole and Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders @ February Black History launch of Sanders' book, "The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria."

The recent February 2015 Black History Month program at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAA) which was the official Washington, D.C. launch of Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders first book, "The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria," included a "conversation segment," between the incredible, iconic NMAA Director Dr. Johnnetta Cole and Dr. Sanders on key elements of her Sanders book and also highlighted relevant aspects of the Museum's collection.  The launch, a sold out event, emphasized the main message of Ambassador Sanders' Uli book which stresses the importance of preserving traditional non-written, non-oral cultural practices through the life stories of nine Nigerian women in the December phase of their lives who struggle to keep their beloved Uli practice alive, which is endanger of disappearing.   The book was based on Dr. Sanders' doctoral dissertation which argued that non-text, no oral traditions are just as viable to the global community as written and oral traditions. Sanders calls Uli a "communications expression," and the Uli women "legendary" because they struggle to keep their traditions relevant in an uphill anti-Uli environment and still respect and cherish this matriarchal practice taught to them by their mothers, who in turn learned from their mothers. The launch event also included a video of clips from the villages and the Uli women talking about their beloved practice and showing Sanders how to prepare the practice from the Uli plant from which the Uli ink. The Uli practice, which dates back to the era of the Aro Kingdom, according to Sanders' research, was used in selected Igbo villages  located west of the Nigerian river called "Cross River," and was used on the body during special ceremonies and on the homes of the royal chiefs of Igbo villages in the region.  Click here to see the Sanders video on her Uli Book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JfJ8KwEF2jI

A FEEEDS BlogSpot

Dr. Sanders' Uli Book Launch, Big Hit in Nigeria - See Media Clips, Read Reviews

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Guardian Newspaper Photo, December 6, 2014 of Ambassador's Uli Book Launch in Lagos, Nigeria

Ambassador (Dr.) Robin Renee Sanders book "The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria," was launched December 6, 2014 in the country that inspired its writing -- Nigeria, with support by Nigerian captains of industry and the media, non-governmental leaders, and recognized Nigerian academics leading the way in noting the ground breaking message of the book -- African sign and symbol systems such as Uli, although artistic, are important, social, and political information systems about the culture they represent.  The well-attended book launch provided an opportunity to raise the profile of this critical issue for Africa and the world to see sign and symbol systems differently and as viable information systems (click here to see Channel TV's clip of Uli Book launch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX6lX0PL874).

Using Uli as a case study in her Robert Morris University (RMU) doctoral dissertation which won an award from the University's Department of Communication and Information System for its uniqueness, the book hails from her field research about the issue of these very fragile information systems which Sanders calls "communication expressions," which are disappearing or endangered around the world. There are a number of them in Nigeria, with Uli being near the top of the list of disappearing completely, particularly the meanings of the motifs.

Dr. Sanders spent time also learning how to draw each of the motifs herself and her drawings and other graphics are included in the book along with some 116 color photographs which the Ambassador took of the Uli women she met and her travels to the region. In line with the tradition in Nigeria of a leading academic reviewing the book, Dr Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, who worked with the Ambassador over the years in supporting income-generating projects for Uli practitioners, and who is a leading Nigerian scholar, provided his professional academic comments about the role the book is playing and will play as regards to endangered sign and symbol systems such as Uli (click here for Dr. Ikwuemesi's book review: (http://bit.ly/Ikwuemesi). 

In addition leading Nigerian media outlets such as Channels TV Chairman John Momoh moderated a "conversation," segment with Dr. Sanders during the launch on the book, current US-Nigeria relations, and next steps following the US-Africa Summit. Nigeria's leading newspaper, The Guardian, also covered the event (photo above), and Sanders appeared the next morning on the Channels TV's main news magazine show, Sunrise Today (see this link for Channels TV Sunrise Show, which most focused on the current tension in the US-Nigeria relationship (Sanders' clip begins at minute 7:53 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32vXzaFCx8).

Other notable and honored guest speakers at the event included, Estisalat Chairman Hakeem Belo-Oasgie, former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Dr. Alex Otti, and one of Nigeria's leading women on SME, Entrepreneurship, and Development issues, Ms. Evelyn Oputu.  Key Guests such as George Ebuh of Petrolog, General Dambazu, Toke Ibru of The Guardian Newspaper, Terra Kulture Director Bola Austen-Peters, Arik Airways Chris Ndule and Nigeria's leading and icon artists Bruce Onoprakpeya and Chief Nike Okundaye were also present.  A portion of the book sales will go to the Nigerian organization the Art Republic, which assists with income-generating project training for Uli practitioners under the direction of Dr. Ikwuemesi.

Nigeria's Dr. Chuu Kyrdz Ikwuemesi Academic Review of Dr. Sanders Book on Nigeria's Uli

A FEEEDS BlogSpot

Book Title: The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria: Their Life Stories in Signs, Symbols and Motifs

Author: Ambassador (Dr.) Robin Renee Sanders

Reviewer: Dr. Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, Associate Professor of Fine Arts, University of Nigeria Nsukka

I met our distinguished author, painter and sculptor Ambassador Robin Rene Sanders at the threshold of her interest in Uli in 2008. Her hard work and unflagging interest over the last few years have crystallized into the book that we are gathered to celebrate today. The book is the story of the ripples of a vanishing heritage; it is the story of some vernacular classicists, vanguards of the disappearing Uli art of the Igbo.

What is Uli? It is the Igbo name for the indigo dye obtained from several species of plants. Usually, the berries of these plants are extracted and ground and the dye is pressed out of the marsh with the fingers and used as a medium for drawing on the human body with the help of the Uli knife (mma nw’Uli). Uli is also the name for the traditional Igbo mural, although the indigo dye does not form part of the palette in such painting. Both the body and wall variants are essentially a female tradition.

The Uli artists were highly respected group of women in Igbo society. The Uli art was usually passed down from one generation to another. This helped to ensure continuity. Many scholars and artists have studied the Uli art phenomenon from various perspectives at different times. It would appear then that Sanders’ book does not deal with a novel subject. However, her book, written in simple accessible prose, is anchored on fresh perspectives that bring issues to a new frontier. Beyond the long-standing studies of Uli as cosmetic art among the Igbo by many scholars since colonial times, Sanders affirms Uli’s other little acknowledged essence as an idiolect. The centralizing thesis of Sanders’ book is that Uli has extra-aesthetic and phenomenological qualities that inscribe it as a “communication expression”. In other words, beyond embodying beauty as framed in Igbo thought, art, and aesthetics, Uli captures and communicates in graphic terms the “lifeworld”, collective experience and philosophy, not just of “traditional Igbo women”, but of the Igbo society as a whole. Focusing on the lives and works of selected Uli women painters from Agulu, Inyi, Ogidi and Nri, Sanders book at once underscores Uli’s endangerment and its potential for new experiments as a creative idiom.

Carefully calibrated into sections and further enriched with clear images of relevant people, works and activities, The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria appeals to readers of all background, although its place as a scholarly work in the history and development of Uli art cannot be denied. Unlike most researchers who have written about the Uli women classicists, Sanders, it must be noted, has practically supported efforts geared towards empowering these women economically through organized Uli retraining workshops that also aim to preserve the Uli heritage and Igbo culture. In a place where heroic materialism, westernization and the attendant nihilism have taken a heavy toll, Sanders’ book does one unique and significant thing. In the style of the mythical Sankofa, it looks backwards while moving forwards and it says one thing to us: Forward to the past; but not in a sense that celebrates underdevelopment and glorifies stagnation. It only reminds us to be mindful of ancient landmarks as our chariot of development hurtles across the forest path of modernity on its fateful journey nowhere. It tells us that much as the destination remains alluring, we must arm ourselves with memory (the past) to be able to encounter desire (the future) without losing our essence and identity as a people.