James Blackwell

I am a 6th year doctoral candidate in African History at MSU. My dissertation narrates the experiences of Igbo labor migration between Southeastern Nigeria and British Southern Cameroon, 1900-1975. I explore the impact that labor migration had on the laborers, their families, the wider region and its generational impact.

I am participating in Chi to expand my digital humanities skills, which I intend to apply both in my scholarship and in the classroom. My initial idea for a Chi project is to connect the early history of settlement, trade, and commerce in the Bight of Biafra, and along the Cross River. I would like to create an interactive map that highlights economic, social, and environmental change over time.  This project would function as a preface to my current dissertation but bring into focus the long duree of labor migration in the area.