Penkelemes

Created in 1948 to produce compliant colonial subjects, the University of Ibadan stands as an example of the university as a colonial project. Following Nigerian independence, it briefly flourished as a center of Nigerian thought and culture before economic pressures drained it of much of its promise. Yet it also became a vehicle for social mobility, offering many—including artist Onyeka Igwe’s mother—the chance to forge new identities and futures. Through this contradiction, the film asks: what is an African university? What could this poisoned colonial chalice become if it is made in another image?