This project investigates the colonial and postcolonial legacies of mining in Eastern Nigeria by tracing how communities, landscapes, and labor were reshaped through extractive policies, racial hierarchies, and environmental neglect. From the 1935 Sedition Ordinance, which criminalized local critiques of British economic violence, to the silences in post-independence reporting, Nigeria’s mining history reveals a deeper struggle over land, voice, and visibility.
This is a source-based, participatory platform that maps and visualizes 90 years of newspaper reporting on mining across Nigeria. It confronts the enduring problem of under-reporting and archival silences that have obscured the human and ecological costs of extraction. By tracing headlines, themes, and voices across time, the project restores overlooked narratives, including those of aparthied laborers regimes, , poisoned waters,displacement, deforestation and unfulfilled legal promises.
Grounded in digital humanities and community memory, this tool serves four core audiences: academics seeking grounded primary data; policymakers confronting regulatory gaps; civil society advocates pursuing environmental justice; and communities reclaiming historical voice. It encourages reflection not just on what was said—but on what was suppressed, why it matters, and how we remember together.
This platform includes four interactive tools that help us re-read the past and re-imagine the future of mining in Nigeria. Each visualization tells a different story but shares a common goal: to unearth silences, make memory visible, and democratize data.
About: A geospatial tool highlighting sites of extraction and resistance.
Problem: Mining data is spatially dispersed and poorly documented.
Use: Click on map pins to read summary of mining reports by location.
Audience: Community planners, historians, environmentalists.
Thesis: Visualizes the temporal dynamics of key mining themes.
Problem: Thematic shifts in mining debates are obscured.
Use: Analyze peaks/declines in topics like child labor, pollution.
Audience: Scholars, media researchers, advocacy networks.
About: Disaggregates densely packed data clusters.
Problem: Clustered data hides local detail.
Use: Navigate areas like Enugu to reveal individual article points.
Audience: Local researchers, digital mappers, students.
About: Uses NLP to extract and count named entities.
Problem: Lack of clarity about who mining reports center or ignore.
Use: Filter by name, organization, place to track mention frequency.
Audience: Journalists, watchdogs, data scientists.
Mining Media Commons (MMM Commons) is the interactive heart of this project. It is where knowledge flows in multiple directions—from archive to user, from user back to collective memory. Rooted in the spirit of “Echefùla”—which means “Do Not Forget” in Igbo—the Commons is designed as a participatory knowledge platform that centers marginalized histories and invites new reflections on Nigeria’s mining past.
The MMM Commons has two main portals: the Blog and the Discussion Forum. Together, they form a digital commons where researchers, students, and communities can co-author the future of mining memory.
About: Echefula translates to **"Do Not Forget", It is a living digital diary that amplifies underrepresented mining voices and community memory.
Problem: Historical mining experiences are often undocumented and disconnected from lived realities.
Use: Read reflections, submit ethnographic notes, or write about a newspaper article that resonates with your research.
Audience: Activists, scholars, students, local historians.
About: An open forum to foster dialogue around extractive histories and future imaginaries.
Problem: Memory work is often solitary; this forum creates space for collective reflection.
Use: Post questions, share insights, or request access to specific mining-related primary sources. Users can also collaborate on short writeups for blog publication.
Audience: Public historians, field researchers, community organizers, educators.
Each visualization and platform section works toward a shared goal: illuminating overlooked stories, promoting transparency in research, and enabling collective archival stewardship.