| Amarachi Attamah | |
| Alma Mater: | Syracuse University |
| Known For: | Igbo chant performance |
Amarachi Attamah-Ugwu is a Nigerian Chant Performance artist, writer, poet, broadcaster, and an advocate for the preservation of the Igbo language from extinction.[1] [2] [3] She is an Igbo language Instructor in the Harvard African Language Program, department of African and African American studies, Harvard University.[4] [5] She is also an Igbo language instructor in the Directed Independent Language Program (DILP), at the Yale center for language study, Yale University.[6] [7] [8] In 2023, she won a grant of $4000 from the Mark and Pearle Clements Internship Award in Syracuse University to support her independent research work: "Museum mapping of Igbo masks in United States and indigenous conceptualization".[9] She was a presenter in the Enugu State Broadcasting Service,[10] and the vice president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (Enugu State chapter). As a chant artist, she has performed in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom (where she completed a four-month performance fellowship with the Royal National Theatre after fifty-two theatre productions of the Three Sisters, A play by Inua Ellams, directed by Nadia Falls).[11] [12] Attamah is the executive director of Nwadioramma Concept and founder of OJA Cultural Development Initiative. In 2020, she made a poetic documentary of the abandoned heroes of the Biafran war, entitled, Ogbunigwe. She also made another documentary about the horrors of the Biafran war as told by war veterans entitled, "Biafuru".[13] She is the author of Tomorrow's Twist (2007), My Broad Daydream (2011), Making A Difference (2014) and Akuko lfo Nnemochie Kooro m (2014), a collection of short stories in lgbo.[14] In 2021, Attamah co-authored Elephant Tusk with Jeff Unaegbu and others. She is a member of the African Studies Association;[15] Enugu Literary Society, and Association of Critical Heritage Studies.[16]
Attamah was born on January 31, 1988, in Bauchi State to Ọzọ Chirolu Hyacinth Attamah Nwa Otti and Lọọlọ Ụzọamaka Bridget Attamah (Nee Ezema) of Ubogidi, Edem-anị, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.[17] She attended Army Children School, Nasme, Markurdi, from 1994 to 2000; Junior Secondary Education (middle school) at Army Day Secondary School, Mogadishu Cantonment, Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria, from 2000 to 2003. Senior secondary education (high school) at Universal Comprehensive Secondary School, Nsukka, Enugu State, from 2003 to 2006. She attended the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, earning a bachelor's degree in Mass Communication in 2012. She earned a master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria. Nsukka in 2017. Attamah came to the United States to study Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Preservation at Syracuse University, New York.[18] She performed chants in the university's events.[19] [20] In May 2023, she graduated with a master's degree and was the graduate closing speaker during the College of Visual and Performing Arts Masters hooding ceremony of the university.[21]
As a chant performance artist, she promotes Igbo language and culture.[22] She was influenced by Professor Anezi Okoro and she had performed during the Gendering Africa Symposium, an annual Africa Women Conference at Columbia University. She has also performed during the African Studies annual conference at Philadelphia, Shenandoah Valley Juneteenth celebration, Virginia, a featured performance at Syracuse University art museum and performance exhibition at the museum studies intangible heritage showcase. Attamah featured in the Igbo Conference organized in the UK, Abuja Literary Festival, Nigeria, Global Poetry Festival organized by Shared_Studio and Divercities poetry connect by Planet Word Museum, both of US based organizations. In 2019, she performed a Solo Chant exhibition at Waterloo, London, UK. Her performance was a selected act for the Syracuse Performance Identities Across Cultures (PICS) in 2022 and 2023. Attamah was one of the judges of the Poetry Translation Centre's Lagos / London Poetry completion.[23] In 2019, her organization, OJA Cultural Development Initiative, partnered with Dzimbanhete Arts and Culture Interactions Trust based in Zimbabwe for the Sounds of the Sacred Web Festival.[24] In 2021, Attamah and Charles Ogbu began to re-publicize the person and music of the Igbo folklorist, Mike Ejeagha.[25] [26]
Attamah is married to Ike Ugwu. She organized the publishing of his novel, Sakabula: The Widowbird, as a wedding surprise gift.[27]