African voices in ink: Researcher uncovers letters from Igbo people

Who writes history? It depends on who you read. Dr. Bright Alozie of Portland State University considers himself a historian of ordinary voices. His newly published book explores petitions and the trend of petition writing by Igbo individuals to British officials in colonial southeastern Nigeria to gain a sense of what it was like to live under colonial rule. Using a "history from below" approach, he eschewed elite sources in favor of centering the 'voices' of petitioners.