Ijeoma Njaka

How can I make sense of my personal history?

I come from a Diasporic family. My father is an Igbo man from Nigeria, my mother is an African American from Alabama, and I grew up in Minnesota. I took my first visit to Nigeria when I was 27, and the trip left me ruminating over various questions I had about my identity and lived experiences.

In 2018, I was invited to present at the National Conference of Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education. I was asked to give a pecha kucha, a presentation format where the presenter has 20 slides that automatically advance after 20 seconds. I used this format to create a narrative out of my personal story.

A video of my presentation is here.