vi. digging deeper.

Now that I have a refined topic and research question to pursue, I have not taken many steps to begin my research process--at least not anything additional to the research I already conducted in the past. I am still reading one of the books that I plan to reference heavily--Chinua Achebe's There Was A Country--but other than that, I have not taken much action in terms of research for my podcast episode.

The types of scholarly sources I am looking for are ones that speak to Nigeria during the civil war. I need sources that will give me an idea of what the climate of the country was like before the war, and will give me perspective on the national and ethnic identities of Nigeria's three main ethnic groups--the Hausas, Yorubas, and Igbos--before, during, and immediately after the war. To tie my ideas down to particular fields of study, three keywords come immediately to mind: African Studies, History, and British Colonialism. 

Scholarly sources I have found already are mainly the books I will be referencing: Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie, which uses fictional characters to explore the grim details of the Biafran War (from its onset, to the war itself, and the climate after the war); There Was A Country by Achebe, which is his personal history of the war. I will definitely also be buying Biafra Story by Frederick Forsyth and read that in preparation for my podcast episode. I found a couple of lengthy sources that give a lot of insight on the cold facts of the war--that is, background knowledge on the general milieu in the country, key events that took place, the actions of those in political power, the coups, and so on. These sources are academically written, and are consulted often by people trying to gain more knowledge on the civil war. I am not sure about whether or not they are peer-reviewed, but this could spark a conversation on my part about the distribution of knowledge, on who makes the decisions about what knowledge is significant, and what knowledge is being excluded through this process. There are many people in Nigeria who carry a lot more knowledge about their history than peer-reviewed articles in this part of the world do. I am still yet to meet with my professor for advice, direction, and/or suggestions for scholarly sources to visit, but this will happen shortly as I need to begin work on my draft podcast transcript very soon.

As for popular sources, Wikipedia was my immediate go-to. It helped me refresh my memory on Nigeria, its geography, its anthropology, and so on. I also visited some blogs that aim to educate readers about Nigeria, which helped me focus my research ideas. Another popular source I found is an article by The Guardian that speaks about Chinua Achebe and things he has said about Baifra's legacy on Nigeria today. Right now, I think I will only need popular sources for tips and ideas on how I will set up my  actual podcast episode. I'll keep listening to Stuff You Missed In History Class for inspiration, of course, and YouTube does not seem like a bad idea as a popular source either. I will visit it for podcast structure ideas, and anything I can find on the Biafran War.