Christopher Balme, the project’s principal investigator, recounts the many disruptions caused to the project: the cancellation of a major conference, the closure of archives and libraries and the stranding of researchers. He also reflects on the immediate future, and suggests we are now living in a time of prognosis that points to multiple futures in a world of global dis:connection.

All is encapsulated in one unit; our house is an office, rehearsal space, school and kindergarten for our kids, playground, football pitch, movie theatre (then we have to clear the mess because it is a house). It feels very intimate, but we all know that it is not normal. I think what will happen to theatre might decide how the new normal might look like. 

This video is a personal reflection of Gideon’s research activity in a Covid-hit 2020. It provides a glimpse into the constraint of (physical) access to archival institutions in Africa, especially Nigeria while suggesting digitization of holdings as one of the ways through which access to research materials can be guaranteed in these turbulent times.