Ujunwa (Uju) Rita Onah

Ujunwa (Uju) Rita Onah recently earned her doctorate at Memorial University, becoming the first Black PhD graduate in archaeology in the history of the university. Her thesis focused on the resilience of Igbo (Nigeria) and Labrador Inuit (Canada) Indigenous communities. She challenges the status quo of the archaeological discipline, which is often undertaken and written for and by white scholars. She re-directs the narrative toward a more balanced understanding of change in the Indigenous past, emphasizing Indigenous agency through the colonial era to the present. Onah’s thesis demonstrated how Igbo and Inuit communities survived colonization and are thriving culturally today. She has been a member of many panels that discuss equity, diversity and inclusion, and has also been a guest on talk shows about Indigenous Peoples. She has won many awards and scholarships—including the 2023 Black history month Exceptional members of the Black Community in Newfoundland Recognition—and has published articles and book chapters as well as presented numerous conference papers on the archaeology and heritage discipline.