The 2024 documentary Record Found Here opens with narration, against the image of the sun setting over the Abeokuta landscape. Filmmaker Lanaire Aderemi’s voice tells the audience about her grandmother’s story of the Egba women’s revolt, setting the tone for the film’s main goal: Aderemi wants us to “see the unseen, know the unknown and learn our resistant history anew.” It’s a project that takes the audience on an intimate journey into the past, giving new perspectives on the enduring effects of human memory. 

Record Found Here is a film that puts a spotlight on the 1940s Egba women’s revolt, in Nigeria. The harsh taxation on the women of Abeokuta by Nigeria’s colonial government led to a massive protest, with the women calling for an end to the oppressive practice. The taxes heavily impacted market women, who could not afford to pay those fees, and the activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti played an important role in rallying them.   

In the documentary, Aderemi interviews several people who were around at the time of the revolt, getting firsthand accounts of how it came to be. The interviewees detail the rising stress of the women affected, and how they were forced to sell at night to avoid taxation. They speak on how Ransome-Kuti began to mobilise some of the women, helping empower them by teaching them how to read and calculate the profits they should earn, before subtly mentioning the taxation issue. Some of the film’s interviewees give a rendition of an old song used to mock the Alake of Abeokuta, one of many that ridiculed the Oba who would not hear the women’s pleas.

 

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Through these interviews, we see how deeply people were personally affected by the events, including long after the protests ended. One of the interviewees, Oluwafunmilayo Adunola, despite being a child at the time, was driven by the actions of the women throughout her life, going on to become the first female leader of Nigeria Labour Congress. 

The film gives us a look into history more personal to Aderemi as well. We see glimpses of her old family photos as she interviews her grandparents, who tell her to preserve memories. Preservation of memories can often be taken for granted in the digital age when many people could document any meaningful event with a quick tap on their smartphone. With evidence of how easily digital archives can be lost, both on the internet and on people’s devices, connecting with real people, as well as physical archives is becoming more important than ever.  We spoke to Aderemi about the importance of preserving history, as well as how she carried out the research to complete this project.

Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity. 

NATIVE: What made you realise that now was the time to tell this story?

LANAIRE ADEREMI: The time is always now for telling untold stories. I didn’t decide on a particular moment. I’ve been working on this research as part of my PhD since 2021 and since the PhD is coming to an end, I wanted to challenge myself to create something that memorialised the Abeokuta Women’s Union. 

What was the most meaningful piece of information you discovered when researching this project?

The Abeokuta Women’s Union were incredibly meticulous about archiving themselves and their achievements. For instance, they wrote a list of the names of members that attended meetings. It’s almost as though they were waiting for someone to enter the archive and share their stories, songs and strategies.

How did hearing your grandmother’s memories about the revolt impact your relationship or the way you view her as a person?

It didn’t change anything really. Perhaps because conversations on the revolt were a tiny fraction of our conversations. I felt blessed to hear her views on the Abeokuta Women’s Union’s courage and fearlessness but my Grandma’s recollection of this movement was more of a seed. Speaking to her excited me and listening to her memories several years ago re-energised me. 

What was the hardest part about making this project? 

Finding the participants to interview for the oral history interviews. Since the event took place in the 1940s, most of the protestors or witnesses have passed. 

 

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Stories like this are often hard to tell because of a lack of proper documentation in much of our country’s history. How were you able to fill in the blanks outside of what your grandmother told you?

Visiting archival sites like the National Archives in Abeokuta. We came across documents from the Egba Council records such as letters and meeting notes which helped to fill the blanks. Asking family and friends. With the support of researcher Joseph Ayodokun, we found people who had witnessed the revolt at a young age. We conducted oral history interviews with them to fill the gap. Judith A Byfield wrote a seminal paper titled ‘Taxation, Women, and the Colonial State: Egba Women’s Tax Revolt’. This paper solidified my understanding of this revolt. I also spoke to Judith to fill in the gaps since she had studied this subject extensively. 

You first explored this topic on your podcast Story Story. Do you think exploring the story in a visual medium will change the impact it has on audiences?

Yes. Adding another sense always changes things. Sound forced an audience to concentrate on only the sonic experience. I love awakening audiences’ imaginations through different senses but I was intrigued by sound for how simple yet versatile it is. In a way, ‘Record Found Here’ is the story in a visual medium. 

Has working on this project inspired you to look into other aspects of Nigerian history?

Yes, there are some aspects of Nigerian history I am intrigued by and we’ve covered most of them in Story Story pod; for instance, the Ogoni 9. I’m also intrigued by the Aba Women’s Protests which pioneered anti-colonial protests against tax in Nigeria.

What do you most want viewers to take away from this project?

Preserving history is important.

Archiving personal histories is important.

Nigerian women have been doing the work for a very long time.

Documenting our times is important work.

Has the project impacted your approach to feminism in any way?

I value oral histories even more. The methods I used through my research are feminist methods since they value women’s diverse subjectivities. In academia, the written word or words found in texts are often deemed to be more important than what is spoken. I’m glad that the project documented the enchanting lived experiences of women by recording oral histories.

Featured Image Credits/Peekopapzz

Get Tickets to her London screening on September 13th here

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