TOWARDS A DECOLONIAL FRAMEWORK FOR VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN AND CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION IN THE NIGER DELTA

Abstract

The cultural heritage of the Niger Delta is facing increasing pressure from globalisation, rapid urbanisation, environmental degradation, and the gradual loss of indigenous knowledge.Although visual communication design has long been used to document and showcase cultural traditions, its potential as a tool for reclaiming, preserving, and reinterpreting indigenous heritage from a decolonial perspective has received limited scholarly attention.This conceptual paper explores how visual communication design can support culturally grounded approaches to heritage preservation by drawing on insights from visual communication, cultural heritage studies, decolonial theory, representation theory, and visual semiotics. It examines how contemporary design practices can move beyond Western-centered approaches by embracing the indigenous aesthetics, symbols, narratives, and knowledge systems of the Niger Delta. The paper argues that visual communication design is more than a means of creating or displaying images; it is a powerful medium for preserving cultural identity, reclaiming indigenous narratives, and passing cultural knowledge from one generation to the next. To achieve this, it proposes a Decolonial Visual Communication Framework that combines indigenous visual languages with contemporary design practices to promote sustainable heritage preservation.The framework emphasizes the active involvement of local communities as custodians and co-creators of cultural knowledge, ensuring that heritage is represented in ways that are authentic, inclusive, and meaningful.By doing so, the study contributes to the growing conversation on decolonizing design scholarship in Africa and provides a useful theoretical foundation for future research, policy development, design education, and professional practice in visual communication and cultural heritage preservation across the Niger Delta and other culturally diverse regions.