NIGERIA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
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March 29-31 2002
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Charles W. Abbott Department of Geography, University
of Iowa
Hometown associations: A key factor in Nigeria's 20th century
Many histories of twentieth century Nigeria will focus on the big picture: British colonialism, nationalism and independence, political parties, the civil war, petroleum, and military rule. Unfortunately, hometown associations (aka progressive unions or town improvement associations) may be ignored in many histories, for at least three reasons: they are difficult for academics to classify, they have no standard name in the literature, and they have repeatedly changed their goals and methods over time.Despite this, hometown associations deserve to be considered a success story of twentieth century Nigeria. They helped to build the first schools in much of Southern Nigeria, and they channeled migration flows from people's homes to areas of greater economic opportunity. In addition, hometown associations were arenas for local political struggles. They served as the launching pad for the educated middle class against its political adversaries, the traditional rulers. Looking behind the major events of twentieth century Nigeria, it is frequently possible to spot hometown associations. This is so even if we omit any mention of hometown associations' larger, more politicized and controversial cousins: the ethnic (or so-called 'tribal') unions such as the Egbe Omo Oduduwa and the Igbo State Union. One large impact of hometown associations is linked to their near absence in large parts of Nigeria's Core North. The Core North's lack of indigenous hometown associations is correlated with the tendency for North and South to evolve socially in different directions during the twentieth century.
Shari'a and States' Rights: Religion and the Resurgence of Federalism in Nigeria in the Third Republic
Since the inauguration of the Third Republic a few states in northern Nigeria have adopted the Shari'a as the principle and guidance of the law, and several others have considered doing the same. This has generated heated controversy. Opinions and conclusions have varied widely from total support to outright condemnation. The controversy itself has focused on religious fundamentalism, political radicalism, religious intolerance, ethnic conflicts, inter- and intra-party disagreements, and the reverse fear (of southern domination). What have these analyses missed? Could the resurgence of the Shari'a and political Islam be linked to the resurgence in federalism in this post-military era? Could the adoption of the Shari'a by a few states of the federation be viewed as the assertion of states' rights entailed in the federal principle? If so, is this a healthy development for federalism in Nigeria? What are the implications for the guarantee and protection of individual and group rights? The paper evaluates these questions.
Wale
Adebanwi, Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
The Nigerian Press and the Idea of Nigerian Nation (1914-2001)
Until recently, the media did not get the deserved attention in the
literature of social theory owing to the tendency to neglect - or failure to
reflect - the centrality of the media in social and political formations
(Thompson, 1994). Now, there is general acknowledgement (though grudging in some
cases) in the literature - even if from different and differing perspectives -
that the media can enable and constrain the politics of society (Crowley and
Mitchell, 1994), particularly if acting in concert with other social forces.
This has pulled and pushed our understanding of the relationship of the variety
and verity of the media to the social and political worlds into new
terrains.
The press in Nigeria predates the idea of Nigerian nation. And from its
inception in 1959 with the founding of Iwe Irohin fun Awon Egba
ati Yoruba
(Newspaper for the Egba and Yoruba), through the birth of a unified Nigerian
geography, to the present day, the press in Nigeria has contested this idea of a
Nigerian nation. Given the fact that it predates Nigeria and its centrality in
the power vortex as a reflection of the interests of the different
power/identity groups, the Nigerian press is an interesting and intellectually
stimulating site for the analysis of the struggle for power, access and
accommodation in Nigeria.
This paper courses through the history of the Nigerian project from its beginning in 1914 to the year 2001 in an attempt to track the trajectory of how the press relates to, reacts to, constructs and reconstructs the idea of Nigerian nation. The press is taken here as a valid source of the dynamics of the construction,deconstruction and circulation of the discourses of oneness. The paper analyses the ways in which the symbolic forms deployed in the press intersect with relations of power and domination in the contestations over Nigeria. Does a Nigerian nation exist in the ‘lexicon’ of the Nigerian press? What justifications are given for the presence or absence of such nation in the narrations? How are the groups and power centers - and ethnic nations - represented in the press in relation to the attempt to construct a common center?
The departure point is a theoretical standpoint that views media messages as
symbolic forms which are capable of establishing, sustaining and nourishing
relations of power and domination and counteracting or obstructing same.
Politics in Aesthetics: Nigerian Art as Instrument of Nation Building
At the dawn of the twentieth century, traditional Nigerian art was perceived as an integral aspect of everyday-life activities. However, in the years following Nigeria's independence from Great Britain in 1960, the perception of art was transformed from being a domestic activity to a signifier of cultural and national identity. From independence to the end of the century, newly formed regimes had looked up to the arts as an avenue for solving the pervading problem of tribalism. This was done by promoting national unity through the doctrine of a common artistic heritage. This paper will review the methods employed by the Nigerian Federal government in utilizing art as an instrument of nation building in the twentieth century. Furthermore, the paper will analyze the outcomes of Federal government sponsored art enrichment programs and reflect on the impact of such efforts on the goal of national unity.
Saheed A. Adejumobi, Department of Africana Studies Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Bourgeois Rebels: Decolonization and the Politics of Citizenship and Social Welfare Reform In Nigeria, 1940-1970
With special reference to recently declassified documents and select Yoruba political party papers on the decolonization era, this paper explores the intellectual history of the British-Yoruba relationship that was established in Nigeria's western region. It discusses the legacy of British missionary-influenced Western education and social reform initiatives in Nigeria, and views from an in-depth perspective the changing notions of class relations and cultural nationalism. Another point of focus is the postwar dimension of colonial development principles that addressed new economic initiatives, the collectivization of providing public goods, and the debate over the Colonial Office's implementation of the rudiments of welfare state. The paper also discusses the reaction of the Nigerian nationalist elite towards these new developments, particularly in light of how reforms had the potential to create an economically productive, politically contented work force in the emergent modern Nigerian State. The education and social welfare reform plans of the British Colonial Office are juxtaposed with the reform plans advanced by the Yoruba nationalist intelligentsia under the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987). The paper examines the key motivating factors behind the contentious debates that raged between British officers, as representatives of Commonwealth leadership, and Yoruba leaders, as the bourgeois elite with leadership aspirations. As Nigerian leaders grew increasingly discontent with British constitutional and structural models of modernization and citizenship standards, elites from both sides were forced to renegotiate their respective political and intellectual agenda in the struggle to control the trajectory of post-imperial Nigeria.
Jacob Adetunji USAID, G/PHN/POP/PE
Mortality trends in Nigeria in the 20th Century: Nigeria in the Course of the Epidemiologic Transition
In 1971, Abdel Omran published his paper that set forth the theory of
epidemilogic transition. According to this model, in the course of socioeconomic
development, a society moves from the era of pestilence and famine through the
era of receding pandemics to the era of degenerative and man-made diseases. Each
period is associated with specific pattern of mortality and main causes of death
among children and adults. In 1986, Olshansky and Ault suggested a forth stage,
but that is only a sub-segment of stage 3. Although this theory, like many
others, is influenced by historical shifts in Western population health, it has
useful applications to Africa and other parts of the developing world. In this
paper, we discuss the application of this theory to Nigeria. Published and
unpublished materials available to the author are reviewed to assess where
Nigeria is now and where the country was at the beginning of the 20th Century in
terms of mortality levels. Trends in under-five mortality rates in the colonial
and post-colonial Nigeria are also reviewed. Available evidence suggests that
more than two out of every five children born at the beginning of this century
did not survive to their fifth birthday. Today, that proportion is just a little
over 1 out of every ten children. Similarly, Nigeria moved to the era of
receding pandemics (stage two of Omran?s formulation). It is certain that the
country will enter into the era of degenerative and man-made diseases in the new
century. How fast it moves to stage 3 depends on several factors. The policy
implications of the findings are discussed as Nigeria begins the 21st
century.
Hakim Adi, PHD, School of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Middlesex University
In the heart of the Empire: Nigerian Anti-Colonial Activity in Britain 1900-60
For the first sixty years of the twentieth century the most pressing problem facing Nigerians was how to organise the reform or removal of British colonial rule. The loss of sovereignty and the right of Nigerians to determine their own affairs, euro-centrism, the colour bar and other forms of oppression inevitably led to resistance of many types, culminating in mass opposition to colonial rule and demands for self-determination and independence. Many of those who played a key role in the anti-colonial struggle organised their activities not in Nigeria itself, but in Britain in the heart of the empire. These student-politicians, in concert with their compatriots in Nigeria, lobbied the imperial government, established important links with sympathetic political figures and organisations in Britain and elsewhere and formed their own organisations that often served as a training ground for future Nigerian political leaders. Perhaps most importantly Nigerian anti-colonial activists in Britain were instrumental in developing and disseminating, through their own writing and publications, those political ideologies that informed the anti-colonial movement in Nigeria itself. It was after all from Britain that many of the earliest demands for self-government were proclaimed. This paper aims to analyse the significance of the role of Nigerian anti-colonial activists and organisations in Britain, from the earliest nationalists such as Prince Bandele Omoniyi, to the activities of such organisations as the Nigerian Progress Union, West African Students Union, Nigeria Union and the pan-African Committee of African Organisations.
Michael O. Afolayan, PHD, Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin
International Migration or National Dehydration?Examining Effects of United States Diversity Lottery Visa on Nigeria as a Nation and on Educated Nigerians as Recipient Immigrants
Grounded on the principle of pragmatic utility, this study is predicated on two assumptions. One: That the United States Diversity Lottery Visa instituted by the United States government had drawn a record number of Nigerian top intellectual and professional elites into the United States since its inception in 1994. Two: By virtue of such draw, it has contributed to and escalated an acute wave of brain drain that Nigeria as a nation has been experiencing in its intellectual and professional workforce since the 1980s. The study will be informed by a proposed dual hypothesis. That is, "educated Nigerians brought to the United States under the DV lottery visa were utilized to the maximum extent of their professional abilities and intellectual preparedness or were consistently underutilized, to the detriment of Nigerian immigrants and the country, Nigeria, from where such considerable workforce emanated." In order to reject or confirm this hypothesis, an instrument comprising 48 questions in a survey questionnaire will be administered to an estimated 50 recipients of the DV lottery visa who had been in the United States for a minimum of two years. These are drawn from five randomly selected states in the continental U.S.A. - Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts. An open-ended interview will be conducted to follow-up on responses obtained from the survey of five available survey respondents. The survey only examines the first two years of recipients' residency in America. This is an on-going preliminary investigation of the overall impact of this immigration initiative of the United States government on Nigeria and Nigerians. Specific questions in the survey will provide conclusive evidence as to the validity of the study's hypothesis. Suggestions will be provided as to how best to utilize the educated Nigerians who are drawn to the United States through the Diversity Visa initiative.
Social Movements of Resistance and the Social Transformation of the
Nigerian State: Politics, Ritual and Rhetorics of the Ogoni
Movement
This paper intends to look at emergent social movements,
especially those of a resistant kind, and evaluate them in terms of the
structuring of the Nigerian political and social order. The paper intend to look
at the organizing paradigms that motivates and necessitates the formation of
social movements of resistance, and their implication for the transformation,
contestation and re-ordering of the social and political structures. The Ogoni
Movement would be examined to look at the ethnographical and historical dynamics
that led to the formation of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP) in 1990. This paper would investigate what within the essential
character of the Ogoni historical identity and imaging, mythology and history,
encoded their politics and ritual, and rhetoric that led to the resistant
confrontation ordered by MOSOP in its discourse toward Ogoni social
transformations as constructed against the Nigerian Federal Government and the
International Oil major (Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron).
Further, the movement
would be subjected to a critical analysis in the lights of legitimation theory,
specifically those of Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu and Anthony Giddens. Other
theoretical emphases would be placed on the sociological and anthropological
understanding of the themes of ethnicity, collective memory and the resilience
of indigenous minority groups.
The Ogoni movement would be evaluated within
the wider occurrence evident within the Nigerian Federation, in terms of the
issue of social structuring, ethnicity, political and social marginalization,
distributive justice and the context of the militarization of the Nigerian
psyche. The Ogoni movement through the governmental and Oil major attraction
towards repression would be seen as representing a power idiom of contesting
oppressive state and capitalist instrumentality. Thus, we it would be argued
that the forceful repression represents a consciousness of its power as a
dynamic movement of transformation. It would be asserted that the Ogoni
repression reflects a dominant attitude by “rogue leaderships” of “hijacked
states” to experiment and clamp down opposing polities as warning adopted toward
muting differing views from those of the dominant hegemony.
The paper
attempts to look at the contradictions that exists within the articulation of
social movements and their attempt as structuring agencies to transform
institutionalized polity. These would also underline the inherent limitation
within the self-conceptualization of the movement and its attempt at
actualization.
Having examined these the answers that we seek to answer is
whether social movements actually portend the agencies towards radical
transformation of the social order. This answer would be sought within the
unfolding dimensions of the present political formation of the Nigerian State.
Augustin Agwuele , Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
Nigerian English: Reflection of a nation
English has become one of the 'indigenous' languages of Nigeria. Though it is
officially the 'National' language, English like all other languages of the
country, is functionally limited and a minority language. This paper traces the
inception, spread and place of English in Nigeria. From a linguistic
perspective, the paper discusses its current structure and shows that regardless
of 'Nigerian English' affinity with English world wide, it has become a native
Nigerian language. The paper also sees in the rise and sustenance of English
within the body polity of Nigeria, a reflection of the social and political
machinery of the Nation in the 20th century.
Military Occupation, National Question and the Rise of Ethnic Nationalism in Nigeria
Nigerian federalism has failed. There are two dominant views about the failure of federalism in Nigeria. One of them accuses the colonial masters of bequeathing a Federal structure that was bound to fail with time due its un-accretive origin and the unequal sizes of its constituent parts. The other blames the military for taking up politics and governance, a task it is ill-prepared for. However, these views exclude the stark reality of negligence, political and economic alienation suffered daily by individuals, which has given rise to ethnic nationalism that is threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria. The state of affairs presently, is that violent ethnic agitation is rampant in all ethnic sections of the country, causing huge loses to loves and non-existing social properties. This paper shows that the unethical extension of military command structure to civil affairs through military occupation is the genesis of the hydra-headed national question; this is the question about equity, fair play and justice among the plural societies that inhabit the Nigerian political space. In addition, this paper plots a link between national question and ethnic nationalism to show, that the surging rise in ethnic nationalism overtime, is due largely, to the hitherto unanswered national question and disregard to the associate socio-economic injustices therefrom by government. This paper ends with recommendations on: (i) convocation of national conference (ii) implementation of resource control and (iii) engineering peoples' constitution.
Austin Ahanotu, California State University Stanislaus
From Igbo State Union to Ohaneze: The Making of a People in Modern Nigeria
The Igbo speaking people of southeastern Nigeria are amongst the most important ethnic groups in modern Nigeria history. By the 1930s, the Igbo exposure to Christian missions and modern educational institutions began to bear fruit. The British colonial administration of Nigeria in its own policies created a political structure that brought the diverse peoples of Nigeria together. Henceforth, the Igbo-speaking peoples saw themselves actively participating in the religious, social, economic and educational history of modern Nigeria; and with Nigeria political Nationalist activism, Ndi Igbo got themselves embroiled in the politics of independence and post-independent Nigeria. The Igbo State Union and recently the Ohaneze have claimed the hearts and souls of Ndi Igbo. How and why this claim is significant in the lives of Ndi Igbo is the aim of this paper. Under what context did both organizations (Igbo State Union and Ohaneze) arise; the goals of both organizations are reexamined to better understand the circumstances under which the Igbo outcry of marginalization is occurring. In so doing, we shall put a new outlook on ethnic discourse in modern Nigerian history.
Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka. University of Kansas
Gender and Nationalism in Contemporary Nigerian Literature: A Histocritical Analysis.
Contemporary Nigerian literature dates to the beginning of the 20th century when a new historical dawn broke on the country. A new imperial power creates a new geographical entity called Nigeria and the brand new citizens attempt to define their new identity variously.
Historically, literature fiction, poetry, myth, and drama - has often been a concrete way of imagining and legitimizing the abstraction called nation. It forges unity (or otherwise), and helps to define who the people are, giving them a frame of reference for action, roles and identity. Nigeria at its creation, was not any different, but perhaps its beginning was not as simple as many other nations. Nigeria is an amalgamation of many different peoples, and cultures. Even more complex are the implication s of power and subjugation within the creation of this new nation , and the inevitable struggle for freedom and independence.
How do the people grapple with the issues of nationalism and its peculiar circumstances? How are the aspirations for nationalism expressed? How do the people reconcile the issues of differences? What is the relationship between the old cultural identity and the new one? How have the new political realities and emerging cultural expressions affected the gender relationships and roles?
In attempting to answer these questions and more, this paper adopts a two-tiered approach - historical and critical analysis, hence the coined term "histocritical." In the historical phase, a abroad overview of the works with their content is related to actual historical events happening in the country to determine the role of literature in nation building. The critical aspect focuses closely on the content of selected works, analyzing how the answers to the above questions are articulated. Subjecting these works to theoretical analysis such as Negritude, liberation and gender theories, the paper examines especially the impact and significance of gender construct and structure of the works in nation building and the psyche of its citizens.
T.Y. Tunde-Akintunde(Mrs.), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, The Polythecnic, Ibadan, Nigeria
Nigerian Professional Women and the Conflict Between Work and Family
Nigeria women in SMT professions have found themselves in a precaucious situation. There is the need to put in more hours at work, like their male counterparts, in order to be a success in their profession as well as put in hours at home in order to have a successful family life. This is because both aspects of their lives are very important to fulfil their role in nation building as well as family building. A study carried out showed that both aspects of their clash with each other most especially because of the problems they encounter which is generally due to irregular epleptic supply of social amenities in the nation (i.e. water electricity, cooking fuel etc). the study is an indication that for the women to be fulfilled in their profession and at home, there is the urgent need for the intervention of employers government, non-government organizations etc. methods of intervention by the various bodies to help enhance the productivity of these professional women are examined in this paper.
2) B.O. Akintunde
1. Dept of Mechanical Engineering, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Nigeria
2. Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Nigeria
Role of Women Empowerment in the Development of Nigerian Agriculture
A number of agricultural policies have been made in Nigeria for the development of the Agricultural sector. This has led to the provision and development of agricultural technology to improve productivity of the farmers. However it has been observed that the main food producers and processors, the women, have been neglected in the production and use of agricultural technology or implements. This paper is aimed at examining the implication the neglect of the women in the use of agricultural technology has had on the development of agricultural in Nigeria. A number of reasons for this neglect is also identified in the write-up. A number of recommendations/suggestions which should be considered by government and policy makers are made so as to increase the involvement of women in the use of agricultural technology.
Olayemi Akinwumi, PHD, Freie Universität, Berlin
Forever in Minority: The Impact of Administrative Policies on the Borgawa Society in the Twentieth Century Nigerian History
Ever since the 1898 Anglo-French treaty, which partitioned Borgu between the two foremost colonial powers in West Africa was signed, the Nigerian Borgu, the region that came under the British control, has been affected by the various administrative re-structuring policies in Nigeria. The most significant of these was the various state creation exercises carried out by the military administrations in Nigeria. The exercises further condemned a minority group, in a larger Nigerian context, into a permanent minority group in the various states the group found itself. Today, the Borgawa are located in Kwara, Kebbi and Niger states respectively. This paper therefore focuses on the impact of these administrative re-structuring policies on this group. The central issue of discuss is the minority status of this group in their various administrative locations.
Olayemi Akinwumi, PHD, Freie Universität, Berlin
Northern Yourba and the Struggle for Identity in the Twentieth Century Nigeria
The issue has remained topical in Nigerian history since the last century. The issue is the struggle by a section of the Yoruba to free themselves from the yoke of northern domination since the beginning of the last century. This group has always condemned their geographical location in the northern Nigeria on the basis that it has no cultural affinity to the zone. As a result, it has consistently demanded that it should be merged with its kith and kin in the southwestern region of the country. This paper examines the struggle and how successive administrations in Nigeria, colonial government inclusive, have scuttled the ambition of this group. It will also focus on why this issue is generating new interest in today's politics.
R.T. Akinyele, Department of History, University of Lagos
Ethnic Minorities and Nigerian History in the Twentieth Century
History can be understood in three principal senses, namely, the actual
course of events, the record of those events, and, as an academic discipline
concerned with the study of the past. This paper appraises the contribution of
ethnic minorities to the making of Nigerian history in the last century.
Specifically, it examines how the minorities shaped the course of Nigerian
history through agitations for states creation and resource control; their
dominant hold on the military institution; the alliance of opposites that
characterised the ethnic politics of the century and how they re-interpreted or
invented history in their bid to create an elbow room for themselves in the
Nigerian Federation.
Yomi Akinyeye, Department of History, University of
Lagos.
Nigeria's Defence in the Twentieth Century
This paper discusses Nigeria?s defence in the last century. A nation?s
defence is a dialogue among its national interests, the threats to them and
available resources for the protection in the face of competing demands. The
paper examines Nigeria?s interests as articulated by its leaders, the perceived
threats to them and the quantum of resources available for their defence in
relation to other demands. On the basis of its findings, the study will make
some suggestions about the conduct of Nigeria?s defence policy for the future.
By enriching our knowledge of Nigeria?s defence in the previous century, it
would serve as a guide for the country?s defence policy makers for the
future.
Constructing "darkness" to Create "light:" The Impact of Islamic Reforms on Hausaland Societies, 1770s-1860s
The purpose of this paper is to present the working language used to convey reform and progress based on an Islamic paradigm expressed in the writings of the jihad leaders and scholars (Shehu Usman dan Fodio, Muhammad Bello, Abdullah b. Fudi, Nana Asma'u and Umar b. Muhammadu Bukhari), during the 1770s-1860s in Hausaland societies. They defined progress as a move away from the past, (darkness), characterized by the appropriation of Islamic law, (light), expressed in the new state and its citizens. The Islamic "modernity" in this case, was synonymous with "Islamization" helping the region to "look like the land of Islam." This attempt was articulated to two different audiences. The "international" audience (and local scholars), were targeted through the written word in Arabic, and at times ajami was used for the ulama, while the "local" people were often lectured to mostly in Fulani and Hausa.Although the translated primary materials written by the Islamic reformers are limited, there is a consensus on what they envisioned as their ideal Islamic society. This is not based on what was argued for "their" alternative, but rather what they said against Hausa or non-Muslim rule. The leaders of the jihad, Usman dan Fodio, Muhammad Bello and Abdullah b. Muhammad Fudi, and family members, Abdullah Bukhari, Nana Asma'u and other scholars in the movement, had a plan for post-jihad Hausaland. The reformers mentally mapped out what the new society would be, and they committed their thoughts, particularly on what it would not be unto paper. The writing used to articulate the Islamic ideal was mostly written in Arabic, but many lectures, and oral presentations did what written languages were not able to do. Arabic was not read or understood by the majority of the population of Hausaland. The Shehu and others used Arabic for a different audience, usually coming from the wider Islamic world, particularly North and West Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula's literate communities. The written word was used to express and showcase one's ilm, or Islamic knowledge in the form of handwriting styles and methodology. In their writings, these scholars relied upon previously published materials coming from the "heartland" but also from already existing written materials within West and North Africa's Muslim societies. Part of the methodology and writing process, was to showcase a scholars' familiarity and knowledge of other materials from the wider Islamic world. The written word was also used as the avenue to criticize the ulama, or the learned Muslim community, among whom scholarly debates erupted over interpretation and doctrine. This paper will utilize the writings of the leaders mentioned above to highlight their discourse on progress, or "a move away from the past," and how the society, women's rights, their physical and personal space were altered by these changes. The presence of this discourse, articulated by the scholars, expressed a concept of color consciousness in pre-colonial Hausaland. This would later enable British racial policies in the region to flourish along the already existing "racial" policies evident in the pre-colonial society. European racial policies often meet a pre-existing notion of "whiteness" and "blackness" in the region, particularly in Muslim societies. These concepts often collaborated to define who spoke for Islam. Islam noir or the Islam practiced by the blacks, "in its least," was regarded as "paganism." Fulani and British rule accommodated each other in this regard. Lugard was appointed High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria in 1900, and governor of the entire country in 1914. His divide and rule tactics were based on the supposition of Fulani "racial" superiority and thus were regarded as "true" Muslims. British imperialism reinforced the alleged, but widely held notion of Fulani superiority over "natives." Lugard often referred to the Fulani as the "light-skinned invaders," constructing the Fulani "foreigners" in Africa and thus are "other" than "natives." Thus "light" was better than "dark," in pre-colonial and colonial Hausaland.And to be Muslim was to be socially on a higher standing than a "traditionalist."This paper is divided into five sections. The first section, Before the political Discourse, provides an understanding of the language used by the Shehu to convey reform among the populace, before the commencement with the political "jihad of words," which would be used to discredit Hausa governments. The second section, Targeting Darkness---The Ways of their Governments marks the Shehu's discursive transition from preaching reform to the people to demanding to "enlighten" the region by toppling their governments. This section articulates what the Shehu and Bello saw as "backward" characteristics of non-Muslim rule. The Ways of Muslims in their Governments presents the Islamic difference which signified progress and better governing. Constructing Darkness deals with the creation of Hausa rule as "darkness" and that of Islamic rule as its antithesis. The Sunna as Light, the final section, deliberates on the Islamic alternative or model that the Shehu, Bello, Fudi and Asma'u had envisioned and promised as the Islamic ideal. This section focuses on the works of Asma'u to present the continuum of her father's and brother's discourse in her own writings. This paper will trace the discourse used by the jihadist to "whiten" the region's religious and social identity in their "jihad of words."
Lillian Ashcraft-Eason, Africana Studies & History, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
Thinking Mytho-Historically About Woyengi, the Egbema-Ijo's Goddess of Destiny
One of the most enduring aspects of African cosmological thought is the belief in destiny and its role in the calibration of the length and quality of an individual's life. Nowhere in Africa is thinking about destiny more graphically articulated than in the Egbema-Ijo myth of the deity of destiny, Woyengi. The central deific images in this myth are females Woyengi--the supreme creator--and the hapless Ogboinba, her chief priestess. The Egbema (Ebiama) are a matrilineal people. Apropos to this characteristic and other sociological and religious realities, I believe this myth reflects the continuing vibrancy of the notion of destiny and the demise of the Woyengi cult. In this paper, the English translation of the Woyengi document is interfaced with secondary critical studies in order to determine the relationship between the mythic and social changes in Egbema society by the mid-twentieth century.
David Aworawo, Department of History, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria.
Nigeria in World Affairs, 1960 - 2000
Since the attainment of flag independence in October1960, Nigeria has struggled to occupy an important place in world affairs in keeping with its self acclaimed title of "giant of Africa". And some scholars believe that Nigeria's role in world affairs has indeed been that of a giant, as titles such as "Nigeria: Giant in the Tropics" suggests. Others however feel that even if Nigeria is to be referred to as a giant on account of its potentials, its role in global politics since independence has been nothing more than that of a dwarf. This group argues that with a per capital GNP of less than 300 USD as compared with 500 USD for sub - Saharan Africa at the close of the 20th century, and with only 5.5 per cent of its GDP coming from manufacturing, Nigeria's role in world affairs could only be minimal. However, some have pointed to Nigeria's leading role in assisting in the struggle against colonialism especially in Southern Africa and in peace keeping in West Africa such as in ECOMOG operations in the 1990s, as evidence of the country's powerful role in global politics in the late 20th century. This paper will critically examine Nigeria's role in world affairs from independence to the close of the 20th century. It will analyze the country's foreign relations in West Africa, and in Africa at large, as well as its activities in such bodies as ECOWAS, OAU and the UN. A comparison of the country's role in these bodies will be made with developments within the country in political, social and economic spheres of life. This would make it possible for a balanced appraisal of Nigeria's role in global politics up to 2000 A.D. and also point the way to the future.
Dr Ademola Babalola, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Obafemi Awolowo University
Democracy and National Development in Nigeria
It is too early
to assess the impact of the two-year democratic experiment in Nigeria on the
people and the country. The ultimate question we should have to ask at the
appropriate time however, is how far the new experience has helped to correct
the following:
1. (a) Gross instability and inequalities in the standard
of living between the majority of the people and those who control public
institutions and public business.
(b) Economic development between various villages, districts, provinces,
states and sections of the country and sectors of the economy.
2. The
great amount of material benefit which accrues to those holding public offices
due to the very high level of official and unofficial remuneration, arising out
of the failure to clearly and sharply separate the holding of public office from
the private accumulation of wealth in all the major public institutions.
3. The conduct of public affairs on the basis of the belief widely propagated
that political activity is about the competition for material resources and
public status between areas, ethnic groups, clans, families and
individuals.
4. The absence of any systematic and effective means by which the common people can on a regular basis understand, guide and discipline those who are supposed to represent and serve them.
5. The manipulation of political activity by foreign interests through the
supply of funds and ideas.
Nigerian Technology Policy:Wishful Thinking or Reality?
There is ample and growing evidence in the relevant literature that
scientific and technological advancements are important stimuli of economic
growth and development. Indeed, through technological innovation, diffusion, and
commercialization, (newly) industrialized countries have enhanced the
international competitiveness of their enterprises, generated wealth, and
improved the living standards of their populace. Against the backdrop of the
20th century, especially during the post-Second World War, it is evident from
the literature that those countries that have sharpened their innovative,
distributive, and exploitative expertise tend to belong in the categories of
advanced industrial and newly industrialized countries. Conversely, those
nation-states that have yet to develop this ability tend to languish in the
category of the “underdeveloped.” According to recent classifications by various
international non-governmental organizations, Nigeria is an underdeveloped
country after four decades of independence. Given its resourcefulness, human and
natural, did independent Nigeria have a science, technology, and innovation
policy during the 20th century? What was the policy? Was it systematically and
coherently defined or was it a hodgepodge of ideas? How did it fare vis-à-vis
its implementation and the realization of its objectives? The aforementioned are
among the analytical questions that will constitute the basis of this discourse.
Tunde Babawale Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, University of Lagos
Nigeria and the Challenges of Nation Building in the 20th Century
Although it is widely acknowledged that the existence of the Nigerian State
dated as far back as 1914 when the British amalgamated its Northern and Southern
Protectorates into a unified entity, the country is yet to evolve a virile
nationhood characterised by a distinct national consciousness among the diverse
ethnicities that inhabit the territory.
Aside from a civil war that lasted
for 3 years (1967-70), there have been numerous inter-ethnic, inter-regional and
inter-communal conflicts that have perennially threatened the unity of the
Nigerian State.
The British colonial overlords implemented divisive policies
that rendered the northern and southern sections of Nigeria into “point of the
compass” as opposed to “definite political statement”. This gulf was widened in
the post-independence era by the power-elite who exploited the differences in
religion, region and ethnicity to keep themselves perpetually in political
office by keeping the people almost permanently divided.
The incursion of
the military into politics led to the freezing of efforts to evolve a Nigerian
nation through the frequent resort of the military regimes to the suffocation of
the civil society and the silencing of the voices of dissent.
Invariably,
those individuals and organisations that agitated for minority rights, regional
self-determination and equity in the distribution of power and resources were
driven underground. The ineluctable consequence was the emergence of ethnic
armies and the proliferation of atavistic and anomic groups that are threatening
to overrun the Nigerian State and make the country ungovernable.
This paper
is aimed at identifying the various dimensions of the challenges of nationhood,
which Nigeria faced in the 20th century. It will also examine the possibilities
that exist for the emergence of a virile Nigerian nation that will be able to
dispense justice to its component units and consequently checkmate the current
drift towards the Yugoslavisation of the country. It further examines the
deepening crises of the Nigerian State exemplified in neo-colonial exploitation
and mismanagement, chronic poverty, political instability, foreign domination
and a general systemic decay- all of which have contributed to the frustration
of the dreams of a virile Nigeria in the 20th century.
Cultism and the Hope of the Nigerian Youths in Higher Institutions in the 20th century
Cultism is a strange phenomenon that has engulfed many higher institutions in Nigeria and has brought unnecessary grief to some homes.The effect it has on the academic performance and the general well-being of Nigerian youths involved in cultism frightening.
Apart from the clandestine activities in which members of the cult are involved in, other outlandish behavior include the use of lethal and dangerous weapons and the taking of hard drugs.Innocent and defenseless members of the society at times sustain injury during outings or clashes of cult members.
On the Nigerian scene a clearer picture of the activities of cult members is painted thus:
"Students keep on dying,they keep getting maimed and disfigured,they keep being sexually assaulted and the orgy goes on. If only the Government can stop this madness.If only the school authorities can confront the devil,if only the lives of the students can be protected from the blood thirsty occult confraternities -if only, if only --------------"
Is there any hope for the Nigerian Youth in the twentieth century ?
This paper discusses the evolution of cultism in Higher Institutions in Nigeria, the present trends and activities and actions geared towards eliminating cultism on campus.
Juluette Bartlett ,University of Houston, Candidate for PHD in Literature
Nigerian Diasporic Realities: Migration to Navigate between Modernity and Tradition In Tess Onwueme's The Missing Face and Legacies
The postcolonial urge to wholeness, in the context of the African people, is a theme in Tess Onwueme's The Missing Face and Legacies. The plays speaks to a specificity of vision that illustrates the interconnection between Africans and those of African decent in the diaspora, especially in the United States. In several of Onwueme's plays, she portrays African women returning to Africa from either the United States or Great Britain to serve as educated, elite leaders of the ignorant masses. However, in The Missing Face and Legacies the main characters are African American women who migrate with their sosn to the mythical village of Idu to search for identity and regain what was lost in the middle passage. It is a position that gives a solid affirmation to the varying urge in black cultures everywhere, which is to secure the future with a recovery of what was taken away by colonialism, of that missing face and to claim ancestral legacies. This paper will investigate how Onwueme illustrates that in modern times it is sometimes necessary to return to ancestral lands and confront, or embrace tradition to find wholeness to mend split identities.
Andrew E. Barnes Department of History, Arizona State University
Christianity and the Colonial State in Northern Nigeria 1900-1960
The determination of British colonial administrators in Northern Nigeria to keep the Muslim areas of the territory free from Christian proselytizers is generally well known and has been written about many times. Unfortunately, the battle between missionaries and administrators over entry into Muslim territories has overshadowed the larger relationship between missionaries and administrators to the detriment of the historical understanding of both the establishment of Christian missions in the region and through those missions, vibrant indigenous Christian churches. Without a doubt, the contest between the two groups of Europeans helped determine the way Christianity was presented in the region, but it was not the only factor. Concern by government officials over issues such as the provision of European style education and medical services, as well as the provision of social services for the emerging Southerner communities attached to Northern cities prompted these officials to seek cooperation with missionaries, even while they were denying access to the emirates to the latter. For their part, few of the missions that operated in the North had sufficient funds for their various schemes not to look to the government for subsidies. In this paper I will sketch out what I think will be a more balanced narrative of the relationship between the colonial government in Northern Nigeria and the Christian missions. I will attempt to show that despite the battles that missionaries and administrators fought during the early years of the colonial era, by the second half of that era, their relationship would best be characterized as one of reluctant yet mutually appreciated cooperation.
Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, Professor of English,
University of Houston
Navigating Taboos in Nigerian Culture: Suppression of Women's Desires in Zulu Sofola's Play
Nigerian playwright Zulu Sofola concerns herself with writing women's
identities. She explores feelings of loss and alienation in a culture that
suppresses women's physical, emotional, and spiritual desires.While certain
staple conflicts abound in her plays, such as rural versus urban, traditional
versus progressive or modern, one essential conflict revolves around the impact
of Western feminist influences on Nigerian culture and, concomitantly, the
pressure that is placed on Nigerian women by the patriarchy to accept narrowly
prescribed identities. Sofola critiques the feminist influences that reach
across the seas to divide men and women in her homeland and from their kin in
the diaspora. Her plays interrogate her people's search for wholeness and
concludes that the hope for Blacks lies in owning the disruption caused by the
Middle Passage and in shoring up a sense of community, locally and globally.
Sofola advocates for a flexible tradition, one in which women strive for a
middle ground between traditionalism and modernity. This study examines the
shifting perspectives of Nigerian women to include their insistence upon a
modicum of freedom and independence while simultaneously working toward a
meaningful union between black men and women. Sofola's plays suggests that she
wants the best of the old world to survive, to become part of a useable past
that emerges as a cornerstone of a present that facilitates growth and
fulfillment for both women and men in Nigeria and the diaspora.
Sherri Canon PhD student, Ethnomusicology, University of Texas at Austin
Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe: Musical Elder and Cultural Icon for
Ibo
Migrants
My paper is on Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, whose musical career in highlife spans 40 years in Nigeria. Osadebe is currently on tour in the US, promoting a recent release which compiles songs recorded between 1970-1985.While doing fieldwork among Nigerians in Houston, it came to my attention that Chief Osadebe is an important cultural figure for Ibo people living in Houston. Fans play his music at social events such as wedding receptions and bridal showers to assert regional and ethnic identity. In July 2001, Osadebe played four back-to-back concerts in Houston and will return in October. I will sketch a biography of Osadebe's musical career in Nigeria and also focus on how his music provides a strong nostalgic force for Nigerian immigrants today, perhaps transporting them back to a more prosperous and hopeful time in Nigeria (such as the 70s). Sources for the study include oral interview and personal interactions with the band.
Kassahun Checole, Publisher & President Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press
Publishing Workshop
Discussion will address the challenges and various obstacles to publishing; identifies industry trends as well as new themes and frontiers in publications; reviews the range of available venues and formats, including monographs, journals, textbooks, anthologies, text editions, encyclopedia entries, re-published archival materials and documentary evidence. Dr. Checole will share his personal experiences with students and professors.
Gloria
Chuku South Carolina State University
Women and the Complexity of Gender Relations in Nigeria:
A Historiographical Overview
Using historical methods, this paper analyzes the concept of gender, and how
it relates to Nigerian women. The focus is on the various ways women have used
gender to express their identities in different Nigerian societies, identities
which were regularly and systematically reshaped to fit a broad array of their
productive and political needs and interests.
Using the precolonial period as a background, five broad categories of
identities of Nigerian women in the twentieth century, namely, female husbands,
female sons, female fathers, female kings, and female priests will be analyzed.
Effort will be made to examine how such factors of change as Islam,
Christianity, Western education, the legal system, colonialism and the
bureaucratization of state power have affected gender relations in
Nigeria.
Nigerian Anti-Military Movements in the 1990s
Nigeria suffered
under military rule for nearly 30 years after its independence from Great
Britain in 1960. The military regimes of Babangida and Abacha repressed civil
society organizations and preyed upon the people of Nigeria. When the military
government annulled a free and fair election, many segments of the population
began to seek alternative paths to end military rule and restore democracy. Some
groups operated abroad, while the majority was inside. This paper proposes to
examine the development and activities of anti-military groups in the 1990s and
to evaluate their role in affecting political change. It is a contribution to
contemporary politics, as well as to studies on social movements.
Mary Dillard
History, Professor, Sarah Lawrence College
The Role of Assessment in Nigerian Education
The 1950s were a
pivotal decade for the development of education in Nigeria. In anticipation of
independence from colonial rule, educational opportunities for Nigerians
expanded at all levels. This expansion was a result of both private initiative
among Nigerians and Africanization programs instituted by the colonial and
regional governments. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) was created
during this era, in 1952. Educators envisioned that WAEC would be an institution
that would indigenize the process of developing examinations in the WAEC member
countries. Nationalists, government officials and educators believed that
Africanization of curriculum would be a natural corollary to the Africanization
of bureaucratic institutions. In fact, examinations played an important role in
limiting the extent of educational reforms in Nigeria prior to independence.
Drawing on the history of WAEC’s development in Nigeria, this paper seeks to
analyze the struggle for Africanization in Nigeria’s curriculum and discuss the
changing role of educational tests in Nigeria’s educational system.
Chris Dunton, National University of Lesotho
Nigeria and the Diaspora, Solidarities and Discords : The Drama of Tess Onwueme
Amongst the work of living Nigerian women dramatists, that of Osonye Tess Onwueme is perhaps the most significant and provocative. Her early plays deal with Nigerian domestic and social issues (The Broken Calabash) and with the continuing despoliation of an Africa vulnerable to global interests incompatible with its own (The Desert Encroaches). In these plays Onwueme develops some of the most audacious dramaturgy to have emerged in the Nigerian English-language theatre. With her move to the USA at the end of the 1980s, however, the subject-matter of Onwueme`s plays undergoes a pronounced shift--and it is her plays of the last decade that the present paper addresses.
While Onwueme`s most recent published play, Shakara: Dance-Hall Queen (2000) returns to a Nigerian setting, plays such as Legacies, Riot in Heaven, The Missing Face and Go Tell It To Women focus, in one way or another, on the interconnections between African (and especially African women`s) history and experience and that of the diaspora. The paper explores the dramaturgy that Onwueme employs in addressing this issue and the textual ideology that emerges from these plays. It locates these works within the realm of other literature on diaspora concerns. In particular, it analyses Onwueme`s problematization of perceived differences between African and Western concepts of social organization, development aid and feminist activism.
Djisovi Ikukomi Eason , Bowling Green State University
Encountering Ifa with Aseda Awo Adeyefa in the Twentieth Century
I met Aseda Awo Adeyefa, one of the sixteen diviners of the Ooni of Ile-Ife, during a brief visit to Nigeria in March 1990. He was recommended to me as a seasoned and knowledgeable diviner by Dr. Wande Abimbola. His demonstrated knowledge and his demeanor impressed me. Over the next 4 years, the aseda divined for me, and he and I had lengthy conversations about Ifa as I observed his work in Ile-Ife and the United States. What impressed me most about him was the liberal and creative way in which he interpreted Ifa divination myths to meet twentieth-century interests of African Americans.
In this paper, I present his articulated insights into the transformative nature of Ifa and examine his use of these insights in discussions of gender issues and in his adjusting to travel and visiting in the United States. I use notes and electronic documentation from interviews and conversations with him to write this paper. My presentation will be supported with video clips.
Toyin Falola, Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Writing Nigeria: Historiographical Phases During the 20th Century
The aim of this paper is to delineate the major phases in the attempt to reconstruct the history of Nigeria. Historical reconstruction based on memory, now generally known as the oral tradition, is the established tradition. The oral tradition enables an understanding of the notion of popular historical consciousness. An established writing tradition in Arabic and Ajami provide rich historical accounts of Islamic areas. During the nineteenth century, English spread and a number of African languages acquired a written form, which is, of course, another crucial development. As a result of writing, chronicles became an established vehicle of historical preservation.
All of these genres were developed extensively in the colonial period itself with some actually becoming part of the colonial documentation of Africa. As ethnography and anthropology turned their attention to Africa, they also significantly impacted the writing of history. Academic history writing began in the 1950s, borrowing data and themes from the earlier genres.
In the 1960s, the civil war and problems of political instability imposed the need to dwell on contemporary history, and historians were pressured to seek relevance. The economic devastation of the 1980s affected the discipline and the organization of academic society. An "academic void" did not occur, but writing diminished in quality and quantity. Oil wealth produced a new generation of elite whose members were interested in using their money for self-glorification expressed in the writings of memoirs. If the century opened with the glorification of communities and groups, it ended with the celebration of individuals and their wealth and power.
Toyin Falola, Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Workshop on "Nigeria is in my mind": Transforming Nigeria from Abroad
Toyin Falola will lead a panel to discuss how scholars and others who are interested in Nigeria can contribute to the strengthening of academic institutions and scholarship in Nigeria. Among the issues to be considered are:
i. The revival of academic associations, such as the Historical Society of Nigeria;
ii. The Contribution to the publication of journals, such as the Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria;
iii. Book donations to schools and libraries;
iv. and other forms of productive collaboration.
The Yoruba Diaspora in Sierra Leone's Krio Society
It explores the dominant African element in Krio culture, which latter is a blend of African and western values. This dominant element which is Yoruba, is a result of British attempts to outlaw the Atlantic slave trade which led to a large number of Yoruba being brought to and liberated in Freetown. The paper examines the element of Krio identity as it emerged by the early twentieth century, with an emphasis on the hegemonic western culture established by early colonial rule there and the predominantly Yoruba aspects. These latter are delineated in some detail with regard to their prominence in the Krio language - aspects like the Yoruba words in the Krio language, Yoruba institutions liks esusu, food items, komojade, hunters and egungun societies and the like. The paper also seeks to clarify the background to Krio identity which led many Krios to refuse to accept that the term Krio came from the Yoruba akiriyo rather than from 'Creole'.
The Crucial Role of the Market Women in Nigeria Between 1940 and
1960
While the military and political party leaders played an
important role in the transition to independence from the British in Nigeria
between 1940 and 1960, it is the market women who gave them the strength and
support they needed. In this paper I will examine the important role of the
market women in Nigeria during this time of decolonization. Because they had the
ability to shut down markets, organize large groups of demonstrators, and
manipulate the prices of goods in the market, the political leaders recognized
their importance in the future of an independent Nigeria.
Ibrahim Hamza ,York University
"Amirul Inglis?": Lugard and the transformation of the local aristocracy in northern Nigeria c. 1903-1918
The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the new local aristocracy and the colonial state using some original letters from the emirs to F. D. Lugard. The significance of these letters lies in their essence in reconstructing the basis of what later came to be known as the indirect rule system.The paper intends to also re-examine nature of the collaborative relations between the aristocracy and the level of subservience Lugard envisages to have inculcated in the emirates of northern Nigeria.
Not "An Account Devoted Exclusively to Fact": Ruth First's Barrel of a Gun
"An account devoted exclusively to fact," Ruth First wrote in the introduction to her study of coups d'état in Africa, "would present an Africa that is desiccated and dull." To what alternatives to "fact" then did First turn in the research, organization and writing of her 1970 book Barrel of a Gun (published in the United States as Power in Africa)? First goes on to maintain that she "tried [in the book] to convey something of the way people see, and say things about, their condition..." and to accomplish this narrative dictum through "scattered, sometimes unattributed, quotations throughout the book." Many of those quotations would have been recorded during her extended travel through West Africa and the Sudan in 1967 and 1968, during which she apparently sought to catch what she referred to as the "pulsating life in the streets of West Africa, where the rumbustious spirit seems so incompatible with the earnest political futility in high places." First concludes her introduction, bylined London, November 1969, and following two paragraphs of acknowledgements, with her own hopes not only for an "account [not] devoted exclusively to fact," but for Africa's options in the post-independence period, and for her own personal participation in scripting those alternative scenarios: "Harsh judgements are made in this book of Africa's independence leaderships. Yet this book is primarily directed not to the criticism, but to the liberation of Africa, for I count myself an African, and there is no cause I hold dearer." Barrel of a Gun is part and parcel of First's own story, her intellectual history as a South African communist and anti-apartheid activist who died in exile, a story that necessarily combines both biography and bibliography. This paper proposes to examine both the composition of the book - its research as told in First's correspondance at the time as well as the book's final draft - and its "after life" - in the reviews and debates it elicited at the time of its publication and in a retrospective consideration of its prophetic prescience or, perhaps, its foibled failure as not an "account devoted exclusively to fact." In other words, Barrel of a Gun both proposes a study of coups in Africa (with special reference to the Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana) and provides a chapter in the life of Ruth First and her own contributions to the "liberation of Africa."
Ashimuneze K. Heanacho, PH.D., Prof. of Educational Philosophy & Urban Education, Lincoln University
Ethnic nationalism: The improbability of a cohesive Nigerian nation-state
Ethnois are natural realities ñ nations -- and the ontological imperative,
for a nation state to emerge. With no political-economic exigency, differing
ethnois may not accede to a common political structure. Where no ontological
ingredient exists as a historical fact, it can be created, cognitively, and
conceptually. But, no such effort is occurring, in Nigeria. On the contrary,
ethnic differentiation, and marginalization prevails, creating divergences, as
dominant elements of the Nigerian condition By dividing the geographic space it
acquired, into autonomous regions, Britain acceded to the indefatigability of
ethnicism. However, since nominal independence, Nigerian federal governments
have been at variance, with their regional coordinates, in enunciating concepts
of a Nigerian nation. While regional sentiments forge ethnic consciousness and
identity (however muted), federal governments defer to ethnicity, as a problem.
Constitutionally strong ethnois, are essential to Nigeria becoming a viable
nation. But, strong ethnicism will not be tolerated, within a foreseeable
Nigerian construct. Mostly, it is the elite, who benefit from the existing
sociopolitical and economic arrangement, who advocate a Nigerian nation state.
To others, Nigeria is a map, not a people. Thus, a necessity, for a Nigerian
nation state is not indubitable. Indeed, indications are that, there is a
greater need, for the fusing across national boundaries, of viable ethnois, in
Nigeria, and elsewhere, to emerge as political nations. These entities may
become more successful, given that they will not have to expend as much
resource, as Nigerian governments do, to procure conformity, and exert coercion.
-- resources needed for the emergence of a strong Africa, which remains
postponed, as long as Nigeria, wastes resources, compelling unwilling ethnois,
to remain in the existing structure. A powerful Africa is more necessary, and
viable, than a strong Nigeria, especially because, regardless of the country,
the rest of the world views Africans, collectively, and reductively, as
Africans, and nothing more.
Daintee Glover Jones, University of Houston, Ph.D.
Candidate in Literature
Womanish Madwomen in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa
and Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro
Womanism as a critique
endeavors to include all women of color; therefore, I will attempt to compare
and contrast gender and racial identity issues that are portrayed in Anowa by
Ama Ata Aidoo and Funnyhouse of a Negro by Adrienne Kennedy. Aidoo is a Ghanian
playwright who writes in English and Kennedy is an African American playwright
who penned her play while in Ghana. Each playwright presents protagonists who
are faced with identity issues that are colored by colonialism and who are
postmodern mythologists who are not comfortable performing within society's
myths and metanarratives that define gender and racial identity. Aidoo's
character Anowa must contend with the absence of children in her marriage and
the loss of her husband's masculinity which leads to her 'madness' while
Kennedy's Sarah has madness as a result of struggling with multiple levels of
consciousness. I will argue that both playwrights use the deaths of their
protagonists to symbolize the necessary demise of patriarchal definitions of
gender and race.
Dr. Joni L. Jones Associate Professor of Performance
Studies in the Department of Theatre and Dance, and Associate Director of the
Center for African and African-American Studies at the University of Texas at
Austin.
Transatlantic Transformations: Osun and an African-American
Context”
This paper is the first of a two-part examination of the
transformation that occurs as the Yoruba life force known as Osun is
reconfigured to suit an African-American context. This paper describes the
annual Osun Festival in Osogbo, Nigeria with an eye toward the ways in which the
Festival has reshaped itself in light of shifting Nigerian political and
economic realities, and after the cultural amalgamation born of a host of
international influences. The paper questions the union of spirituality and
commercialism, the effects of a reverse diaspora, and the tensions between the
private and public veneration of Osun. Finally, I will preview the second part
of this analysis which looks at how Osun has moved from Nigeria to Cuba to the
United States, and what this journey suggests about the power of a
socio-political context on spiritual practice.
Muslim Entrepreneurship in Twentieth-Century Nigeria
Throughout the twentieth century Muslim entrepreneurs were a large and
significant part of the business landscape of Nigeria. In fact, Muslim private
capital advanced in growth, management, and organization. But Nigerian Muslims
have a long history of entrepreneurship extending several centuries into the
pre-colonial period. This is evidenced by the entrepreneuralism of the prominent
Dantata family based in northern Nigeria. This paper examines Nigerian Muslim
entrepreneurship from the 1960s to the 1990s. It focuses on Muslim capital
accumulation, as well as business organization and management. In exploring the
trajectory of Muslim private enterprise in Nigeria, the paper discusses both
entrepreneurial success and challenges. Furthermore, the paper situates Nigerian
Muslim entrepreneurship within the broad comparative framework of Muslim private
enterprise in post-colonial West Africa.
Topic: Towards the 21st Century: History and Political Change in Nigeria.
Nigeria, since its independence has been in search of political and economic transformation, without success. Societies in the Nigerian area have experienced great transformations in their political, economic and cultural organization and ideas in the past. The socio-economic conditions underpinning such changes, as well as the responsible agency are usually very important, as shown in analyses of these changes. Thus the situation for pre-colonial Nigeria is no different from what obtains for other parts of the world. What seems to be different includes a disjuncture between past experiences and modern attempts at political transformations. Could colonialism, or perhaps, slavery and the slave trade, or imperialism be responsible for the lack of a living heritage of social and political transformation on which modern ones could build on.The character of agency that had succeeded in the past and that could succeed in transforming the current society also needs be revisited. Why has the leadership that has assumed the management of the politics and economics of Nigeria seemingly unitedly been anti-Nigeria. There is a need for answers that go beyond the usual answers of corruption, nepotism, and/or imperialism been the cause of the problem. The paper, therefore, tries to question the current or modern attempts at political transformation by reference to histories of political and social transformation in Nigeria before 1900. It seeks to determine if there is much that is relevant in the pre-colonial political history of Nigeria and how relevant it may be to the current attempts; and to what extend there might be a need to wander afar for a heritage on which to base a Nigerian political revolution that could stand the chance of success.
Chima J. Korieh, Department of History, University of Toronto
Engendering Nigerian Agricultural Development: Historical Perspectives
Throughout the colonial era and most of the post-independence era, the state invested little in women. In Nigeria as else where in Africa, colonial officials discriminated between men and women and made the former the primary target of the agricultural development policy. The result was a gendered development agenda. This paper focuses on the gendered nature of state agricultural policy and the impact on gender relations and the agricultural economy. Specifically, it considers the manner in which state policies and the neglect of women farmers in particular adversely affected agricultural development in the country. The paper highlights a number of key areas of concern for Nigeria's agricultural development in relation to gender and food security and provides an exploratory framework for discussion and analysis.
Soyinka's Rockefeller Ride
Why did Wole Soyinka return to Nigeria in 1960? What did he hope to achieve?
How did he support himself? Who helped him to reinsert himself into the Nigerian
theatrical world? These are questions it is now possible to answer by examining
documents gleaned from the files of the Rockefeller Foundation.
Nnamdi O. Madichie, Nicholas A. Alli , Sheffield Hallam University
Nigeria's Role In West Africa: who's scared of the ailing giant?
Easily the most populous country in Africa, with a powerful army and an
oil-rich economy, Nigeria has long aspired to a leadership position in the West
African sub-continent. In its role as a sub-regional growth pole, however,
smaller states in West Africa have resisted, for better or for worse, this
growing influence of the ailing giant. Nigeria is an economy in abject decay,
where ethnic and religious prejudices have found fertile ground and where most
of the population have questioned whether their country should remain as one
entity or discard the colonial borders and break apart like the worldwide
phenomenon played out in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. Yet, rather
than focus priorities on her many pressing domestic problems, Nigeria has taken
principled stands in the fierce opposition of Senegal and now Sierra Leone, over
important issues such as regional security and stability. Nevertheless, Nigeria
may not be a lone duck in this conspiracy theory of opposition as in East
Africa, Kenya suffered a similar fate in the hands of Uganda and Tanzania. This
paper argues from an optimistic point of view that in the economic and political
co-operation in West Africa, the new wave of sentiments over the fear of
Nigeria?s dominance need neither be the beginning of economic nor political
wisdom.
Timothy J. Madigan, Editorial Director, University of Rochester Press
Tai Solarin and the Mayflower School
In 1956, Tai Solarin and his wife Sheila founded a high school called The
Mayflower School, named in honor of the ship which sailed from England to
America via Amsterdam in 1620 to seek religious freedom in the New World. The
school began with sixty-nine boys and shortly thereafter began admitting girls
as well. There are now over 2000 students enrolled. The only secular school in
Nigeria, it has long numbered among the top learning institutions in the
country, and has educated Nigeria's first female engineer and more doctors and
scientists than any other school in the country. Long one of Nigeria's most
prominent social critics, Solarin (affectionately known as "Uncle Tai" to his
many admirers) was involved in human rights activism throughout his life. After
his death, his widow continued to run the school along the Enlightenment
principles he espoused. In this paper, I will give a history of the school,
discuss its educational principles, and talk about the current efforts to keep
alive the ideals of Tai Solarin.
Dr. Maxim Matusevich Drury University, Department of History and Political Science
Crying Wolf: Early Nigerian Reactions to the Soviet Union, 1960-66
The paper will explore the issue of early interaction between the independent Nigeria and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The paper is part of my larger work on the history of Nigeria-Soviet relations. At the time of Nigerian Independence the Soviet Union undertook a concerted effort to establish closer ties with the new African nation. This effort was rebuffed by the Nigerian ruling establishment during the First Republic. To better understand the dynamics of evolution of the relationship between the two countries that would come to play a very special role in Nigeria's dramatic quest for political independence, unity and economic self-sufficiency it is essential to look at this early phase of interaction, which to a large extent set the tone of Nigeria's future association with the Communist world, and shaped Nigeria's perceptions of international reality and its role in it. The paper will utilize a wide variety of Nigerian and Soviet primary sources, such as various periodicals, diplomatic correspondence, memoir literature, personal interviews, official government publications and statistical abstracts.
Patrick Mbajekwe, Department of History, American University
Thriving Peasantry, Communal Ownership, Native Administration, and Social Change: Debating Land Policy in Colonial Nigeria
Upon the establishment of colonial rule in Africa, the British (and indeed, all the other colonial powers), were deeply interested in the land question, for several reasons, ranging from labor reproduction, capitalist production, revenue generation, to power and social control. The colonial government set up several committees and commissioned several studies, some for individual colonies or protectorates, and at least one for the whole of British West Africa. Many of the committees never reported their findings, but those that did, failed to come up with satisfactory answers to the land question. In this paper, I will explore the developments and the debates of the British colonial policies relating to land in Nigeria. The paper will show that although there were extensive debates, and enormous data collected by the British about land in Nigeria throughout the colonial period, yet, they never developed consistent and coherent land policies for Nigeria. The committees, and the debates surrounding them, showed in glaring ways, the confusion and contradictions that confronted the British colonial administrators in dealing with the land question in colonial Nigeria.
Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, Ph.D., Western Illinois University
Elaloro and Cyberperformance
Beyond any other contemporary advancement in technology, electronics is foremost in helping to enhace the claim of a 'global village' in the twenty-first century. We're now in the age of 'virtual television' and 'instant internet communication' and the first world, especially the United States, seems to explore this great achievement to define the global village as its own village, a village with its Super Voice as the global voice.
This paper shall adopt Elaloro, a performance-based theoretical perspective emanating from indigenous Yoruba discourses, to show how the Yoruba community, and the Nigerian nation, has coped with the electronic age. It shall offer theoretical insights aimed at ensuring a cross-cultural performance at cyperspace, and present a global village as a world where all component communities must have their own voices.
Paul NjemanzeChairman, Pomnacon {Nigeria} Limited
The Environment and Sustainable Development in Twentieth Century Nigeria
A cursory glance at Nigeria's environment in the twentieth century reveals steady degradation of conditions. Whereas the beginning of the century was marked by balance in eco-systems and harmonious bio-diversity, the end represented a picture of a spectrum. The visible dimensions include environmental problems/disasters, weak remedial measures, and the ubiquitous ecological threats and challenges. Key environmental issues at the end of the century were soil degradation, rapid deforestation, desertification, threats to bio-diversity, and poor waste management techniques. Other issues were ozone layer depletion and global warming. Critical to policy-makers was the issue of how to get Nigeria out of the vicious circle of poverty and environmental degradation and, thus, remove "sustainable development" from the realm of utopia. The thrust of this paper, therefore, is to examine environmental policies and practices of the various Nigerian governments {colonial and post-colonial} in the light of socio-economic conditions of the populace and to offer explanation why the remedial measures proved weak. The methodology adopted here is deliberately holistic, eclectic, and interdisciplinary.
Ijeoma C. Nwajiaku ,New Bodija, Ibadan-Oyo State. Nigeria
Nigerian Female Writers and Pivotal Reconstruction
The last century is one that witnessed the birth and considerable growth of female writing in Nigeria. With the publication of Flora Nwapa's Efuru in the mid- sixties, commenced a gradual but steady evolvement of dynamic and vocal women, who sought very determinedly, to represent female experiences from the female perspective in their literary works.
Prior to this era, the Nigerian literary scene had been dominated mainly by male authors. Consequently, the women characters that were depicted in their texts were insignificant and served certain roles only in relation to the men. Patriarchal attitudes and beliefs dictated the treatment of women. Thus, male characters positioned as subjects within the narrative, dealt with the females in their lives in conformity to the oppressive tradition of a purely patriarchal society.
Nigerian women writers as well as other African women, found themselves burdened with the enormous task of revealing the true consciousness of the female in their societies. It became their responsibility to create and present women in their texts who specifically challenge the myth of the unchanging docile and naive rural woman who accepts without argument the social norms of her male oriented society. (Chukukere,1995)
This paper will seek therefore, to examine the ways in which the Nigerian female writers in particular have sought to project a true essence of the female experience and reality. It will attempt to highlight the manner in which selected writers have expertly deconstructed existing stereotyped images of the female figure in male-authored texts, while simultaneously reconstructing such images.
Finally the paper will equally focus on some Nigerian female writers who have recently gone beyond reconstructing the image of the woman in their works, to embark on making definitive statements on vital issues, pertaining to the survival of mankind as a whole. For this study, more recent writers like Promise Okekwe, Akachi Ezeigbo and Chinwe Okechukwu have been selected, and the issues raised above will be examined as they appear in their works.
Apollos O. Nwauwa, Department of History, Bowling Green State University
From Excellence to Decadence: Higher Eductaion in Nigeria Since 1960
At a public lecture in Abeokuta in August 1999, the Nobel Prize Laureate for literature, Professor Wole Soyinka, noted that Nigerian universities "have been dying piece-meal," and that they should be closed down for a while to enable the authorities address the many problems afflicting them. As he puts it, "I propose that it is time to think of closing the universities for a year or two. I insist that the period (of reflection and restitution) would not be a waste". For Soyinka to make such a somber plea, the situation must be quite critical. The enormity of the problem has eroded confidence in the country's university system. It has resulted in an unprecedented number of student dropouts, particularly by those who have been unable to contend with the unnerving effects of degeneracy such as the selling of grades by faculty, lack of library resources, attractions of quick wealth, and the growing influence of bribery/corruption on campus policies and practices. It is rather difficult to recall that on the eve of independence, Nigeria had only one university, the University College of Ibadan, which had gained international reputation as a center for academic excellence. A number of foreign scholars went to the University College for advanced studies and Ibadan graduates were proud and highly prized internationally. At independence, three other universities were established at Nsukka, Lagos and Zaria, and the tradition of excellence was maintained up to the middle of the 1980s. Even the proliferation of universities in the 1970s and 1980s did not pose any tangible threat to the standards and fortunes of higher education as Nigerian diplomas continued to be respected overseas. From the 1990s, however, the table was overturned as the universities rapidly began to crumble. The reputation of the universities and the diplomas they awarded began to come under serious question. Many factors accounted for this state of decay viz: the economic crisis of the 1980s and 1990s; criminal neglect by successive military regimes; the politicization of the university administration; moral laxity among many lecturers and students; the high level of unpreparedness of students for the challenges of higher education; the lack of direction on the part of faculty, staff, and administration; the tradition on dependency of foreign resources, etc. This paper will trace the origins of these problems and attempt to correlate them to the larger socio-political and economic framework within which these universities have existed and operated.
Ebenezer
Obadare Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics and
Political Science
Civil Society in Nigeria: Conjectures and Refutations
The emerging discourse on civil society in Nigeria is plagued by an
eerily familiar definitional muddle. In several respects, this chimes with the
global scholarly factionalism about the subject. Divided positions range from
outright denial by postmodernists, to the cautious acceptance of Marxists and
the scepticism of ‘Eurocentrists’ who reject the possibility of civil society,
the perceived outgrowth of a specifically European cultural soil, taking roots
in other social milieus. Although Gellner (1994) who equates civil society with
‘Atlantic society’, and Callaghy (1994) who dismisses the concept as ‘imported’
are commonly perceived as the arrowheads of the Eurocentric phalanx, a rigorous
survey of the literature reveals that doubts about (1) the possibility of civil
society in Africa, (read Nigeria); and (2) its utility for the elucidation of
social processes on the continent has an older ancestry (Ferguson,
1980).
Yet, a cursory survey of the literature shows that a robust response
to the doubts of sceptics is lacking. The essential dilemma, in my view, can be
summarised as follows: does civil society have an authentic intellectual history
in Nigeria, nay Africa, outside its putative western provenance? Thus far, a
rigorous and consistent answer to this vital research question has been lacking.
Nigeria being an excellent example of what Gellner referred to as a ‘segmented
society’, and therefore one in which civil society should ordinarily be unheard
of, the objective of this paper is to respond to this poser by using the country
as analytic template.
In the process, I hope to achieve two other related
objectives: first, lay bare a geography of civil society in Nigeria with an
accent on its history. Extant literature has neglected this important task.
Second, I attempt to describe actually existing civil society in Nigeria with a
view to showing to what extent it is similar to or different from its European
counterparts.
Finally, studies on civil society in Nigeria have been largely
obsessed with analysing it in relation to democratic transition and/or the
state. Again, considerable intellectual energy has been lavished on determining
whether civil society in Nigeria is ‘weak’ or ‘strong’. Conducting a critical
panoramic overview of such studies, the paper transcends this ‘dual mandate’ by
(a) looking at civil society as a locatable empirical reality and (b) exposing
the superfluity of the debate on its ‘weakness’ or ‘strength’.
Cyril I. Obi, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
Ropes of Oil: Ethnic Minority Agitation and the Spectre of National Disintegration in Nigeria
Nigeria's fragile unity as it were, remains bound by ropes of oil. Totally dependent on oil exports which are mainly sourced from the Niger Delta, a region inhabited by people of ethnic minority stock, the mix of an inequitable distribution of oil revenues, a history of ethnic minority agitation against marginalisation by a centralist federation, and the current democratic openings, pose a combustible problem with future dire consequences for the survival of a democratic, multi-ethnic Nigeria.
Since the 1990's, militant oil minority resistance groups such as Ken Saro-Wiwa's MOSOP have confronted the Nigerian federal state and the oil multinationals, especially Shell, operating in the Niger Delta. At the heart of such protests are demands for resource (oil) control, self-determination and respect for minority rights, and compensation for oil pollution.
The interface between oil politics, global business, ethnicity, the national question, and environmental rights have been rather poorly mediated by the Nigerian state, leading to the escalation of tension in the Niger Delta, fears of succession and the looming spectre of national disintegration should the ropes of oil snap in the future. Thus, Nigeria lies in the coils of the ropes of oil, prisoner to its past as well as its future.
The foregoing captures the essence of the paper, which in its concluding section examines the prospects of staving off the possibility of the break-up of the Nigerian nation-state project.
Paul Obi-Ani., Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Post-Civil War Nigeria: Reconciliation or Vendetta?
The federal Military Government of Nigeria at the end of the civil war in 1970, mouthed a propaganda slogan of 3Rs: Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of the war ravaged Igboland. But reconciliation as a process entails the appreciation by two parties that had been estranged over a period of time of the need to let bye gone be bye gone. It is the highest point of spiritual maturity and sober reflection in which both parties acknowledge the need to work harmoniously for the common good of all concerned. In post-civil war Nigeria, there were instances of vendetta, grudging welcome of the Igbo people back into the Nigeria fold, that the term reconciliation appears superficial, deceptive and a mere political gimmick. Reconciliation can only obtain among equals. But the situation at the end of the civil in which the Igbo people were worsted and all those that fought on the Biafram side were denied reinstatement into the armed forces, the civil service, public corporation could only be a vendetta exerted by the victorious federal government of General Gowon. The issue of abandoned property of the Igbo in various parts of the country exposes the hypocrisy of the doctrine of reconciliation. Reconciliation could not have taken place where some people were forced into exile. To the Igbo people that got twenty pounds (£20) at the end of the civil war and their previous bank accounts frozen, reconciliation was a far cry. When would the wounded Biafran soldiers that have continued to live on charity after thirty years of the end of the civil war be reconciled with their antagonist? It is the aim of this paper to point out missed opportunies of true reconciliation in Nigeria at the end of the civil war and of the need for the rest of Nigeria to fashion a new political contract that would be less conflict prone than obtains now.
Bennett Odunsi Jackson State University
The Police and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria; The Need for Reform
The issue of human rights violations has generated intense global discourse
since the endorsement by the United Nations (UN), of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights some fifty years ago. The resultant new world order, inspired by
the UN actions represented a moral barometer for measuring the efficacy of
government institutions in proctecting human rights abuse. This paper will
briefly examine the troubling issues of human rights abuses by the police in
Nigeria and the institutional mechanism designed to ameliorate police-citizen
distemper. The paper argues that though human right violations by police abound
in most jurisdictions throughout the world however, pace of such violations has
reched its crescendo during the various military administrations that ruled
Nigeria. The end result was the dramatic downturn in rights protection and the
escalation of repressive measurses that subjugated civil liberties. The paper
proceeds to examine the nature and pattern of rights infringement by police and
posits that police intransigence and abusive tendencies is a reflection of its
colonial heritage. It also argues that the military administration failed to
uphold the tenets of the UN charter in preserving individual liberty but rather,
contributed to the sordid deprivation of civil liberty- and that citizen*s were
comprehensively squeezed by obnoxious and repressive laws. It also finds that
the police have become the mischievous instrument of government repression,
indifferent to institutional mechanism for preserving hum,an rights privileges.
This work concludes by suggesting that repressisve measures in whatever form
negates national or inter- national covenant to advance human right causes.. The
Nigerian misfortune has aroused national and internation awareness on the
necessity for concerted effort to arrest the situation and the current
democratic administration is attempting to rectify the situation.
Onaiwu W. Ogbomo Eastern Illinois University
The Colonizers and 'The Natives': Isolation and Exclusion Practices in Colonial Nigeria
British colonial policy in Africa and elsewhere was informed by the tacit assumption that the colonized "natives" were inferior to the European colonizers. Ideologically this assumption informed the isolationist and exclusionary practices in colonized territories such as Nigeria. Following the process of pacification of the geographical expression called Nigeria, the British developed with time social and political policies which excluded and isolated Africans during the colonial period. These practices led to the establishment of institutions which furthered the racist goals of the colonial state. The institutions included prisons, leprosy settlements, infectious disease hospitals and Government Reservation Areas. Using archival sources, newspapers and colonial official documents the paper will examine the colonial mind set which informed the policies. The nature and effects of isolation and exclusion on the African population will be explored. The reactions of Africans to exclusion and restriction will also be discussed.
Akin Ogundiran, Ph.D., Florida International University
Archaeology, Historiographic Traditions, and Institutional Discourse of National Identity in Nigeria since 1930
This paper examines the impact of archaeology on historical writing and the institutional discourse of national identity in Nigeria since 1930. The study will present an intellectual history of Nigeria's archaeological practice with emphasis on the relationship between archaeological interpretations and historiographic traditions, and also between archaeological research and the political agenda for national unity and development. The study delineates four major phases in Nigeria's archaeological practice: 1930-1960, 1961-1977, 1978-1992, and 1992-2000; and examines how each period was related to the shifting paradigms and methods of historical writing and the different agendas of the national government. Using case studies of archaeological investigations in Ile-Ife, Benin, Igbo-Ukwu, Daima, and the Benue, Anambra and Cross River Valleys, the paper will consider, for example, how the institutional identities of specific ethnolinguistic and cultural groups, such as the Yoruba and the Igbo, have been constructed by emphasizing continuity between the contemporary ethnic groups and the past archaeological records. The paper will also examine how the political quest for national identity and national unity has led to the appropriation of the local archaeological finds to produce public narratives of national history through such exhibitions as Treasures of Ancient Nigeria and Nigerian Images.
Akin Ogundiran, Ph.D., Florida International University
Between the Ideology of Ethnogenesis and the Politics of Cultural
Nationalism: Looking Back, and Questioning the Making of the Yoruba
The goal of this paper is to examine the conceptual issues and the historical
referents in the debate of Yoruba ethnogenesis and the making of the Yoruba
nation. A number of scholars have noted that the idea of Yoruba nationality was
created by the British colonial hegemony through its anthropological enterprise
and its religious ideology - Christianity. Others have argued for the
transatlantic Diaspora origins of modern Yoruba identity, claiming that the
Black Nationalism in the Americas laid the foundations for the creation of the
"idea of Yoruba", especially through the Christianized Afro-Brazilian and Saro
returnees. These claims have been justified mostly by making a caricature of the
so-called popular sense of the ageless, primordial origins of Yoruba identity
rather than addressing the scholarly evidence that lead to the pre-20th century
origins of the Yoruba ethnogenesis. This study will explore the relationship
between citizenship, ethnogenesis, and nationalism in the Yoruba experience.
Historical narratives, archaeological data, and ethnographic evidence will be
presented to demonstrate that the socio-cultural repertoire of Yoruba
ethnogenesis predated the cultural nationalism of the early 20th century by
about eight centuries. The paper will argue that citizenship in city-states or
towns has been the primary unit of political identity in Yoruba region but that
this level of identity was subsumed under the ideology of a pan-regional
cultural identity into which individuals and different groups were socialized.
The articulation of this pan-regional identity is found mostly in the abstract
and tangible aspects of material culture, in religious practices, and in the
social practice of interconnection, especially in the regions that adopted
kingship institution as the order of sociopolitical relations. The paper will
therefore reverse the question from how Christian ideology, colonial modernism,
and the transatlantic Diaspora experience created the Yoruba to how the cultural
repertoire of Yoruba ethnogenesis, formed over a period of eight centuries, was
utilized in defining a new form of Yoruba cultural nationalism during the 20th
century.
Don C. Ohadike Cornell University
Education, Industrialization and Rural Poverty in Nigeria
AbstractReports about African population, its growth and distribution are
froth with contradictions that invariably lead to false conclusions and
inadequate policies. False policies lead to poor socio-economic planning and
wasteful allocation of human resources. The final results are frustration and
violence. Focusing on Nigeria, and using historical methods, this paper seeks to
demonstrate that rural poverty and urban crisis are the direct products of
Western education, industrialization, and misguided migrations. The colonial
entrepreneurs' expectation that Western education, expanding industrialization
and increased population would result in better standards of living, increased
life expectancy, and co-operation among the various Nigerian groups is yet to be
realized. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for policy
formulation that would lead to the reduction of the current levels of rural
poverty and unnecessary violence.
Ann O'Hear, independent scholar
Proposal for Paper: Dependent Status in the Twentieth Century: Continuance and Effects
This paper examines the legacy of slavery and the continuance of various forms of dependency, including pawnship and what might be called serfdom, in Nigeria from about 1900 to the 1980s. The paper discusses the social, economic, and political consequences of continued dependency. The city of Ilorin and its agricultural districts provide the major case study. Material from other parts of Nigeria is introduced for purposes of comparison, and suggestions for further research are provided.
Ann
O'Hear, Acquisitions
Editor, Humanity Books.
Proposal for Workshop: Preparing Your Manuscripts for Publication
This workshop is intended for senior graduate students in the humanities and social sciences and scholars who have recently completed the Ph.D. It introduces the process of preparing manuscripts, both book-length manuscripts and articles/chapters, for publication. It provides practical advice on submission, revision, and editing. The stylesheet for African Economic History and the "Author's Manuscript Guide" issued by the University of Rochester Press are used to illustrate the process. The Chicago and APA styles are compared, as are Nigerian/British and U.S. writing styles in general. Questions and discussion are encouraged.
Pat Uche Okpoko, Cultural Anthropologist, Department of Archeology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Three Decades After Biafra: A Critique of the Reconciliation Policy
This paper appraises the implementation of the policy of reconciliation,
rehabilitation and reconstruction, popularly referred to as the three 'RS',
proposed by General Yakubu Gowon in1970. General Gowon had in speech after the
Nigeria- Biafra Civil War of 1967-1970 stated that there were no victors nor
vanquished and subsequently announced the policy of reconciliation to bring back
the Igbo into the main stream of Nigeria polity. This paper takes a longitudinal
survey of the implementation of this policy. The issue that readily comes to
mind is the extent to which the objectives of the policy have been realised. It
is contended that three decades after the war, the Igbo are still marginalised
in political appointments as well as in the decision-making caucus of the
economy. This state of affairs negates the basic tenets of reconciliation,
rehabilitation and reconstruction.The paper proposes that the policy be
revisited. It goes further to recommend the steps, including the equitable
sharing of political and other national offices, that should be taken to redress
the problem and avert a reoccurrence of internal conflict of that
magnitude.
Taiye A. Olowe, Department of History, University of Saskatchewan
Canada's role in the Nigerian Civil War
Experts in the field of Canada's foreign policy have devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to the study of the country's foreign policy considerations to the United States and the Commonwealth body as a whole. But the laudable contributions of most of these scholars to the writing of Canada's foreign policy have often neglected the country's foreign policy considerations to the African continent. However, in the period following the independence of most African states in the 1960s, a new generation of scholars began to focus attention on Canada's foreign policy considerations to Africa. The findings of these scholars have been underlined by a common denominator. These distinguished scholars have argued, and rightly so, that Canada's foreign policy considerations to Africa during the period revolved around several factors. These scholars contended that Canada's foreign policy to the African continent was motivated by the desire to reduce its dependency on the United States. They also argued that Canadian foreign policy goals in the African continent were necessitated by the need to ensure that the Commonwealth body maintained a multi-racial structure. Furthermore, the scholars pointed out that Canada's foreign policy considerations to Africa were informed by the desire to rid the continent of any communist influence, which formed part of the Cold War policies. They also explained that Canada extended its foreign policy considerations to the African continent in the need to broaden its economic interests in an area that possessed immense economic potential. Finally, these scholars have pointed out that Canada extended its foreign aid and technical assistance to countries in Africa in order to maintain continuous contact with such states. The aim of this paper is to clearly demonstrate that although Nigeria served as a ready made ground for the furtherance of Canada's foreign policy objectives, Canada had a special interest in Nigeria. In fact, Canada exhibited a high degree of consistency in its efforts at contributing to Nigeria's overall development and well-being. A good illustration is Canada's role in the Nigerian Civil War.
Ayodeji Olukoju, University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
The Colonial Monetary System in Northern Nigeria, 1903-1939
The transition from precolonial media of exchange to the British Imperial currency system was a major event in the colonial history of Nigeria. This entailed the demonetization of indigenous currencies (such as brass rods, cowries and manillas) and foreign coinage (such as the Maria Theresa dollar) which were supplanted by British silver and the so-called subsidiary coinage, made of alloy metal.
Much has been written on currency transitions in colonial Nigeria but Northern Nigeria remains neglected in the literature. This paper, therefore, considers the process by which the precolonial currencies of Northern Nigeria were displaced by imperial coinage in the period 1903 to 1939. The vast size of the territory and the diversity of its currency systems (since the Sokoto Caliphate and the Sultanate of Borno which dominated the area in the precolonial period operated different currency systems) posed special challenges to the personnel and material resources of the colonial administration. The paper focuses on the introduction and role of silver and subsidiary (alloy) coinage in the emergent colonial economy. The debates in official and commercial circles, and the policy options considered by the colonial administration as it faced these challenges are analyzed for the light they shed on a neglected aspect of the monetary history of colonial Nigeria.
The Faulkner Blueprint and the Evolution of Agricultural Policy in Colonial Nigeria
The subject of colonial agricultural history has received some attention from scholars but the treatment is lopsided in favour of the post-World War II period. As a striking example, Tom Forrest has undertaken an admittedly detailed study of the development of agricultural policies in Nigeria from 1900 to 1978 in a 1981 book co-edited by Judith Heyer, Pepe Roberts and Gavin Williams. However, Forrest focused on the post-1940 period, to which he devoted 28 of the paper's 35 pages. Consequently, the pre-1940 period has received inadequate coverage thus leaving a gap in the literature.
This paper, therefore, fills this gap by considering debates in official circles on aspects of colonial agricultural policies in Nigeria from about 1902 to 1945. A major turning point was the presentation in 1921 of what was a veritable blueprint for agricultural development submitted by O.T. Faulkner, Nigeria's longest-serving Director of Agriculture. The essay analyzes the components of the Blueprint, examines responses to it by successive colonial governors from Clifford to Bourdillon, and highlights its significance for inter-war developments in particular and Nigeria's colonial economic history in general. The paper concludes by highlighting continuities with, and departures from, post-World War II developments highlighted by Forrest.
Paul
Onovoh (Ph.D.) Kennesaw State University
Colonial Anthologies And The Myth of Self-portraiture. Four Nigerian
Autobiographies and Autogynographies From The Twentieth Century
The effect of time on the human psyche in all situations is a phenomenon, that like time itself, can be said to be both impressing and elusive. Impressing, because experiences borne out of tragic, comic, spiritual or oppressive circumstances are comparable to budding of flowers in Spring, the plush vegetation in summer, the shedding of psychedelic leaves in Autumn, and the dormancy of seeds in Winter. It is also comparable to the rising and setting of the sun whose differences and similarities remain matters of interpretation and location. Elusive, because with the cosmic system of things, revolution of the earth around the sun, the distances between the four cardinal points and the limitlessness of the horizon, even our affiliations to inherent or dominant political ideologies, religious convictions or socio-cultural condition shimmer, flicker and fade. Our perception of time-reality hinges, tinges, and dinges. Colonial practitioners were no exception to this fact. Time was, when all of them with one voice supported the colonial policies and activities of their countries in several dispossessed countries of the world. But at the call of a single voice again, time galvanized these individuals into action, literally slapping them out of their slumber. So it is Time that makes things beautiful again or at least makes possible the making of things new and beautiful. In this study, I am going to present and discuss four self-portraitures of Nigerians as recorded in two different European anthologies of the late 1930s. The study will survey the political situation in Africa during this period, analyze the motivations for the collection and publication of the life stories as well as examine the commentaries prefacing the stories by the recorders of the anthologies. Furthermore, the study will make an individual presentation of the four personal narrations, commenting on the life exposed in the book, situating the texts in their historical and socio-cultural context. Some of the questions that one considers of prime importance given the raison d’être for the collection are as follows: Were the selected writers coerced into this Rousseauesque confession? What did the four writers say about their culture, history, spirituality and above all their individual colonial experiences? Were the recorders of the languages fluent in the languages of the interview or did they work with interpreters? What was recorded and what was trashed? Finally I will comment on the literary styles of the writers that wrote their life stories and those that were recorded. The importance and place of the self-portraiture in modern African literary discourse will also be considered.
Obinna Onwumere John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York
Transitions in the Political Structures of Igboland in Nigeria: The Case of the Warrant Chief System 1900-1929.
Following the creation of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria in 1900, the British colonial administration sought to govern Igboland through the Warrant Chief System, which mandated indigenous authority under the supervision of the British colonial administration. Accordingly, the contextual framework of the Warrant Chief System in Igboland authorized Warrant Chiefs to administer and preside over cases in the Native Courts. But when the Aba Women Riot culminated the Warrant Chief System in 1929, it dramatically showed the defects and perplexities of the system. Essentially, the historical fashion of this paper will attempt to examine the changes of the Igbo political structure during the course of Indirect Rule in Nigeria.
Chika B. Onwuekwe College of
Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies University of Saskatchewan
Militarism Versus Democratic Governance in Nigeria: Comparing the Choice of Either Martial Music or Political Inadequacies to "The Devil or The Deep Blue Sea"
Nigeria was prominent in the late 20th century for championing justice and
freedom to oppressed nations. This big brotherliness was aptly demonstrated
during the apartheid South Africa and in other freedom movements across the
African continent. However, like the biblical injunction of "physician heal
thyself", the country was unable to disentangle itself from military oppression
and dictatorship during the same period. Thus the political freedom obtained
through a negotiated independence from colonial Britain overnight became a
bitter pill for the civilian population. Rule of might rather than rule of law
was enthroned. In the process, the traditional role of the military in any
democratic society was forgotten. Rather, it was widely suggested that they be
formally involved in Nigerian politics through a constitutionally defined power
sharing arrangement. Some commentators even blame the colonial overlords for the
woes of the country under military dictatorship. This paper takes an opposite
view.
It will be argued that the Nigerian constitution was/is adequate to
check military or other unconstitutional incursions into the political, albeit
governance arena. The problem therefore is not the inadequacy or otherwise of
the existing legal legislation but in the unwillingness of the people and its
institutions to uphold the supremacy of Nigerian constitution. Other issues that
have plagued the nation since its independence and which fuels military interest
in politics, such as the none-involvement of the people in the decision-making
process, will be discussed in detail. Thus, notwithstanding the wave of
democratization sweeping across nations, chances of the military returning to
power in Nigeria is still high unless urgent steps are taken to re-orientate the
civilian population, and also address the existing imbalances in the Nigeria
polity. Top on the agenda would be the perceived oppression (as Nigerian's would
like to say "marginalization") of minorities in the country's political,
economic and social affairs. In conclusion, the paper will make suggestions on
how to pursue a lasting democracy and people-oriented governance amidst the
diversity using Canada as a model. This is in view of Canada's successes with
its Indigenous People especially in the area of land rights and control of
natural resources - two basic proprietary interests that can wreck the unity of
any country.
Traditional Institutions and the State Project in Contemporary Nigeria Since 1960
This paper examines the central problem and issues which have dominated the
debates and policy formulation on the functioning of traditional institutions in
the nation-state project in contemporary Nigeria since 1960. The main problem in
the debates has come from writers applying Western modernisation process in the
interpretation of political development in Nigeria, and of those advancing the
argument for the widening of the political space by devising a political
framework for accomodating traditional institutions in the nation-state
project.
In this paper, I advance the argument for the empowerment of traditional
institutions in order to ensure their meaningful participation in the
development process. Their relevance in the political development process to
mediate and provide effective linkages between the state and different groups in
the soicety will depend on their key roles not only in national affairs but in
their capacity to participate in stimulating economic growth and development at
the grassroot level.
Ellease Ebele Oseye, Professor of African Literature, Pace University , New York
Understanding the power of Images; This year in Nigeria
Ellease Ebele Oseye (Ellease Southerland) who has lectured at universities, libraries and museums across the country and in Nigeria, is Professor of African Literature and Creative Writing at Pace University, New York. Her interest in African literature includes the language, hieroglyphics, and literature of ancient Kemet (Egypt). This Year in Nigeria, her most recent publication, celebrates 30 years since her first return to the Motherland. She is a member of ANA, the Association of Nigerian Authors, Enugu Branch, Gwendolyn Brooks Award winner for poetry and a Fellow of the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka . Her publications include A Feast of Fools, novel, Opening Line: the Creative Writer, and the highly celebrated novel, Let the Lion Eat Straw.
Simon Ottenberg, Emeritus Professor, Anthropology, University of Washington
History of Anthropological Research in Southeastern Nigeria
The paper is a review of anthropological research in southeastern Nigeria. The first stage in the first few decades of this century involved the work of government anthropologists such as P.A. Talbot, Northcote Thomas, among others, and was characterized by the first descriptions of the cultures of the area, some of which seem naive today, though they are only record of the time.. The second stage, in the 1930's and 1940, represented the work of the missionary Basden, and government anthropologists investigating conditions in southeastern Nigeria following the Aba Riots of 1929. Scholars included are C.K. Meek, Sylvia Leith-Ross, and Margaret Green. Their researches focused on specific issues, such as the role of women in culture, or on traditional religion in order better to missionize. The third period beginning in the 1950s and going into the 1980s involved the work of professionally trained anthropologists, both Nigerian and non-Nigerian, including Richard Henderson, Simon Ottenberg, Ikenna Nzimiro and Victor Uchendu, and focused on issues that were of prime interest to anthropologists at the time. The fourth period, has seen some decline of professional anthropology in the region, although good historical work of considerable importance to anthropological thought and the study of the culture has been done by historians such as Adele Afigbo, Felicia Ekejiuba and F.K. Ekechi. Anthropological studies, with a feminist orientation by Misty Bastian and others have made their mark. Locally published interesting community histories by persons of various backgrounds, have appeared in considerable numbers at this time. Studies of problems of social change have been published-a considerable number of Nigerians on the relationships of traditional religions to Christianity-and publications on the traditional arts. Finally, suggestions for research in the future will be suggested.
Oyekan Owomoyela ,University of Nebraska,
Lincoln.
Arrow of God: Things Fall Apart Revisited
Chinua Achebe has said of his third published novel, Arrow of God, that it is
the one to which he is most drawn, and after its initial publication he has in
fact returned to it to make some changes with a view to improving its impact.
Quite evident to the attentive reader is the fact that what endears the novel to
Achebe is the drama that pits a self-righteous and strong-willed personality in
a communal society against the rest of the community, in the strong belief that
he is right and they are wrong. That summation of the plot of Arrow of God will
serve equally well for Things Fall Apart, and it seems clear that the latter
novel was in fact Achebe?s rewriting his maiden work to give it more complexity
and clarity. My paper will illustrate the similarities between the two
works.
Breaking the Rule: The Principle of Non-Intervention and the Nigerian Civil War
The principle of non-intervention in internal affairs of states has been an important feature of the international political system. African states adopted this principle when the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was established in 1963. In the early years of African independence, states tended to hold sacrosanct this principle, and it was readily invoked. During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 - 1970, Nigeria opposed OAU's interference in the crisis. At the Kinshasa summit conference of the organization in September 1967, Nigeria invoked the principle to oppose the intervention of the organization in its on-going civil war. Nigeria argued that the crisis was an internal affair outside the jurisdiction of intervention. The OAU eventually intervened in the crisis in a mediatory way. This presentation will address the dynamics of the organization's intervention in the crisis
Jonathon T. Reynolds , Northern Kentucky University
Of Pilgrimage and Politics: British Colonialism and the Hajj in the Early 20th Century
During the era of World War I and the early 1920's, the British colonial rulers of Nigeria became increasingly concerned with the need to regulate the contact of Nigerian Muslims with outsiders Muslims from other regions who were seen as a threat to the peace and security of colonial rule in Nigeria. In particular, the British recognized that the overland Hajj to Mecca played a substantial role in linking Nigerian Muslims with the wider (and, to the British, undesirable) Islamic World. Beginning in the late 1920's, the administration of Nigeria began to implement policies to both streamline and routinize the Hajj and in so doing laid the groundwork for much of the modern pilgrimage traffic that exists today between Nigeria and the Islamic Holy Land. This paper, based upon research undertaken in Nigeria and Ghana in the 1990's and 2000, will examine the development of British colonial policy towards the Hajj, the responses of the region¹s Muslim population and the long-term impacts of this interaction.
Natalie S. Robertson , Ph.D. Chair of the Department of Political Science and History, Hampton University
The Nigerian Survivors Of The Clotilda, Last Slave Ship To The United States
For the past twenty-five years, the world has been captivated by Roots. But, Haley's story is not the definitive voice for all Black Americans, nor can it, since Blacks have heterogeneous African origins. In 1860, the slaver Clotilda successfully landed the last cargo of west Africans in Alabama where they established their own community called AfricaTown, located three miles north of Mobile. Although the Clotilda Africans were sold into the trans-Atlantic slave trade by the Dahomeans, some of them originated in southwestern and central Nigeria. In addition to discussing the factors that gave rise to the voyage of the Clotilda, launched in direct violation of the United States Constitution and the Piracy Act of 1820, this trans-Atlantic slide-presentation will reveal the various ways in which the Dahomeans acquired these Nigerian captives whose geographical origins have been traced to the upper Ogun and Jos Plateau areas. Attention will also be given to the manner in which the Clotilda Africans applied their intellectual, technical, and artistic skills to survive in AfricaTown in the 19th century and the extent to which their descendants inherited and applied those west African ideas and cultural practices in the 20th century.
Mohammed Bashir Salau,Graduate History Program, York University
Disrupting the Growth of Kawo: The Nigerian Civil War and an Urban Neighborhood in Northern Nigeria
There is no doubt that the civil war was responsible for major socio-economic changes in Nigeria during the late 1960s. What does not seem fully appreciated is the extent to which these changes took place in specific urban neighborhoods of Northern Nigeria. A brief analysis of the impact of the civil war on Kawo, which is one of the most significant units of the Kaduna city in Northern Nigeria, indicates that its professional composition, coupled with its strategic location were instrumental to some of the historical developments that unfolded there. Beside other important economic impacts, the type and volume of economic commodities traded in Kawo were influenced by the civil war. Also greatly influenced by the insurgency was the ethnic character of the settlement and this had important dimensions.
Richard L. Sklar, University of California, Los Angeles
Political Origins of the Nationality Question
From the emergence of proto-political parties during the first decade of the twentieth century until the present time, Nigerians have debated the merits of two rival approaches to their national identity. One side has maintained that ethno-linguistic identity should be recognized as a main legal basis for governmental institutions; the other side has resisted that idea. Not until the 1990s, however, was the nationality question identified as such by name. Although it is frequently represented as an ethnic issue, the nationality question is first and foremost an intellectual issue. Thinkers from all ethnic groups come down on both sides of the debate. This paper begins to trace the genealogies of political groups, including continuities and discontinuities in political organization, with particular reference to their responses to the question of nationality.
Hakeem Tijani Fort Worth, Texas, Independent School District
The Colonial State and the Threat of Communism: Revisiting Nationalist Struggle in Nigeria
There is no reservation to conclude that the history of the nationalist struggle in Nigeria needs reassessment. This is partly in view of the opening of more official documents hitherto classified by both Britain and Nigeria (United States inclusive), in line with the fifty years rule on sensitive official records. More important is the dated view of prominent scholars about the role of communism in nationalist struggle during the terminal colonial period. The paper analyzes how the few communists, as well as their sympathizers, attempted to dominate nationalist and labor movements during the 1940s and the mid '50s. The ideology of communism is explained within the context of colonial movements and its adaptability by nationalists such as: Nduka Eze, Funmilayo Kuti, Akpata, Bassey, Wahab GoodLuck and others. What was their role?; How did they operate?; What international link do they have and how effective was the linkage?; What was the reaction of the British colonial government?; And what was the reaction of the emergent nationalist governments in the '50s?. The overall effect on the pace of colonial reform and final independence is analyzed.
Egodi N. Uchendu ,University of Kansas
Women in Anioma During the Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War stimulated in many people the desire to document that crisis, thereby leading to the existence of a growing corpus of literature on the incident. Nevertheless, it is still regarded as a subject of study that has not received deserving academic attention even by Nigerian scholars. Added to this, the bulk of the writings relating to the war are biased in favor of men, focusing mainly on the rationale for the war, the conduct of the war and on happenings in the area known as Biafra between May 1967 and January 1970. Little is known of how the war impacted on women especially women west of the Niger, preferably called Anioma. Two factors seem responsible for the silence among writers over the experiences of the female population of Anioma during the war. The first is the geographical location of Anioma outside the core Igbo territory (Biafra). The second derives from the assumption that because Anioma women were not involved in actual combat, they faced little or no threat from the war and had no experience worth investigating. Contrary to these assumptions and as will be shown in the paper, the civil war represented a unique ordeal and presented a horrendous challenge to Anioma women. Their experiences during the crisis varied from person to person, according to localities, and in the same manner, they responded differently to the challenges the war occassioned in their lives.
The Last Passage Rite and Women in Anioma
Rites of passage in Anioma are those numerous ceremonial events that mark the transition of any member of either gender from one social or religious status to another. Many of the important rites are concerned with the biological stages of life: birth, maturity, reproduction and death. Others celebrate changes that are wholly cultural. Of the biologicaal rites, burial rites constitute the last passage rite for men and women. With death viewed as the return of an individual to the ancestral world, the rites performed are intended to speed the dead in his/her journey to the land of spirits. The paper looks at the various rites connected with death and notes their meaning and impact on the living.
E. Ike Udogu , Department of Political Science, Francis Marion University
Liberal Democracy and Federalism in Contemporary Nigerian Politics: An Overview
In this work, I will attempt to explore liberal democracy and federalism as possible models for the new political dispensation in Nigeria. Within this framework, the objective of the study is to argue that these dogmas should be concretized in the polity in order to further good governance, and a priori any regimes legitimacy, in the federation. In pursuing this inquiry, I intend to highlight briefly the political history, and germane political issues, in the republic from independence to the new millennium, bearing in mind the contemporary discourse on the practice (or lack thereof) oftrue federalism in Nigeria.
Prof.F.Ugochukwu, Chevalier
des palmes academiques
Nigerian Literature in France - fifty years of
exploration
Since the publication of Tutuola's Palm-wine drinkard in
French translation in 1953, France has gradually come to discover and appreciate
Nigerian Literature. This paper, based on several years of research on the
subject, surveys hald a century of cultural ties. It considers and evaluates
French University research on Nigeria, looks at the areas covered by Ph.D theses
and establishes a correlation between the political scene, the development of
publications in translation and the direction of research interests on Nigeria.
It emphasises the role of publishing houses and uncovers vast areas yet
untouched with a view to encourage further research in areas like that of
literature in Nigerian languages and multilingualism.
Aribidesi Usman, PH.D, African American Studies,
Arizona State University
The state of Cultural Resource Management in
Nigeria: Problems and Suggestions
The diversities of Nigeria are reflected in climate, vegetation, natural
resources, and culture in its broadest sense. Present also are different
material culture resources in the past and present that constitute the totality
of the country?s cultural heritage. These cultural materials are formed in clay,
wood, stone, and metals. The preservation of these products of Nigeria?s
artistic creativity that started in colonial times has not achieved its intended
goals. The political instability of recent years in the country, misplaced
priorities, inadequate and non-professional personnel, finance, space, public
ignorance, and the destruction of cultural relics by construction projects
tended to limit any visible progress made so far by the bodies charged with
culture resource management in Nigeria. Cultural materials (including cultural
landscapes) are tangible links to the past, and with potential value or use both
in the present and future. The proposed paper will provide a brief history of
culture resource management in Nigeria, its importance and potentials, problems,
and recommendations.
Olufemi Vaughan SUNY, Stony Brook
Chieftaincy Structures and Democracy in Nigeria.
Drawing on the impact of chieftaincy structures on state formation in
Nigeria, the paper attempts to problematize the meaning of constitutional
democracy in a rapidly shifting political, social and economic context. Focusing
on the rapid change that engulfed Nigeria since decolonization (as expressed
through education, urbanization, bureaucratization and its integration into the
global capitalist system), this historical analysis will explore the extent in
which indigenous political structures fostered or hampered modern government
since the imposition of colonialism in the late nineteenth century. This
critical analysis of an expanding sociopolitical space that reflects adaptive
and resilient indigenous structures as the domain where communal aspirations are
expressed, will draw on official documents, newspaper articles, and scholarly
materials.The paper will seek to engage the emerging debates in Africanist
scholarship that attempt to analyze the relevance of indigenous structures for
contemporary African governance.
Shari'a and Nigerian Politics Since 1999
Since 1999 several states in Nigeria (Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina,Yobe, Niger, Kano, Jigawa, and Borno) have proclaimed Shari'a to be the governing format of law. Based upon the Quran, the Shari'a "provides an overall ethical framework for Muslims." The introduction of the Shari'a raises not just religious and ethical issues, political ones as well. Against the background of Christian-Muslim rivalries, and the intense competition for federal power between the North and South, the paper examines the complicated consequences of the introduction of the Sharia'a. Within the states where it is practiced, not not all residents are Muslims. How has the implementation of the Shari'a affected the non-Muslims? Is each state subscribing to the same form of Shari'a? Is so, why are the results so radically different? What is the long-term consequencs of the Shari'a on national politics and the lingering problems of ethnicity in Nigeria.
Nimi Wariboko New York University
Social Responsibility and Corporate Management Practice in a two-publics Economy
Unlike what obtains in the West, the Nigerian corporation faces two publics, the primordial and civic (Peter Ekeh 1990, 1975). The primordial, communal, ethnic realm is primarily moral, and the civic largely immoral. The primordial one because it recognizes the worth of his personhood and citizenship the individual feels a sense of citizenship and membership in a community. The individual is morally linked to the society and he sees his duties as moral obligations to benefit and sustain a community of which he is a member. On the other hand, the civic public primarily imposed by colonialism and its apparatus of coercion, which refused to recognize the worth or citizenship of the individual, has no moral link with the individual. The individual steadily being attacked by the state is alienated from the state and his attention focused more on the primordial public, such as the kin and ethnic group, which are independent of the state. Unlike the attitude of cooperation in the primordial realm, the attitude towards the civic realm is purely materialistic and exploitative, and the individual experiences no moral urge to give back to the civic realm in return for its benefits. In fact, the individual is obliged to draw resources from the civic public for the benefit of the primordial community. This bifurcation has not only immense implications for corporate management practice, but also poses serious questions about the proper public realm for which the modern Nigerian corporation undertakes its social responsibility. What is the social realm for the social responsibility of the Nigerian firm? Is it the same as or as discernible as the American company? What implications does this split realm has for management efficiency and economic development in a society where firms are regarded as people or extensions or externalizations of their owners.
Participants Biographical Data
Charles W. Abbott Department of Geography, University of Iowa
Hometown associations: A key factor in Nigeria's 20th century
Shari'a and States' Rights: Religion and the Resurgence of Federalism in Nigeria in the Third Republic
Dr. Akanmu Adebayo is professor of history at the Department of History and
Philosophy, Kennesaw State University, Georgia. He received his education at the
University of Ife (renamed Obafemni Awolowo University) and earned his doctorate
in economic history, focusing on fiscal federalism. He is author of Embattled
Federalism: A History of Revenue Allocation in Nigeria (1993) and co-author of
Culture, Politics and Money among the Yoruba (2000). His articles have appeared
in numerous books and refereed journals. He was assistant director of
international programs and currently coordinates the development of African and
African Diaspora Studies program at Kennesaw State University.
Wale
Adebanwi, Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
The Nigerian Press and the Idea of Nigerian Nation (1914-2001)
Wale Adebanwi teaches political science at Nigeria’s premier university, the
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, where he is also currently completing a doctoral
dissertation entitled, "The Nation as Grand Narrative: The Nigerian Press and
the Politics of Meaning". His published works include, "Clashing Cymbals: The
Nigerian Press and Narratives of the National Question", in Eghosa Osaghae and
Ebere Onwudiwe (eds.), The Management of the National Question in Nigeria,
(2001), "Rethinking Dissent: Public Intellectuals, Civic Space and Democratic
Consolidation in Nigeria", TCDS Working Papers Series, New School University,
New York (2000). June 12, 1993 Presidential Election Crisis: An Annotated
Bibliography. (forthcoming) He is a Claude Ake Memorial Fellow (Africa-America
Institute) and a Fellow of the Social Science Research Council, New York
(African Youth in a Global Age Program). He recently completed a research work
under the auspices of the AAI entitled, "Techno-Politics and The Production of
Knowledge: Democratic Activism and the Nigerian Exile". Adebanwi, who has
presented papers at major national and international conferences, worked for
many years variously as reporter, art critic, and editor in Nigerian media
houses. He is currently a part-time member of Tribune’s editorial
board.
Politics in Aesthetics: Nigerian Art as Instrument of Nation Building
Saheed A. Adejumobi, Department of Africana Studies Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Bourgeois Rebels: Decolonization and the Politics of Citizenship and Social Welfare Reform In Nigeria, 1940-1970
Saheed Adeyinka Adejumobi is an assistant professor of history in the
Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
His area of specialization includes modern African intellectual, social and
cultural history. He holds a BA and an MA from the University of Lagos, Nigeria
and the University of Oregon, respectively, and obtained his Ph.D. from the
University of Texas at Austin. He has contributed to several publications on
African history and is currently writing a book about the politics of social
reforms in western Nigeria. His forthcoming book on Ethiopia is a contribution
to the Greenwood History of Modern Nations Series.
Jacob
Adetunji USAID, G/PHN/POP/PE
Mortality trends in Nigeria in the 20th Century: Nigeria in the Course of the Epidemiologic Transition
Jacob A. Adetunji, Ph.D. (ANU), is a Demographer with post-doctoral training
and research experience at Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. He
is currently Senior Technical Advisor at the Office of Population, US Agency for
International Development (USAID), Washington DC. He was formerly Assistant
Professor at Bowling Green State University, Ohio and for a brief period a
Population Affairs Officer at the United Nations Population Division, New York.
He has a research interest in population health issues, including consequences
of HIV/AIDS and determinants of child survival. He has published on these issues
in international peer-refereed journals such as Social Science and Medicine,
International Family Planning Perspectives, Bulletin of the World Health
Organization, Genus, Journal of Biosocial Science, and African Population
Studies. His publications also include some monographs and book
chapters.
Hakim Adi, PHD, School of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Middlesex University
In the heart of the Empire: Nigerian Anti-Colonial Activity in Britain 1900-60
Hakim Adi, Ph.D. (SOAS, London University) is Senior Lecturer in African and
Black British History at Middlesex University, London, UK. He is a founder
member and currently Chair of the Black and Asian Studies Association and is the
author of West Africans in Britain 1900-60: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and
Communism (Lawrence and Wishart, 1998) and (with M. Sherwood) The 1945
Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited (New Beacon, 1995). Hakim Adi has also
published three books for children and several articles and chapters on the
history of Africans and the African Diaspora in Britain. They include: “Bandele
Omoniyi – A Neglected Nigerian Nationalist” in, African Affairs, “West African
Students in Britain 1900-1960: The Politics of Exile”, in Immigrants and
Minorities, 'The Communist Movement in West Africa', Science and Society,
“Pan-Africanism and West African Nationalism in Britain” in African Studies
Review , 'West Africans and the Communist Party in the 1950s' in Morgan, N.
Fishman, G. Andrews (eds.) Opening the Books: Essays on the Social and Cultural
History of the British Communist Party.
Michael O. Afolayan, PHD, Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin
International Migration or National Dehydration?Examining Effects of United States Diversity Lottery Visa on Nigeria as a Nation and on Educated Nigerians as Recipient Immigrants
Michael O. Afolayan, Ph.D (UW-Madison), M.A. (Yale), B.A. (University of Ife,
now Obafemi Awolowo University). Currently serves as Assistant Professor of
Education at Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Adjunct Professor of
Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Background
spreads across the fields of Education, Linguistics, and African/African
American Studies. Writings include, "Deconstructing Epistemology: The Indigenous
Language of Discourse Relating to Education in Yoruba Language" in N. Lawal (ed)
Yoruba Culture; "Concept of Indigenous Governance in Yoruba Politics: Exploring
Oral Literature to Explain the Institution of Obaship (also in N. Lawal);
"Twenty Years in the Belly of the Great Whale: My Survival in Mainstream
America" in F. Obiakor and P. Grant (eds) Foreign Born African American Males; A
Review of African Children Literature Published in North America, 1970-1990, in
Our family, Our Friend, Our World, ed. L. Miller-Lachmann; Forthcoming is his
book, with Precious O. Afolayan, titled Dialogue and dialectic: Enhancing
Minority Students’ School Achievements in the New Millennium – A Focus on
African American High School Students. Current research is on brain
drain.
Social Movements of Resistance and the Social Transformation of the
Nigerian State: Politics, Ritual and Rhetorics of the Ogoni
Movement
I am a PhD Student in the Department of Anthropology, Wayne
State University, Detroit, Michigan, with research interests on Social
Indigenous Movements of Resistance. My dissertation topic intends to emerge from
fieldwork processes that I intend to engage in among the Ogoni of the Nigerian
Niger Delta area. An ordained Catholic Priest of Nigerian origin, I have been
engaged in graduate studies at the Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan,
since 1998, attending St. Augustine Major Seminary, Jos, Nigeria for my
undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Theology from 1986-1994. I hold degrees
from the University of Ibadan (External Diploma of Religious Studies, 1992),
Bachelors of Sacred Theology (equivalent to the US Masters of Divinity) from the
Pontifical Urban University, Rome, Italy, 1994 and Masters of Arts in Cultural
Anthropology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, May 2000. Since August
2000 Doctoral Student of Cultural Anthropology/Sociology, Wayne State
University, Detroit, Michigan.My interests are Social Movements, Religion,
Development, Human Rights and the Environment. I am a published poet. Cultural
study area Caribbean, African and North American.
Raphael Agbali
I am a Professional Pharmacist currently employed with SwisPharma (Nigeria)
Limited (former Roche), as the Northern Nigeria Representative residing in
Kaduna, Nigeria. I attended the University of Jos, Nigeria holding a Bachelors
degree in Pharmacy (1997). I served as an Intern Pharmacist at the National
Specialist Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria and at the National Assembly
Clinics, Abuja (as a National Youth Corp). I am happily married to my wife,
Joy.I enjoy intellectual discourse and have wide interest in social
issues.
Augustin Agwuele , Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
Nigerian English: Reflection of a nation
Military Occupation, National Question and the Rise of Ethnic Nationalism in Nigeria
Austin Ahanotu, California State University Stanislaus
From Igbo State Union to Ohaneze: The Making of a People in Modern Nigeria
Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka. University of Kansas
Gender and Nationalism in Contemporary Nigerian Literature: A Histocritical Analysis.
Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka. Ph.D. (Literature in English). University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Currently holds joint appointment in Women's Studies Program and Theatre and Film Department, at the University of Kansas,Lawrence, KS. Also a choreographer and cultural consultant, she has served as Resident Choreographer in Theatre departments at a number of universities including Wisconsin-Madison and Emory, Atlanta. In addition to chapters in books her articles have appeared in Semiotics Journal, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Dance Research Journal and published a book on Yoruba Dance: Semiotics of Movement and Body Attitude in Communication. She is currently working on a manuscript on "Women and War Writings in Africa." She was Secretary to ASUU, Ife Branch, 1986-88 and recently served on the Board of Africa Studies Association, 1996-1999.
T.Y. Tunde-Akintunde(Mrs.), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, The Polythecnic, Ibadan, Nigeria
Nigerian Professional Women and the Conflict Between Work and Family
Dr(Mrs) T.Y. Tunde-Akintunde is a lecturer at the Dept. of Mech. Engineering, The Polytechnic,Ibadan,Nigeria She obtained her Doctoral Degree in 2000 in Agricultural Engineering and is currently involved in research on the involvment of women in the use and production of appropraite agricultural technology.She has presented a number of papers at Nigerian Conferences which include "Women involvment in the production and use of Agricultural Technology" presented at the Annual Conference of Nigerian Soceity of Agricultural Engineers,1996,Ile-Ife,Nigeria.She also has some Journal papers which includes "Performance evaluation of a roaster for groundnut and palm kernel nut",Journal Of Applied Science and Technology,U.I.,Ibadan,Nigeria.
2) B.O. Akintunde
Engr. B.O. Akintunde is a Lecturer in the Federal College of
Agriculture,Ibadan,Nigeria.He is an Agricultural Engineer with Specialisation in
crop processing.He is presently on his Doctorate degree programme at the
University of Ibadan.His area of interest is in designing appropraite technology
and has presented a number of papers in Nigerian Conferences which include "The
design and construction of a motorised cassava chipping machine" at the 2nd
International Conference of the Nigerian Institution of Agricultural
Engineers,2001,Enugu,Nigeria.He has also co-authored a number of papers which
include "Optimisation of mechanical expression process for soybean oil",(in
press),Moor Journal of Agricultural Research,I.A.R.and T.,Ibadan.
Olayemi Akinwumi, PHD, Freie Universität, Berlin
Forever in Minority: The Impact of Administrative Policies on the Borgawa Society in the Twentieth Century Nigerian History
Olayemi Akinwumi, PHD, Freie Universität, Berlin
Northern Yourba and the Struggle for Identity in the Twentieth Century Nigeria
Olayemi Akinwumi, Ph.D. (Ilorin, Nigeria), has been teaching history at University of Ilorin, Nigeria since 1989 and rose to become a senior lecturer in history in 1996. In the course of his academic career in the same university, he has won several foreign academic awards. Some of these awards include "Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst" in 1997, the prestigious German award " the Alexander von Humboldt" in 1999, and the "Europe Research Award" in 2000. He is presently on another award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He is presently utilizing the award at the " Institut für Ethnologie, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany". He has published many of his works on Inter-Group relations. Some of these works have appeared as chapters in books and as articles in journals. Some of the chapters are " Separatist Agitation in Nigerian Borgu..." edited by Elisabeth Boesen in Regards Sur Le Borgu, " and Colonial Administrative Structures and the Impact on Inter-Group Relations in Borgu" in A.A. Idrees (ed) History of Central Nigerian Region. The articles include "Princes as highway men: A Study in the phenomenon of armed banditry in the pre-colonial Borgu" in Cahier d’Africaines, Paris, "Kisra legend in a changing political context..." in History in Africa and " The Abakwariga and the Economic Transformation of the Jukun Kingdom of Wukari, Ca 1650-1900" in Nordic Journal of African Studies. His book on the colonial contest for Nigerian region 1884-1900: A History of the German participation is still in press, while the edited work (with Professor Ayo Olukoju) on the Northeast Yorubaland: Studies in the History and the culture of a frontier zone is due to be released for public consumption very soon.
R.T. Akinyele, Department of History, University of Lagos
Ethnic Minorities and Nigerian History in the Twentieth Century
R.T. Akinyele, PhD (Lagos), is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History,
and a past Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos. A member of the
International Association for Conflict Management, and editor-in-chief of the
Nigerian Journal of Inter-Group Relations, he specializes in ethnic minority
problems and conflict management. He is the author of “A Western Niger Province
or Constitutional Safeguard: The Search for an Effective Remedy to the Fears of
the Igbo West of the Niger, 1941-54,” Immigrants and Minorities, 11 (July 1992),
156-70; “Growth Pole Theory, Marginals and Minorities: States Creation in
Nigeria in a Period of Military Transition,” Asian and African Studies, 27
(1993), 293-312; “States Creation in Nigeria: The Willink Report in Retrospect,”
African Studies Review, 39 (1996), 71-94 and, most recently, “Ethnicity
Militancy and National Stability in Nigeria: A Case of the Oodua Peoples
Congress,’ African Affairs, 100 (2001), 623-640. He is currently editing a book
on Inter-Group Relations in Africa.
Yomi
Akinyeye, Department of History, University of
Lagos.
Nigeria's Defence in the Twentieth Century
Dr. Yomi Akinyeye (PhD, Lagos), Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos,
had taught at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna between 1987 and 1990. He was
a holder of the Federal Government of Nigeria scholarship and the French
Government and British Council Fellowships. He is widely published in the fields
of defence and strategic studies, and international relations. His most recent
essays include: “The Air Factor in West Africa’s Colonial Defence: A Neglected
Theme,” Itinerario: European Journal of Overseas History, 25, 1(2000); and
“Nigeria’s Defence in the Twentieth Century,” Nigerian Journal of International
Affairs, 26 (2001). Dr. Akinyeye’s major work, Guarding the Gateways: A
Comparative Study of British and French Defence Policies in West Africa,
1886-1845 will soon be published by the University of Lagos Press. He is
currently editing a forthcoming collection on Nigeria and the Wider World in the
Twentieth Century.
Constructing "darkness" to Create "light:" The Impact of Islamic Reforms on Hausaland Societies, 1770s-1860s
Lillian Ashcraft-Eason, Africana Studies & History, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
Thinking Mytho-Historically About Woyengi, the Egbema-Ijo's Goddess of Destiny
Lillian Ashcraft-Eason received the Ph.D. in history from the College of
William and Mary. She is Associate Professor of history, Director of Africana
Studies, and Co-Director of the Benin Seminar at Bowling Green State University
(Ohio). Her research focus is African-American religious history, and she is the
author of a book and journal and encyclopedia articles in this field. She has
extended her research to include African indigenous religions and is completing
a book-length study of cosmological thought among African women in the British
North American colonies.
David Aworawo, Department of History, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria.
Nigeria in World Affairs, 1960 - 2000
Dr Ademola Babalola, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Obafemi Awolowo University
Democracy and National Development in Nigeria
Nigerian Technology Policy:Wishful Thinking or Reality?
Tunde Babawale Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, University of Lagos
Nigeria and the Challenges of Nation Building in the 20th Century
Tunde Babawale is a Senior Lecturer in the Dept. of political science,
University of Lagos, Nigeria. He co-authored, The Military Factor in Nigeria,
1966-85 (1994) (with Toyin Falola and others). He edited, Re-inventing
federalism in Nigeria: Issues and Perspectives (1998) (with Kola Olufemi and
Funmi Adewumi): His published works also include: Nigeria Beyond Structural
Adjustment: Towards a Popular Democratic Development Alternative (1996)
co-edited
with Akin Fadahunsi and Devolution of Powers in a Federal State
(2000), co-edited with Bash Olasupo. He has published a number of articles and
chapters on the Nigerian political economy. These include Nigeriaís Search for
Alternatives: Notes on the limited possibilities of Democracy in the 3rd
Republic which appeared in ZAST; Adjustment policies and their impacts on Labor
ìin NAGARLOK;î From Timidity to Interventionism: Nigeriaís foreign policy
towards West Africa, 1960-86î also in ZAST. His latest article on The Rise of
Ethnic Militias, Delegitimisation of the State and the Threat to Nigerian
federalismî is to appear in West Africa Review.
Cultism and the Hope of the Nigerian Youths in Higher Institutions in the 20th century
Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, University
of Ibadan, Ibadan. Nigeria. Specializes in the Human Rights of Women and
Children. Head of Department, Private and Business Law, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan. Nigeria 1997 - 1999 and 2001 to Date Visiting Professor in International
Comparative Criminal Law and Procedure, Marquette University law School,
Milwaukee. Wisconsin. USA. Fall Semester 2001 Consultant on Human Rights issues
to many International Organizations Fellow, Salzburg Seminar Austria. Session
339 on Human Rights: An International Perspective 1996 Published more than
twenty five (25) Articles and Chapters on Criminal Law and Human Rights.They
include Sexual Offences and the Law in Nigeria: An Injustice to the Female
Adolescent in Women Behavioral Issues, The Rights of Female Criminals under the
Criminal Justice System in Nigeria in Proceedings of the Women's World '99 the
International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women Tromso Norway .Legal and
Cultural Approaches to Sexual Matters in Africa: The Cry of the Adolescent Girl
in University of Maimi International and Comparative Law Review One Year and One
Day Rule in the Law of Murder Revisited in University of Ibadan Journal of
Private and Business LawViolence against Women: A Recurring International and
Criminological Problem in Akinyele et al Proceedings of the international
Conference of the Society for International Development on the Role of Civil
Society in the Implementation and Follow up Activities of Major United Nations
Conferences
Juluette Bartlett ,University of Houston, Candidate for PHD in Literature
Nigerian Diasporic Realities: Migration to Navigate between Modernity and Tradition In Tess Onwueme's The Missing Face and Legacies
Juluette F. Bartlett is a PhD candidate in American Literature at the
University of Houston. Her particular focus is literature of diverse cultures
and women's literature. She is writing her dissertation on the works of Tess
Onwueme and will investigate the social, political, religious and economic
issues explored in several plays. Mrs. Bartlett has presented papers at many
conferences over the years and is expected to graduate in May of 2002.
Andrew E. Barnes Department of History, Arizona State University
Christianity and the Colonial State in Northern Nigeria 1900-1960
Catherine Boone Associate Professor, Department of Government University of Texas at Austin
Catherine Boone is Associate Professor of Government at the University of
Texas at Austin, where she specializes in comparative politics and political
economy. Her work on West Africa examines political determinants of
institutional development, reform, and decay. It has been funded by the Social
Science Research Council, the American Association of University Women,
Fulbright, the World Bank, and the Harvard Academy for International and Area
Studies. Prof. Boone is the author of Merchant Capital and the Roots of State
Power in Senegal, 1930-1985 (Cambridge University Press, 1992), articles
appearing in Comparative Politics, Journal of Development Studies, Comparative
Political Studies (forthcoming),World Development, African Economic History, the
African Studies Review, Africa Today (forthcoming), and the Journal of Modern
African Studies, and several book chapters. Her new book, Topographies of the
African State: Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice, is forthcoming
with Cambridge University Press.
Elizabeth
Brown-Guillory, Professor of English, University of
Houston
Navigating Taboos in Nigerian Culture: Suppression of Women's Desires in Zulu Sofola's Play
Elizabeth Brown-Guillory is a playwright, performing artist, and Professor of
English at the University of Houston (UH) where she recently won the Cooper
Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Brown-Guillory teaches graduate and undergraduate
courses in African, Caribbean, and African-American literature and American
drama She has had twelve plays produced in such places as Washington, D.C., New
York City, Los Angeles, Denver, New Orleans, and Houston. Her award-winning
plays include La Bakair, Bayou Relics, Snapshots of Broken Dolls, Mam Phyllis,
and Just a Little Mark. She has served ten years as founder/director of The
Houston Suitcase Theater (THST), a student troupe at UH that produces theater
and dance by people of color.She has published three books: Their Place on the
Stage: Black Women Playwrights in America (Greenwood Press, 1988), Wines in the
Wilderness: Plays by African-American Women from the Harlem Renaissance to the
Present (Greenwood Press, 1990) and Women of Color: Mother Daughter
Relationships in Twentieth Century Literature ( UT Press, 1996). She is
currently working on a manuscript that studies rituals in plays by African,
Caribbean, and African-American women. She is also working on a collection of
interviews to be titled Writing Beyond the Veil: Interviews with Contemporary
Women Playwrights of Color.
Sherri Canon PhD student, Ethnomusicology, University of Texas at Austin
Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe: Musical Elder and Cultural Icon for
Ibo
Migrants
Sherri Canon is a doctoral student in Ethnomusicology at the University of
Texas at Austin. Her dissertation research, beginning in the Fall 2002, will
compare the musical practices and identity negotiations of Ghanaian and
Senegalese migrant communities in Los Angeles. Last year she presented a paper,
"Covering/Uncovering Africa: Olatunji's Drums of Passion," at Pathways to
Africa's Past: A Conference on Sources and Methods in African Scholarship at the
University of Texas. Sherri Canon is also a drummer and percussionist. She has
taught the West African Drum Ensemble at the University of Texas for six
semesters, for which she received the "Outstanding TA/AI 1998-99" award for the
School of Music, and she leads a professional drum and vocal ensemble called
Afrodite.
Kassahun Checole, Publisher & President Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press
Publishing Workshop
Gloria Chuku
South Carolina State University
Women and the Complexity of Gender Relations in Nigeria:
A Historiographical Overview
Gloria Chuku, Ph.D. (UNN), teaches African history and World Civilization
from 1500 to present at South Carolina State University. She has taught in three
Nigerian colleges: Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Abia State
University, Uturu, and Imo State University, Owerri. She has also taught at the
University of Memphis, Memphis, TN. Dr. Chuku specializes in African and African
Women’s history, and gender studies. She is a recipient of many academic awards
and distinction including summer research affiliate/fellow of Center for African
Studies, University of Florida at Gainesville, USA, 2001; visiting scholar,
James S. Coleman African Studies Center, University of California at Los
Angeles, USA, 1999-2000; junior scholar, Harvard University International
Seminar on the History of the Atlantic World, 1500-1800, summer 1999; and
research scholar, Council for the Development of Economic and Social Science
Research in Africa (CODESRIA) Gender Institute, Dakar, Senegal, summer 1995. Dr.
Chuku has published many articles in journals and books including “Mary Nzimiro:
A Veritable Amazon and Merchant Princess of Igboland, Nigeria (1898-1993),”
Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia vol.11 ed. Anne Commire
& Deborah Klezmer, Waterford, CT: Yorkin Publications, 2001; “From Petty
Traders to International Merchants: A Historical Account of the Role of three
Igbo Women of Nigeria in Trade and Commerce, 1886-1979,” African Economic
History, 23(1999); “Militancy of Nigerian Women since the Colonial Period:
Evolution and Transformation,” UFAHAMU, 26, 1(1998); and “Women in the Economy
of Igboland from 1900 to 1970: A Survey,” African Economic History, 23(1995) as
well as a number of entries for the Encyclopedia of African History. She is
currently revising her Ph.D. dissertation for publication to be titled “Women
and Economic Transformation in Igboland (Nigeria), 1900-1970”.
Nigerian Anti-Military Movements in the 1990s
Mary Dillard
History, Professor, Sarah Lawrence College
The Role of Assessment in Nigerian Education
Chris Dunton, National University of Lesotho
Nigeria and the Diaspora, Solidarities and Discords : The Drama of Tess Onwueme
Chris Dunton has taught in universities in Nigeria, Libya and South Africa and is currently Professor of English at the National University of Lesotho. Amongst his publications are Wole Soyinka's Three Short Plays (Longman, 1982), Make Man Talk True: Nigerian Drama in English Since 1970 (Hans Zell, 1992) and Nigerian Theatre in English: A Critical Bibliography (Hans Zell, 1998).
Djisovi Ikukomi Eason , Bowling Green State University
Encountering Ifa with Aseda Awo Adeyefa in the Twentieth Century
Louis Djisovi Eason has studied, conducted field research in, and taught African Traditional Religions. He holds the B.A. and M.A. degrees in music and religious studies. In 1997 he received the Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, where he teaches, is Coordinator of Educational Transformation through Cultural Arts, and Co-Director of the Benin Seminar. He currently is preparing a book for publication in his specialized area of Ifa/Fa traditions among the Yoruba and Fon in West Africa and African Americans in the United States.
Toyin Falola, Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Writing Nigeria: Historiographical Phases During the 20th Century
The Yoruba Diaspora in Sierra Leone's Krio Society
C. Magbaily Fyle Ph.D (Northwestern); Professor in the African American and
African Studies Department and former Director of the Center for African Studies
at the Ohio State University. Formerly also Director of the Institute of African
Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Fourah Bay College, University of
Sierra Leone. Author of numerous books and separate pieces on Sierra Leone and
Africa, notably The History of Sierra Leone: A Concise Introduction (London,
Evans, 1981); The State and the Provision of Social Services in Sierra Leone
Since Independence (ed. Dakar, CODESRIA, 1993); Introducton to the History of
African Civilization; Volume One, Pre-colonial Africa (Lanham, MD, University
Press of America, 1999), Volume Two, Colonial and Post-Colonial Africa
(University Press of America, 2001)
The Crucial Role of the Market Women in Nigeria Between 1940 and
1960
Ibrahim Hamza ,York University
"Amirul Inglis?": Lugard and the transformation of the local aristocracy in northern Nigeria c. 1903-1918
Not "An Account Devoted Exclusively to Fact": Ruth First's Barrel of a Gun
Barbara Harlow is the Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor of English
Literature at The University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Resistance
Literature (1986), Barred: Women, Writing, and Political Detention (1992), After
Lives: Legacies of Revolutionary Writing (1996), and co-editor with Mia Carter
of Imperialism and Orientalism: A Documentary Sourcebook (1999). She is
currently working an intellectual biography of the South African activist, Ruth
First.
Ashimuneze K. Heanacho, PH.D., Prof. of Educational Philosophy & Urban Education, Lincoln University
Ethnic nationalism: The improbability of a cohesive Nigerian nation-state
Daintee Glover Jones, University of Houston, Ph.D.
Candidate in Literature
Daintee Glover Jones (Ph.D Candidate, English
Department) University of Houston. Is Program Manager of Prospect Management for
University of Houston System Office of Development Research and Adjunct English
faculty member for Tomball College. Was formerly Director of Student Affairs for
the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.Actress
and dramaturg whose research and lectures focus on works of modern African
American playwrights including August Wilson, Ntozake Shange and Suzan-Lori
Parks. She has a recently published article on playwright Myrtle Smith
Livingston in Black Drama Biographies.
Muslim Entrepreneurship in Twentieth-Century Nigeria
Topic: Towards the 21st Century: History and Political Change in Nigeria.
Chima J. Korieh, Department of History, University of Toronto
Engendering Nigerian Agricultural Development: Historical Perspectives
Chima J. Korieh, educated in Nigeria, Scandinavia, Australia and Canada is a Teaching Fellow at Hartwick College, New York. Korieh is the author of several book chapters and journal articles.
Soyinka's Rockefeller Ride
Bernth Lindfors, a Professor of English and African Literatures at The University of Texas at Austin, has written and edited a number of books on African literature and performance, including AFRICANS ON STAGE: STUDIES IN ETHNOLOGICAL SHOW BUSINESS (1999), BLACK AFRICAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH, 1992-1996 (2000), and AFRICA TALKS BACK: INTERVIEWS WITH ANGLOPHONE AFRICAN WRITERS (2002).
Nnamdi O. Madichie, Nicholas A. Alli , Sheffield Hallam University
Nigeria's Role In West Africa: who's scared of the ailing giant?
Nnamdi O. Madichie graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria in November 1995. He completed his National Service (NYSC) in October 1996 before going to the United Kingdom to futher his studies. He completed his MBA with the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom in June 1998, specialising in Market segmentation processes in the Financial Services sector. He is currently completing his Ph.D at the School of Business and Finance, Sheffield Hallam University, England. His research focuses on the critical assessment of the welfare implications of Customs Unions, exploring and assessesing the patterns and parallels of regional economic integration in general and within West africa in particular. His research seeks to show that the theories of regional economic integration, although well designed, may not have any practical relevance for economic integration in West Africa as demonstrated by the experiences of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).His publications include Regional Integration: The Last Resort in the Economic Growth Drive of West Africa. International Academy of African Business and Development (IAABD) Conference, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A. April 11-14, 2000. The Creativity of Trade Creation. International Academy of African Business and Development (IAABD) Conference. Washington DC, U.S.A. April 04-07, 2001. He is also a contributing author of International Marketing for the African Incorporated; Normalising the Absurdities. In Aiyeku J & Nwankwo S, (Eds.) (2001). Dynamics of Marketing in African Nations, Westport, CT: Quorum Books (In Press).
Nicholas Alli holds a B.A (Hons) in Planning Studies as well as postgraduate diploma in Town Planning from the Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom. He graduated in June 2000 specialising in Site Planning and Development, Urban Environmental Planning and Design, and Design Development and Evaluation. He also participated in an exchange program at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, and is currently rounding off an MA in Transport Planning and Management at the Sheffield Hallam University. Nicholas Alli is also a student member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Institute of Logistics and Transport (IOLT) both in the United Kingdom
Timothy J. Madigan, Editorial Director, University of Rochester Press
Tai Solarin and the Mayflower School
Dr. Maxim Matusevich Drury University, Department of History and Political Science
Crying Wolf: Early Nigerian Reactions to the Soviet Union, 1960-66
Maxim Matusevich, Ph.D. University of Illinois (2001)Currently Assistant
Professor of History at Drury University.Native of St. Petersburg Russia. I was
a Visiting Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in
Lagos, Nigeria (1999) and the Africa Institute in Moscow, Russia. In the past -
a free-lance foreign correspondent for such Russian dailies as "Chas Pik" and
"Nevskoye Vremya".Travelogue "Moscow-Amsterdam-Lagos" was published in
"Aktivist", # 7 (June2001). Manuscript "No Easy Row for the Russian Hoe:
Ideology and Pragmatismin Nigerian-Soviet Relations, 1960-1991" is currently
under review by AfricaWorld Press.
Patrick Mbajekwe, Department of History, American University
Thriving Peasantry, Communal Ownership, Native Administration, and Social Change: Debating Land Policy in Colonial Nigeria
Patrick Mbajekwe is presently the
African-Historian-in-Residence/Post-Doctoral Fellow at American University in
Washington, DC. His areas of research interest include the social history of
land and property in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria, African urban history,
and conflict, identity, and struggles for resource control in modern Africa. His
recent publications include, "Population, Health, and Urbanization in Early
Colonial Africa," in Toyin Falola ed., Africa: Volume 3: African History From
1885-1939, Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2001.
Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, Ph.D., Western Illinois University
Elaloro and Cyberperformance
Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, Ph.D., formally of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, now teaches African and African Diaspora Literature and Folklore at Western Illinois University, USA. Among his books are Introduction to African oral literature (1991), Ogoni's Agonies (1998), Almajiri (2001), and The People's Poet: Emerging Perspecives on Niyi Osundare (forthcoming 2002). His current research interest is on African indigenous discourse theory of *Elaloro* where he captures a concept of cultural plurality that proclaims authenticity and identity of the village, the association, and the groups within cities and urban dwellings, as against the plurality of the "cosmopolite hybridity" where smaller groups and voices are subsummed under the armpit of the "One Mighty Elegantia." He argues for a global village of the "commoner," describing commoner as a voice of a person or group, poor or rich! Commoner is used in terms of the common hummanity of persons.
Paul NjemanzeChairman, Pomnacon {Nigeria} Limited
The Environment and Sustainable Development in Twentieth Century Nigeria
Paul Obiyo Mbanaso Njemanze, Ph.D. {University of Calabar, Nigeria}
is former lecturer in the Department of History, University of Lagos, Lagos,
Nigeria. Dr. Njemanze has made contributions in research and scholarship
covering four continents and cutting across areas of specialization such as
African Diaspora History, US History, Gender Studies, the Environment, Foreign
Policy, Peace and Security, Holocaust Studies, the Exotic, African History, and
Nigerian History. Some of his recent contributions are five articles:
"Multinationals and the State"; "Environment, Conservation and Development in
Post-colonial Africa"; "Impact of the Abolition on the spread of Slavery in East
and West Africa"; "Slavery to the Eighteenth Century: Atlantic Trade: Problems
of Scale"; and "Anti-slavery Movement" in Encyclopedia of African History by
Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, London, England {forthcoming}. Other recent
publications include, "Assimilation Theory"; "African American History"; "Black
Nationalism"; "Black Power"; "Black-Jewish Alliance"; and "Civil Rights
Movement" in Affirmative Action, An Encyclopedia by Oryx Press/Greenwood
Publishing Group of the USA. Dr. Njemanze, who marked in 42nd birthday on
January 7, 2002, is presently the Chairman of POMNACON {Nigeria}
Limited.
Ijeoma C. Nwajiaku ,New Bodija, Ibadan-Oyo State. Nigeria
Nigerian Female Writers and Pivotal Reconstruction
Ijeoma C. Nwajiaku lectures in the Department of Languages at Federal
Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, Nigeria. She is currently researching for her
Ph.D at the University of Ibadan. Her interest is on very recent Nigerian Female
writing.
Apollos O. Nwauwa, Department of History, Bowling Green State University
From Excellence to Decadence: Higher Eductaion in Nigeria Since 1960
Ebenezer
Obadare Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics and
Political Science
Civil Society in Nigeria: Conjectures and Refutations
Ebenezer Obadare is a doctoral candidate in the Centre for Civil Society,
London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a Ford Foundation
International Fellow and an awardee of the Lord Dahrendorf Civil Society
Scholarships. His doctoral research compares the role of civil society in
democratic transition in Nigeria and South Africa. Until September 2001, he was
a junior faculty in the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Prior to that, he was an opposition journalist
with TEMPO, the famous scourge of military despotism in Nigeria. He has sat on
the editorial board of the Nigerian Tribune newspaper as contributing editor and
columnist. His articles and reviews have appeared in books and a number of
international journals, including Africa Development, Africa Quarterly, ISSUE: A
Journal of Opinion, Nordic Journal of African Studies and Journal of Modern
African Studies. He is presently co-editing From Nzeogwu to Abubakar, a book on
the legacy of military rule in Nigeria, with Kayode Soremekun.
Cyril I. Obi, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs
Ropes of Oil: Ethnic Minority Agitation and the Spectre of National Disintegration in Nigeria
Paul Obi-Ani., Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Post-Civil War Nigeria: Reconciliation or Vendetta?
Bennett Odunsi Jackson State University
The Police and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria; The Need for Reform
Onaiwu W. Ogbomo Eastern Illinois University
The Colonizers and 'The Natives': Isolation and Exclusion Practices in Colonial Nigeria
Onaiwu W. Ogbomo, Holds a Ph.D. in African History from Dalhousie University,
Halifax, Canada. He is currently Associate Professor of History and Director,
African American Studies at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston,
Illinois.
Akin Ogundiran, Ph.D., Florida International University
Archaeology, Historiographic Traditions, and Institutional Discourse of National Identity in Nigeria since 1930
Akin Ogundiran, Ph.D., Florida International University
Between the Ideology of Ethnogenesis and the Politics of Cultural
Nationalism: Looking Back, and Questioning the Making of the Yoruba
Don C.
Ohadike Cornell University
Education, Industrialization and Rural Poverty in Nigeria
Don Ohadike was born in Nigeria and joined the Cornell faculty in 1989
following appointments as a visiting scholar at Northwestern and Stanford
Universities. He earned a BA in history and archaeology from the University of
Nigeria in 1975 and an MA in history at the University of Birmingham, England,
in 1977. He returned to Nigeria to earn a doctorate in history from the
University of Jos in 1984, where he taught and served as history department
chair before coming to the United States in 1987. Don Ohadike is currently the
Director of the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. He
is the author of five books, including: Pan-African Culture of Resistance: A
History of Liberation Movements in Africa and the Diaspora (Binghamton: Global
Publishers, 2001), Anioma: A Social History of the Western Igbo People (Ohio
University Press, 1994), and The Ekumeku Movement (Ohio University Press, 1991).
He also wrote an introduction to Things Fall Apart, the acclaimed novel by the
African writer Chinua Achebe.
Ann O'Hear, independent scholar
Proposal for Paper: Dependent Status in the Twentieth Century: Continuance and Effects
Proposal for Workshop: Preparing Your Manuscripts for Publication
Ann O’Hear is the author of Power Relations in Nigeria: Ilorin Slaves and
Their Successors (1997) and the editor of Letters from Nigeria, 1899-1900: David
Wynford Carnegie (1992). Her research is concentrated on dependency relations
and historiography. She taught history at Kwara State College of Technology,
Ilorin, for ten years, and is now employed in publishing. She is co-editor of
the journal African Economic History.
Three Decades After Biafra: A Critique of the Reconciliation Policy
Pat Uche Okpoko, B .A. {Hons}, M.A {Ibadan}and P.H.D {Nigeria} is the
Department of Archaeology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He specializes in
cultural tourism and social impact assessment. Pat Okpoko worked for four and
half years as an ethnographer with National Museum, Lagos and an editor of a
private publishing company before joining the University of Nigeria in 1993.
Among his several articles and chapters are: ‘The Role of cultural Resources in
Tourism in Nigeria,” ‘The peoples of Lokoja” and ‘A Case for the
commercialization of Museums” three of which are in the West African Journal of
Archaeology. Others are ‘The Necessity for Anthropological Forum on
Environmental Impact Assessment,” Environmental Impact of Technology Intrusion
in Nigeria” and Culture, Environmental and Sustainable Development: An
Integrated Model Course” all in Nsukka Journal of Humanities.
Pat Okpoko is also the author of ‘The State of Cultural Resource Management
in Nigeria” in the Nigerian Heritage and ‘Socio-cultural Issues in Urban
Environmental Management in Nigeria” in Urbanization and Urban Administration in
Nigeria, edited by E.O.Ezeani.
He has co-authored a number of articles and chapters among which are
:Environmental Impact Assessment of Nkalagu Cement Factory”, Nigeria’s
Indigenous Textiles” and Faming parat5ices in Nigeria, all in the West African
Journal of “ Ar chaelogy. His co-authored books “Tourism in Nigeria” and
“Community Development Practice” are forthcoming
Taiye A. Olowe, Department of History, University of Saskatchewan
Canada's role in the Nigerian Civil War
Taiye Adetokunbo Olowe holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree from the
University of Lagos, Nigeria (1996). He also holds a Masters Degree from the
University of saskatchewan, Canada (2001). His areas of interest include: A
History Canada's Foreign Policy with African states, A History of Nigeria's
Forign Policy, Commonwealth relations, Canadian and African History.
Ayodeji Olukoju, University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
The Colonial Monetary System in Northern Nigeria, 1903-1939
The Faulkner Blueprint and the Evolution of Agricultural Policy in Colonial Nigeria
Ayodeji Olukoju (PhD, Ibadan), holder of the Japan Foundation, British
Academy, Chapman (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London), Leventis, and
Institute of Developing Economies (Tokyo) advanced Research Fellowships, is
Professor and Head, Department of History, University of Lagos. Author of
Maritime Trade, Port Development and Administration (Tokyo, 1996) and co-editor
of Nigerian Peoples and Cultures (Ibadan, 1997), and Northeast Yorubaland
(Ibadan, 1999), he has published essays on Nigerian and comparative maritime,
transport, urban, labor, business, and social history in, among others, D.
Williams (ed.), The World of Shipping (Aldershot, 1997); R. Rathbone and D.
Anderson (eds.), Africa’s Urban Past (Oxford, 2000); The Journal of Transport
History; International Journal of Maritime History; Journal of Imperial and
Commonwealth History; International Review of Social History; The Northern
Mariner/Le Marin du Nord; The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian
Association for Maritime History; Journal of African History; African Studies
Review; International Journal of African Historical Studies; Labor History
Review; Itinerario: European Journal of Overseas History; Nordic Journal of
African Studies; Indian Journal of African Studies; African Economic History;
History in Africa; and the Journal of Third World Studies. Professor Olukoju has
served on the board of African Economic History and consults for local and
international journals, and non-governmental organizations. His major
book-length manuscript on the maritime and urban history of colonial Lagos is
awaiting publication while he is currently completing a major study of
infrastructure policies and urban facilities in Lagos and Ibadan, sponsored by
the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA).
Paul
Onovoh (Ph.D.) Kennesaw State University
Colonial Anthologies And The Myth of Self-portraiture. Four Nigerian
Autobiographies and Autogynographies From The Twentieth Century
Paul Onovoh,
Ph.D. (Universitaet Bayreuth, Germany), is Adjunct Faculty for German at
Kennesaw State University. Published “Africans Tell their life stories” -
Collection of African autobiographical writings in the 1930s” (in German) and
has published several articles and chapters on African literature. They include:
The Critics revenge: Democracy and Meritocracy: Philosophical Essays And Talks
From An African Perspective in West Africa; From dawn to dusk: Folktales from
Benin (Nigeria) by Iro Eweka, in International Journal of African Historical
Studies; African Women’s Poetry by Stella and Frank Chipasula (eds.), in Palabre
(forthcoming); Modern African Litertaure, in Africa Vol 5, ed Toyin Falola
(Forhtcoming). He has also published two collections of poems Chibeze (1996) and
Bayreuth am roten Main (1998).
Obinna Onwumere John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, New York
Transitions in the Political Structures of Igboland in Nigeria: The Case of the Warrant Chief System 1900-1929.
Obinna Onwumere, B.Sc.( Hons.) (John Jay College of CriminalJustice,CUNY), is
a member of numerous associations such as the American Criminal Justice
Association, American Political Science Association, and the African Development
Institute Inc. N.Y.; interests and hobbies include soccer, cricket, football,
badminton, and volleyball. Others include reading books and journals on History,
Law, Political Science, Agriculture, Philosophy and International
Relations.
Chika B.
Onwuekwe College of Interdisciplinary
Graduate Studies University of Saskatchewan
Militarism Versus Democratic Governance in Nigeria: Comparing the Choice of Either Martial Music or Political Inadequacies to "The Devil or The Deep Blue Sea"
Chika B. Onwuekwe, LL.M (Lagos), LL.M (Sask), currently a Ph.D student at
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Chika holds a doctoral fellowship
from the Genome Prairie Canada project on intellectual property. He has
published articles and comments in various areas of Law and social issues. They
include: A Casual Vacancy on the Board – the Powers of the Board of Directors
under Nigerian Company Law, in The Company Lawyer vol. 21 No 10 (Nov./Dec.
2000); Withholding Tax in Nigeria – Administration, Problems and Prospects, in
Tax Planning International Review, vol. 27, No. 5, p. 17 (May 2000)–co-authored
with A. Ajayi; Oil Wealth, Federalism and Democracy in Nigeria (November 2001)
Issue 2 No. 1 of Federations –published by Forum of Federations, an
International Network of Federalism, Ottawa, Canada, available online:
<http://www.ciff.on.ca/Publications/bv2n1/bri.htm>; and The [Nigerian] Law
School Misadventure, in ThisDay (31 October 1999). He is also a
book
reviewer for the International Commercial and Company Law Review (ICCLR)
published by Sweet & Maxwell, London, and the International Business Lawyer
Journal published by the international Bar Association (IBA).
Traditional Institutions and the State Project in Contemporary Nigeria Since 1960
Osarhieme Benson Osadolor, PhD (Hamburg, 2001) in African History, was a
lecturer at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria). His research interests include
the history of Benin Kingdom and Empire, comparative historiography, the African
Diaspora, and the military history of Africa. His recent publication is
"Intricacies of Great Past: A Survey of the Non-Academic Historiography of
Benin" In: Axel Harneit-Sievers (ed.) A Place in the World: New Local
Historiographies from Africa and South Asia. Leiden, Boston and Köln: Brill,
2002, pp.111-134.
Ellease Ebele Oseye, Professor of African Literature, Pace University , New York
Understanding the power of Images; This year in Nigeria
Ellease Ebele Oseye (Ellease Southerland), Gwendolyn Brooks Award winner, author of Let the Lion Eat Straw, and A Feast of Fools, novels, is Professor of African Literature and Creative Writing. Her memoir, This Year in Nigeria, celebrates 30 years since her first return to the Motherland. She teaches at Pace University, New York.
Simon Ottenberg, Emeritus Professor, Anthropology, University of Washington
History of Anthropological Research in Southeastern Nigeria
Simon Ottenberg, PhD, anthropology (Northwestern), Emeritus Professor,
Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle. He carried out field research
among the Igbo of Afikpo in 1952-1953, 1959-1960, with subsequent short trips
until 1995. He also has done research in 1960 at Abakaliki Division in Nigeria,
and in 1978-1980 among the Limba of northern Sierra Leone.
He is the author of four books on the Afikpo, all published by the University
of Washington Press: Double Descent in an African Society (1968), Leadership and
Authority in an African Society (1971), The Masked Rituals of Afikpo (1975), and
Boyhood Rituals in an African Society(1989). In the 1990s he carried out
research on the contemporary artists at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and
published New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group
(Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997) to accompany an exhibition on this topic
that he curated at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
He has also edited the proceedings of a symposium held in conjunction with that
exhibition, The Nsukka Artists and Nigerian Contemporary Art (University of
Washington Press, forthcoming 2002). He is co-editor of a book in preparation in
children*s masquerades in Africa. He is currently working on a history of
Abakaliki Division and Town during the colonial period. He is a past president
of the African Studies Association and of the Arts Council of the African
Studies Association.
Oyekan Owomoyela ,University of Nebraska,
Lincoln.
Arrow of God: Things Fall Apart Revisited
Oyekan Owomoyela, who is the Ryan Professor of African Literature at the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, did his undergraduate studies at the University
of Ibadan before proceeding to UCLA to study Cinema for his Master of Fine Arts
degree, and Theater History for his PhD. He taught briefly at the University of
Ibadan before joining the English Department at the University of Nebraska.
Among his publications are African Literatures: An Introduction (1979), Visions
and Revisions: Essays on African Literatures and Criticism (1991), The African
Difference: Discourses on Africanity and the Relativity of Cultures (1996), and
Amos Tutuola Revisited (1999). His other
publications include several articles, and the forthcoming Culture and Customs
of Zimbabwe.
Breaking the Rule: The Principle of Non-Intervention and the Nigerian Civil War
Adebayo Oyebade holds a Ph.D. from Temple University, Philadelphia. He is an
Assistant Professor of African History at Tennessee State University at
Nashville. He has authored many book chapters on African history and articles in
scholarly journals. He is the co-editor of Africa After the Cold War: The
Changing Perspectives on Security (AWP, 1998). He has recently published an
edited volume on Nigeria, The Transformation of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of
Toyin Falola (AWP, 2002). He is currently completing a book on the United
States' strategic planning in West Africa during World War II.Dr. Oyebade has
been a recipient of Fulbright and Ford Foundation grants.
Jonathon T. Reynolds , Northern Kentucky University
Of Pilgrimage and Politics: British Colonialism and the Hajj in the Early 20th Century
Dr. Jonathan T. Reynolds received his PhD in African History from Boston University in 1995. Since the early 1990's he has traveled extensively in Nigeria and Ghana, and his research on Islam and politics during the 20th century has been supported by both Fulbright and the West African Research Association. He has presented numerous conference papers and published several journal articles on the subject. His bookertation, The Time of Politics (Zamanin Siyasa): Islam and the Politics of Legitimacy in Northern Nigeria, 1950-1966 is now in its second edition. Dr. Reynolds has taught at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Livingstone College, North Carolina (where he received the Aggrey Award for Excellence in Teaching) and is currently employed by Northern Kentucky University, where he was named Outstanding Junior Faculty for 2000-2001.
Natalie S. Robertson , Ph.D. Chair of the Department of Political Science and History, Hampton University
The Nigerian Survivors Of The Clotilda, Last Slave Ship To The United States
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Natalie S. Robertson holds an Honors
Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Detroit where she
graduated Magna Cum Laude. Subsequently, she became a Patricia Roberts Harris
Fellow at Hampton University where she received a Master of Arts degree in
Museum Studies. She obtained a second Master of Arts degree, and a Ph.D., in
American Studies from the University of Iowa. Dr. Robertson is an award-winning
scholar with research expertise and interests in Kemetic cultural history;west
African cultural history; the African diaspora; and, the trans-Atlantic slave
trade. She is the author of African American History In Trans-Atlantic
Perspective. She also conducted the research, and completed the formal
nomination, that placed Zion Poplars Baptist Church, the oldest African American
congregation in Gloucester,Virginia, on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the
National Register of Historic Places.
For conspicuous intellectual
attainment, and for enriching the lives of students at Hampton University where
she currently holds an Assistant Professorship in the Department of Political
Science and History, Dr. Natalie S. Robertson was listed in the 2000 edition of
Who's Who AmongAmerica's Teachers.
Mohammed Bashir Salau,Graduate History Program, York University
Disrupting the Growth of Kawo: The Nigerian Civil War and an Urban Neighborhood in Northern Nigeria
Mohammed Bashir Salau is a Ph.D. student in history at York University, Canada. He received his B.A from University of Jos and M.A from Ahmadu Bello University. He has presented the following conference papers "Some observations on farm slavery in 19th century Ibadan, Nigeria," and "Colonial urbanization in an African diaspora: The case of Kawo, Kaduna 1913-1960," at the Annual Conference of Canadian Association of African Studies, Université Laval, Quebec, May 28,2001 [with Olatunji Ojo] and the 7th Black in the Diaspora Student Academic Conference, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA. Feb. 24, 2001, respectively. Currently, Salau is also a research assistant at the York/UNESCO Nigerian Hinterland Project, which is a significant unit of the Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora. His research interests are in the interconnections between Nigeria and the Americas, slavery and socio-economic history of the Sokoto Caliphate and urbanization in Northern Nigeria.
Richard L. Sklar, University of California, Los Angeles
Political Origins of the Nationality Question
Richard L. Sklar is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University
of California, Los Angeles. He is a Past-President of the African Studies
Association (U.S.A.) and has taught at several universities in Africa, including
the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, the University of Zambia, and, as a
Fulbright Professor, the University of Zimbabwe. His published works include:
Nigerian Political Parties, originally published in 1963 and republished in
Nigeria in 1983; Corporate Power in an African State (Zambia), 1975; African
Crisis Areas and U.S. Foreign Policy (coedited, 1985); Postimperialism
(coauthored, 1987); African Politics and Problems in Development (coauthored,
1991); Postimperialism and World Politics (coedited, 1999); African Politics in
Postimperial Times: The Essays of Richard L. Sklar (Edited by Toyin Falola,
2002). He continues to lecture, teach, and write on politics and societal
development with particular empirical reference to Africa.
Hakeem Tijani Fort Worth, Texas, Independent School District
The Colonial State and the Threat of Communism: Revisiting Nationalist Struggle in Nigeria
Hakeem Tijani was educated at the Universities of London and Lagos. He taught
African History at Lagos State University for almost a decade. A recipient of
the prestigious Association of Commonwealth Universities Scholarship and Harry
S. Truman Institute Research Award. He is a doctoral candidate at Middlesex
University, England. He currently teach US History at Forth ISD, Texas.
Egodi N. Uchendu ,University of Kansas
Women in Anioma During the Nigerian Civil War
The Last Passage Rite and Women in Anioma
Egodi Uchendu lectures in the Department of History, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka. Her research interest is on women in Anioma, the western Igbo area. She
is presently a Fulbright Visiting Researcher in the Department of Women's
Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence.
E. Ike Udogu , Department of Political Science, Francis Marion University
Liberal Democracy and Federalism in Contemporary Nigerian Politics: An Overview
E. Ike Udogu, Ph.D. (SIU-C) is professor of political science at Francis
Marion University, Florence, South Carolina, 29501 USA. He is a Consulting
editor for Collegiate Press, San Diego, California, and also a member of its
editorial board. He was a National Endowment for Humanities Fellow at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison. He serves as the Director of Research and
Publication, African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF). He is a member of the
following professional organizations: African Studies and Research Forum,
African Studies Association, Association of Third World Studies, South Carolina
Political Science Association and International Society for the Study of
European Ideas. His areas of research interest are African politics, Ethnic
politics, Democracy and democratization, and Human rights. He has published in
Makerere Political Science Review, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal
of Developing Societies, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, IN
DEPTH: A Journal for Values and Public Policy, The Review of Black Political
Economy, Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Third World Studies, Africa
Quarterly, Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism and other journals. He is
the author of Nigeria and the Politics of Survival as a Nation-state (The Edwin
Mellen Press, 1997), editor, Democracy and Democratization in Africa: Toward the
21st Century (E. J. Brill Publishers, 1997) and The Issue of Political Ethnicity
in Africa (Ashgate Publishers, Aldershot, England, 2001). He has contributed
numerous book chapters on African politics and currently editing a volume on
Nigeria in the 21st Century. He is the recipient of the 2001 Africa Excellence
in Scholarship Award for Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship on Ethnic
Relations, Minority Rights and Peaceful Coexistence in Africa.
Prof.F.Ugochukwu, Chevalier
des palmes academiques
Nigerian Literature in France - fifty years of exploration
Francoise Parent-Ugochukwu (Ph.D. Grenoble) is a Professor of Comparative
Literature with thirty years of teaching and research experience in Higher
Education, in Nigeria (UNN), France and the UK, including several years with the
Open University. An internationally recognized French specialist of Igbo
(Nigeria) literature and culture, with research interests in Ethnolinguistics,
Francophone literature and culture and Translation, and an external collaborator
to CNRS-LLACAN, Paris, she has links with INALCO (Paris), IFRA (Nigeria) and the
Senghor Foundation in Dakar. Her publications include Igbo folktales in
translation, book chapters and refereed articles in well-known journals in
France, Belgium, Britain, Italy, USA, Canada, Australia and several African
countries. Her pioneering work in the field and her longstanding contribution to
the strengthening of cultural and educational ties between France and Nigeria
awarded her the national distinction of Chevalier des Palmes Académiques in
1994. Forthcoming publications include her French translation of the Igbo
classic Omenuko, and the bilingual Igbo-French dictionary commissioned by the
French Government and co-authored with P.Okafor. She entered the services of the
University of Central Lancashire in 1997.
Aribidesi Usman, PH.D, African American Studies,
Arizona State University
The state of Cultural Resource Management in Nigeria: Problems and Suggestions
Aribidesi Usman, Ph.D. (Arizona State University), is an Assistant Professor
of Anthropology in the Department of African American Studies at Arizona State
University, Tempe. His publications include: “Fortifications in the Northern
Periphery of Old Oyo, northcentral Yorubaland, Nigeria,” in Nyame Akuma
51(1999); “A view from the periphery: northern Yoruba villages during the Old
Oyo Empire, Nigeria,” in Journal of Field Archaeology 27 (2000); and
“State-Periphery Relations and Sociopolitical Development in Igbominaland,
North-Central Yoruba, Nigeria”, BAR International Series 993, John and Erica
Hedges, London (2001).
Olufemi
Vaughan SUNY, Stony Brook
Chieftaincy Structures and Democracy in Nigeria.
Olufemi Vaughan holds a doctorate in politics from Oxford. He is associate
professor in the departments of Africana studies and History at the State
University of New York, Stony Brook. He also serves as an associate dean at the
university's graduate school. Vaughan is the author of Nigerian Chiefs:
Traditional Power and Modern Politics, 1880s-1990s, Rochester, 2000 (winner of
the Cecil B. Currey Award), co-editor of Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth
Century Africa, Macmillan, 1993. He has published many articles on African
history and politics, some of which have appeared in African Affairs,
International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Journal of Commonwealth
and Comparative Politics, and Journal of Asian and African Studies. He is the
editor of forthcoming volumes Indigenous Political Structures and Governance in
Africa (Sefer Press, Nigeria), Indigenous Political Structures and Governance in
Nigeria (Bookcraft Press, Nigeria),and Globalism and Its Discontent: Paradoxes
of the Local and the Global (Sefer Press, Nigeria). He is completing a book
manuscript on Chiefship and Politics in Colonial and Postcolonial
Botswana.
Shari'a and Nigerian Politics Since 1999
BA Western Washington University, Bellingham Washington Currently a graduate
student at University of Texas, Austin.Concentrating on African History, and
Islam.
Nimi Wariboko New York University
Social Responsibility and Corporate Management Practice in a two-publics Economy
Nimi Wariboko is an adjunct assistant professor of Social Sciences at New York University. He also teaches ’ÄúAdvanced Mergers and Acquisitions’Äù and ’ÄúSecurity Analysis’Äù at the New York Institute of Finance. Wariboko, an independent strategy and investment-banking consultant in New York, studied at Columbia University. Since 1994 he has worked as strategy advisor to the top 20 investment banks in the world. He is the author of The New Rules of Bank Strategy In Nigeria; A Paradigm Shift (2001), The Mind of African Strategists (1997), Bank Analysis and Valuation (1994) and Financial Statement Analysis (1993). He also has written extensively on history and culture. His most recent published works include, ’ÄúA Theory of the Canoe House Corporation,’Äù AEH (1998): 26:142-171;"Capability distribution and onset of the 1869 Bonny war." NJAS (1998): 7(20): 1-27; "Counterfoil Choices in Kalabari Life Cycle." African Studies Quarterly, 3 (1) (1999): http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v3/v3i1a2.htm>http://web.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v3/v3i1a2.htm; "A Review of Entrepreneurial Ethics and Trust: Cultural Foundation and Networks in Nigerian Plastic Industry. Business History (2000) 42(4), 212-213, and ’ÄúState-Corporation Relationships: Impact on Management Practice,’Äù 289-327 in Adebayo Oyebade (ed.) The Transformation of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola (Trenton: African World Press, 2002).