Nigeria Nationhood

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1958.

An eye-opening study of why Nigeria's three dominant sub-national groups - the Hausa-Fulani of the Northern Region, the Igbo of the Eastern Region and the Yoruba of the Western Region - were collectively unable to reconcile their conflicting visions of Nigerian nationhood. This situation forced the Nigerian military to topple the government of Abubakar Tafawar Belawa within six months of Nigerian independence.

Written by Africans about Africans, this is the first thorough and truly informative analysis of the Biafran conflict.

"...sets the tone for a narrative that arouses the interest of all Nigerians who are selflessly committed to the betterment of the nation. The four chapter piece leaves no stone untumed in tracing a national history that leaves in its track, the core issues that still preoccupy our political and economic discourse, and the pathetic aftermath of alliances, intrigues and the insidious rot in the body politic, thus leading us to the assembly of a discourse that engages us in a curative narrative of the antecedents that have kept us away from our discovery of our nation."--back cover.

A methodical analysis of relations of domination and subordination through media narratives of nationhood in an African context.

This book explores how modern Nigerian fiction is rooted in writers’ understanding of their identity and perception of Nigeria as a country and home. Surveying a broad range of authors and texts, the book shows how these fictionalized representations of Nigeria reveal authentic perceptions of Nigeria’s history and culture today. Many of the lessons in these works of literature provide cautionary tales and critiques of Nigeria, as well as an examination of the lasting impact of colonialism. Furthermore, the book presents the nation as both the framework and subject of its narrative. By conducting literary analyses of Nigerian fiction with historical reference points, this work demonstrates how Nigerian literature can convey profound themes and knowledge that resonates with audiences, teaching Nigerians and non-Nigerians about the colonial and postcolonial experience. The chapters cover topics on nationhood, women’s writing, postcolonial modernity, and Nigerian literature in the digital age.