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Understanding Nigeria

Understanding Nigeria. http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/africa.html. AFRICA. CONTINENT with regions (North, South, East, West) 1776-1870 : Colonized by Europe and US during last phase of colonialism 1807 : Britain abolished slave trade

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Understanding Nigeria

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  1. Understanding Nigeria http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/africa.html

  2. AFRICA • CONTINENT with regions (North, South, East, West) • 1776-1870: Colonized by Europe and US during last phase of colonialism • 1807: Britain abolished slave trade • 1834: Britain abolished slavery & established “legitimate trade” in cashcrops, turning subsistence economies into “mono crop” economies

  3. AFRICA • 1884: “Scramble for Africa” at the Berlin Conference on West Africa • 1884-1912: 5 EU nations—Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Britain ( + Spain, Belgium) sliced Africa up like a pie • Most African nations fought for and won independence from their colonizers in the mid-1900s • 1960: Nigeria became independent from Britain

  4. NIGERIA

  5. Leading up to British Colonialism • 1804: Muslim “jihad” led by Usman Dan Fodio • halted in the “middle belt” of Nigeria  • Muslims established emirs (Muslim leaders) and emirates (walled kingdoms) • 1870s: Christian missions settled in Southern Nigeria • Portuguese Catholic, British Anglican, US Baptist

  6. Nigeria’s 3 Ethnic Majorities • Northern Nigeria - Dominated by Hausa & Fulani, practiced Islam • Southeastern Nigeria - Dominated by Yoruba, practiced Christianity • Pre-colonial = centralized “state” societies • Southwestern Nigeria - Dominated by Igbo, practiced Christianity • Pre-colonial = decentralized “stateless” societies

  7. Nigeria’s Demographics Today: Flash Forward • Population: 141 million (2005 UN estimate) • 389 Ethnic groups • Hausa & Fulani: 29% Yoruba: 20% Igbo: 20% Ijaw: 6.5% Kanuri: 4% Ibibio: 3.5% Annang: 2.5% Tiv: 2.5% Efik: 2% • Muslim: 50% (mostly Sunni) Christian: 40% Indigenous: 10%

  8. British Colonialism • Colonialism: Not only system of administration but whole way of living & thinking (Frantz Fanon’s TheWretched of the Earth; Black Skin, White Masks) • 1900: Lord Lugard led successful military campaign establishing “Indirect Rule” in the North • 1914: Lugard’s “Amalgamation” of N and S Nigeria into a unified nation-state • “Backwards North” v. “Educated South”

  9. “Faced with the lack of sufficient resources and personnel, governing through ‘native’ institutions was inevitable, consequently, these institutions were modified British ideas of government to suit British purposes. This was the genesis of Indirect Rule” (Said Abubakar). • Indirect Rule: “A type of cheap government which was a façade of old institutions controlled and directed by the British” • 3 pillars: Native Courts, Native Administration, Native Treasury, & “rules” (Mamdani 1996:53)

  10. How did colonialism workIn Southeastern Nigeria? • WOMEN: British did not consider women important in politics or administration, but Igbo people did! • Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta • British gender values = women took care of home & children • Igbo women’s organizations: Association of Village Wives & Women’s Title Societies • WARRANT CHIEF SYSTEM: replaced title societies and age grades • British appointed arbitrary men to represent villages and carry out orders of the • District Officer (D.O.): young, ambitious, “literate” men (not traditional leaders)

  11. 3. ECONOMY: Subsistence-based to Cash-based • Taxation: property taxes, personal income taxes; fixed, compulsory way of counting people • Women’s objections • Already fed and educated the children • Controlled domestic sector • Counting children threatened their fertility • Cash Crops: cocoa, palm produce, kola nuts, groundnuts, rubber • used up land for subsistence crops: cassava, yams, maize • colonies economically dependent on global economic system (i.e. stock market crash of 1928)

  12. LABOR MIGRATION • people migrate to urban centers (Lagos, Ibadan) to earn wages to pay taxes • ETHNIC NATIONALISMS: different ethnic groups clustered together in new urban places • formed “unions” based on cultural, historical, political alliances • British encouraged separation to suppress resistance • RELIGION & EDUCATION • British used mission schools to “educate” Southern Nigerians: gender values, English language, Christian values, etc.

  13. Organized Resistance • Nigerians learned the “master’s tools” so that they could eventually fight the British on their own terms! • Igbo Women's War of 1929 (resistance ex.) • 1000’s of Igbo women traveled to Oloko to protest warrant chiefs’ restrictions of women’s roles in government. • Attacked 16 native courts, forced w.c. resign • “Sitting” as protest tactic: sang & danced around w.c. homes & offices & invaded their space until they would listen. • I Saw the Sky Catch Fire by T. Obinkaram Echewa

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