Nigeria, Nationalism, and Writing History (review)

Nigeria, Nationalism, and Writing History, authored by Toyin Falola and Saheed Aderinto, is a comprehensive analysis of the history of the societies that have constituted the Nigerian geographic region since the amalgamation of the colonial provinces of northern and southern Nigeria in 1914. The book critically engages methods, theories, and analyses that have shaped the intellectual history of modern Nigeria, especially since the nineteenth century, providing insights into the intellectual perspectives of pioneering Nigerian historians. The groundbreaking works of these historians effectively rescued the Nigerian past from the imperial distortions of Western ethnographers, writers, missionaries, explorers, and adventurers, defining nationalist historiographical perspectives in the making of Nigerian history.

The book has four broadly defined themes, which have pervaded Nigerian historical studies since the nineteenth century: the intellectual perspectives that shaped historical knowledge in Nigeria; the major areas of Nigerian historical studies, especially political, economic, social, and women's histories; the dominant works of Nigerian nationalist historiographers; and the importance of precolonial structures in configuring power relations in the Nigerian postcolony.

In the first theme, Falola and Aderinto map out the major historiographical perspectives in the production of historical knowledge in the Nigerian geographical region, especially with the consolidation of British imperial interests in the nineteenth century. Deftly analyzing methodological approaches and historiographical interpretations, they engage problematic imperial interventions that have defined the meaning of Africa in the Western imagination, especially since the eighteenth century. As African diasporic thought acquired momentum after the British abolition of Atlantic slavery starting in 1807, pan-Africanist thinkers offered redemptive intellectual replies to prevailing Western distortions of the African past. Despite cultural nationalist tendencies, pan-Africanists were not predictable propagandists. As educators, journalists, and missionaries, they envisioned a Nigerian modernist project at the dawn of the twentieth century. They were precursors to the historical scholarship that shaped the analysis of two subsequent themes: the areas of historical studies, and the Nigerian nationalist historiography.

The second theme—major areas of African historical studies—follows the convention of political, economic, social, and women's histories, with political history dominating key topics, such as colonial rule, decolonization, nationalism, and the postcolonial state. Concomitantly, economic history covers important topics, such as colonial economy, neocolonial relations, and neoliberalism. While relatively underdeveloped, social history focuses on the dynamics of communal structures in rapidly shifting colonial and postcolonial contexts. Finally, this theme provides a comprehensive overview of the scholarship on Nigerian women and gender studies.

The third theme is the analysis of the scholars who shaped Nigerian nationalist historiography—especially the Ibadan School of History—in the early decades of independence, notably J. F. Ade Ajayi, Adeile Afigbo, J. A. Atanda, Bolanle Awe, Obaro Ikime, G. O. Olusanya, and Yusufu Bala Usman. I add to this list the pathfinding works of renowned Nigerian historians Dike, Biobaku, Adeleye, Adewoye, Akinjogbin, Akintoye, Alagoa, Anene, Asiwaju, Ayandele, and Igbafe. Along with the works analyzed in the book, this nationalist historiography has had enduring effects on the intellectual consciousness of Nigerians since decolonization.

The final theme is a synthesis of how the enduring structures of Nigeria's precolonial societies have adapted to the rapidly changing political, social, and economic conditions of the postcolonial state and society. For social scientists interested in how local social structures interact with modern institutions, this analysis is indispensable.

Falola and Aderinto's book powerfully analyzes the historical processes of state and society formation in Nigeria, emphasizing penetrating insights in Nigerian political, social, economic, and religious histories. Analyzed in the context of the shifting contours of internal and external forces, with masterful engagement of methodological approaches and historiographical perspectives, this book is an historical tour de force. Its sweeping synthesis of Nigerian intellectual history is truly insightful and, in many ways, brilliant.