Browsing by Subject "Nigeria"

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Àjọ : a certification to promote Nigerian sustainable design
(2019-08) Yussuff, Murktarat A.; Gorman, Carma; Walker, James, M.F.A.
Why is there not more sustainable design in Nigeria? Despite being Africa’s Mecca of cultural production, and largest economy, Nigeria has the highest rates of poverty globally, along with some of the world’s worst waste issues, and is plagued by infrastructural and political challenges. Many Nigerian designers and NGOs have attempted to encourage sustainable design in Nigeria, but they have had only limited success because they have typically relied on Western models that are not a good fit with Nigerian infrastructures and culture(s). Addressing the challenge of sustainable design in Nigeria requires an incremental approach that is sensitive to Nigeria’s sociocultural and economic contexts, and that does not unrealistically expect Nigeria to change overnight. This approach must consider the limitations and challenges of the current context and find ways to encourage and support even modest gains in environmental, cultural, and social sustainability simultaneously. Àjọ is a sustainable design certification system that works toward that goal by showcasing and promoting Nigerian sustainable design. The platform takes its name from the Yoruba word àjọsepọ (to do together) and is inspired by the legacy of the grassroots cooperatives that Nigerians of the 1930s used in the face of structural obstacles in colonial Nigeria. The Àjọ certification system articulates sustainability standards for Nigeria that are not only environmentally but also culturally and socially appropriate.
Barbra O. Interview
(2022-08-02) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious Studies
This interview is with Barbra O., a master’s student in Milan, Italy who was born in Nigeria and grew up in Texas. She details navigating life as an immigrant child and the experiences that shaped her perception of community and self. She describes cultural connections, such as memories of food and family. Barbra compares her experiences in Texas with her life now in Italy.
Breaking barriers : pioneer women elite at University College, Ibadan, 1948–1960
(2017-05) Finley, Mackenzie Jean; Falola, Toyin
Between 1948 and 1960, less than one hundred women attended Nigeria’s first degree-granting university, then called University College, Ibadan. Women’s access to the school was dictated by both their class and gender. Conversely, women’s access to an elite education impacted conceptions of class and gender. In terms of class formation, the university setting reinforced the distinction between elite and the everyday woman in Nigeria. With regards to gender ideology, the colonial university became a site of epistemological confluence where women mediated multiple and shifting expectations of womanhood. This paper highlights the lives and work of some of these women pioneers at University College, Ibadan. It begins to trace the nature of the spaces in which the women operated and the people with whom they may have come into contact. These experiences and encounters shaped the lives of the women themselves, as well as impacting the nature of women’s leadership in early independent Nigeria. Ultimately, the women’s time at University College, Ibadan, facilitated a changing relationship between elite womanhood and knowledge production on the eve of Nigerian independence.
Child labor in southern Nigeria : 1880s to 1955
(2012-08) Paddock, Adam; Falola, Toyin
The dissertation evaluates changes in child labor practices in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria during the colonial period from the 1880s to the 1950s. The argument concludes that child labor was part of a socializing, educational, and survival strategy prior to colonial conquest. British policies influenced by civilizing mission ideology and indirect rule fundamentally altered the relationship between children and their families. Child labor in Nigeria's cultural context was neither completely exploitative nor beneficial, but had the capacity to affect children in both ways depending on specific circumstances. Child labor initially existed in the context of the kinship group, but during the first half of the twentieth century child labor increasingly became an independent strategy outside the confines of the kinship environment, which was a direct result of social and economic change. The research underscores the central position of child labor in the Nigerian economy and the British colonial agenda. Towards the end of colonial rule, child labor issues composed part of the anti-colonial movement as it assisted discontent elites to gain support beyond coastal cities.
Contested spaces : culture, faith, and childbirth in Nigeria, 1900-1960
(2017-05-03) Ezekwem, Ogechukwu; Falola, Toyin; Osseo-Asare, Abena; Walker, Juliet; Levine, Philippa; Chuku, Gloria
Drawing from oral traditions, colonial files, Christian missionary records, and museum artifacts, my dissertation examines the shifts from traditional midwifery to hospital births and faith-based birthing homes in colonial Nigeria. I study the interactions between these three birthing cultures and how the tensions that ensued among them shaped the reproductive sensibilities that pervaded Nigeria at independence. I analyze the moments when women became objects of the colonial medical gaze - as instruments of evangelism for missionaries and health propaganda tools for the colonial administration. I also examine the emergence of the Aladura Movement, a religious movement that developed in Western Nigeria in 1929 and culminated in the creation of birthing institutions separate from and hostile to traditional medicine and biomedicine. Through a socio-cultural lens, my dissertation highlights the use of medicine as a form of resistance and indoctrination among colonized populations. It challenges a historiographical tradition that studies traditional, biomedical, and faith-based childbirth in isolation. By evaluating these modes of childbirth jointly, it offers a comprehensive view of the religious and socio-political dynamics that molded Nigeria’s reproductive landscape, and the importance of medical pluralism in attaining a sustainable health care model. My dissertation is the first comprehensive study of midwifery in Nigeria. It offers an important historical context to the lackluster reception, especially in official circles, towards non-biomedical birthing institutions.
Forging a nation while losing a country : Igbo nationalism, ethnicity and propaganda in the Nigerian Civil War 1968-1970
(2011-08) Doron, Roy Samuel; Falola, Toyin; Okpen, Okpeh; Walker, Juliet; Boone, Catherine; Brannds, HW
This project looks at the ways the Biafran Government maintained their war machine in spite of the hopeless situation that emerged in the summer of 1968. Ojukwu’s government looked certain to topple at the beginning of the summer of 1968, yet Biafra held on and did not capitulate until nearly two years later, on 15 January 1970. The Ojukwu regime found itself in a serious predicament; how to maintain support for a war that was increasingly costly to the Igbo people, both in military terms and in the menacing face of the starvation of the civilian population. Further, the Biafran government had to not only mobilize a global public opinion campaign against the “genocidal” campaign waged against them, but also convince the world that the only option for Igbo survival was an independent Biafra. Thus it is not enough to look at the international aspects of the war, or to consider the war on a strictly domestic level. By looking at both the internal and external factors that shaped the Biafran propaganda machine and the Biafran war effort and how these efforts influenced international support and galvanized internal resolve to continue fighting, we can see how the Biafran war effort was able to last for twenty months after the fall of Port Harcourt. Recent scholarly and political work, uncovered documents, and the new plethora of memoirs on the Civil War provide us with a veritable treasure trove of data and analysis with which to study the issue of Igbo nationalism and a unique opportunity to create a new vision of secessionist conflict in Africa. This work will thus provide a step in moving away from the long accepted “Tribalism” paradigm that has so long pervaded not only the study of post-colonial Civil Wars in Africa, but more importantly, the discourse in looking at ethnicity, violence and national identity across the continent. Further, by analyzing the ways that the Biafran propaganda machine operated on a nationalist level, we can see the effects of Biafran secession on the broader Igbo national consciousness and the Igbo national movement, as well as on subsequent political movements in Nigeria.
Frontiers of need : humanitarianism and the American involvement in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970
(2014-12) McNeil, Brian E., 1982-; Lawrence, Mark Atwood; Toyin, Falola; Jeremi, Suri; Brands, H.W.; Borstelmann, Thomas
This dissertation focuses on American foreign policy toward the Nigerian Civil War, a conflict most famous for the images of starving women and children from the secessionist state of Biafra. In response to this unprecedented humanitarian crisis, more than 200 nongovernmental and voluntary organizations emerged in the United States alone, all calling for the U.S. government to intervene in the Nigerian Civil War. Despite this immense public pressure, policymakers in Washington were reluctant to violate Nigerian sovereignty and become involved in the conflict. This dissertation looks specifically at how American policymakers responded to this challenge from below and constructed a policy for the humanitarian problem that was designed above all to placate concerned citizens at home. By analyzing the American involvement in the Nigerian Civil War, this dissertation argues that the push for humanitarian intervention in the United States stemmed from a crisis of morality in American foreign relations during the 1960s. It reinterprets the 1960s as a period of moral crisis when many Americans questioned the morality of U.S. foreign policy and sought an alternative moral framework for America’s role in the world. For activists concerned about the Nigerian Civil War, humanitarian intervention represented a path for overcoming the perceived immorality of the Cold War. This dissertation, then, argues that humanitarian intervention abroad was primarily a domestic battle, one that revealed the fault lines of two competing conceptions of what should guide the future of American foreign policy.
Historicizing child wage exploitation in Nigeria
(2017-05) Agbo, Chukwuemeka Christian; Falola, Toyin
Agbo’s focus in this report is three-fold—to challenge the use of western concept of child labor in defining child work/labor in Africa, to highlight the colonial origin of child wage exploitation in Nigeria, and to examine the pervasiveness of child wage exploitation in Nigeria since the dawn of the twenty-first century. He argues that child labor in African culture differs from the western interpretation of child labor, defined as using children to make money, especially in often hazardous work environments and conditions. Agbo privileges the idea of child labor based on African cultural ideas, which sees child labor as work (domestic or otherwise), socially reserved for children as a social instrument of child training, social integration/socialization, and preparation for adult life. Using children to make money referred to in this report as child wage exploitation, in Nigeria, has its origin in the exploitive economic policies of the colonial government. Agbo argues that these policies forced child labor out of its socio-cultural boundaries, by drafting children into exploitive work environments. Prominent among these policies were; the Native House Rule Ordinance and the Roads and Creeks Proclamation of 1901 and 1903, respectively, which made labor for public purpose compulsory for all men from fifteen to fifty-five years old. To meet the demands imposed by these laws as well as social and individual/family responsibilities, the peoples of Nigeria pushed child labor beyond child education to income generation, a situation that has continued into the twenty-first century. Poverty, harsh economic condition of the country, and corruption, among other issues, are major reasons for the persistence of child wage exploitation in Nigeria. And, until these issues are tackled, the hope of a society free of commercial child workers may never be realized.
Letter to Curtis J. Hesse from H.B. Stenzel on 1943-10-26
(1943-10-26) Stenzel, Henryk B.
Letter to H.B. Stenzel from Bill A. Berggren on 1957-08-29
(1957-08-29) Berggren, William A.
Letter to H.B. Stenzel from R. Lagaaij on 1958-04-15
(1958-04-15) Lagaaij, R.
Letter to R. Lagaaij from H.B. Stenzel on 1958-08-07
(1958-08-07) Stenzel, H.B.
Letter to R.A. Reyment from H.B. Stenzel on 1961-05-12
(1961-05-12) Stenzel, Henryk B.
Letter to Robert Lagaaij from H.B. Stenzel on 1957-12-13
(1957-12-13) Stenzel, H.B.
The non-commercial objectives of national oil companies
(2015-12) McGroary, Lin; Dzienkowski, John S., 1959-; Spence, David B; Taylor, Melinda E
National oil companies (NOCs) play an important role in the international oil and gas industry; collectively NOCs control approximately 90% of worldwide oil reserves. NOC are either wholly or partially owned by their country’s government, and as such can be used as a tool to meet the government’s aims. An NOC can maximize profits, which maximizes revenues to the government, or the government can use the NOC to fulfill its non-commercial goals. This paper focuses on how non-commercial goals affect profitability and make a national oil company more susceptible to corruption. I argue that NOCs that follow non-commercial goals are less likely to be successful commercially; however there are different non-commercial goals that affect commerciality differently. NOCs that follow specific non-commercial goals, such as economic development, are also more susceptible to corruption, this is because these goals lend themselves to governments that are trying to establish political legitimacy. I look at case studies of six different countries (Saudi Arabia, China, Norway, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia), and their associated NOCs, to establish how non-commercial goals affect the NOCs. Other factors also affect the commerciality of NOCs; factors such as the legal framework of the country, and whether regulations are well established. I conclude by comparing the national oil companies and their non-commercial objectives and exploring the differences between the companies.
The resiliency of Yoruba traditional healing : 1922-1955
(2009-08) Washington-Weik, Natalie A.; Falola, Toyin; Wilson, James; Walker, Juliet; Okediji, Moyosore; Badejo, Diedre
This dissertation examines why healing among the Yoruba people remained a successful popular institution in the colonial period between 1922 and 1955. The factors that allowed the Yoruba healing system to flourish were diverse. The Yoruba’s indigenous and colonial political structures provided some outlets for continued healing practices. Additionally, the purely physical perspectives of western medical and religious competitors were unappealing to many Yoruba. Importantly, the Yoruba healers’ systematic and in-depth knowledge of medicinal remedies was attractive to patrons. Furthermore, Yoruba healers’ use of religious tools and/or the expansive use of spirituality reinforced this healing system as holistic, thus keeping the appeal of the system broad. Lastly, healers’ alliances, standards, certifications and publicity thereof bestowed greater credibility upon the system and its practitioners in an increasingly impersonal region. While changes within Yoruba healing are revealed in this study, additional objectives of this work are to: illustrate the first known history of this institution; situate Yoruba healing as a legitimate system; include female healers in this investigation of Yoruba healing; and present a normal view of an ‘alternative’ medicine. The period of 1922 to 1955 is ideal to explore because various aspects that allowed the Yoruba healing system to thrive developed during this time.
Sexualized nationalism : Lagos and the politics of illicit sexuality in colonial Nigeria, 1918-1958
(2010-05) Aderinto, Saheed Adeniyi; Falola, Toyin; Walker, Juliet; Zamora, Emilio; Afolabi, Niyi; Adesanya, Aderonke Ronke; Charumbira, Ruramisai
In my dissertation, I argue that historians of Africa have overlooked the intersection between nationalism and sexuality, despite the fact that these two themes are related. In addition, instead of focusing on the now stale paradigm which emphasizes the importance of race and class in the discourse of sexuality, I offer a revisionist idea that stresses the importance of age. Hence, I contend that the contrast between underage and adult sexuality largely informed the pattern of reformist condemnation of casual sex work in colonial Lagos. A clash between tradition (crudely defined as African traditional customs, values and ethos) and modernity (the so-called ideals of “modernization” and “civilization” imported by the British colonialists) was inevitable as the reformists vied to establish favorable legislation and combated laws that threatened their belief system and practices. What is more, debates around prostitution went beyond casual sex work to involve more complex matters such as the protection of soldiers, marriage, and cultural nationalism; the place and role of women and children in African society; and African or colonialist conception of morality/immorality. Because of the complex nature of the politics of sex in colonial Nigeria, it was effectively impossible to reach common ground on dealing with the alleged medical and social nuisance caused by prostitutes. Indeed, while the ostensible subject of the popular debate was “prostitution,” the issues contested concurred with cultural nationalism and the protection of individual and group interests. Prostitution became a camouflage for negotiating issues that threatened the social, political, and sexual ideologies and orientation of a wide range of people—Africans and Europeans alike.
The Social Value of Children: A Cross Cultural Examination of Infertility in Japan and Nigeria
(2020-05) Turner, Ilanit
We often hear about the lengths that a woman will go to hide or rid herself of an unwanted pregnancy. Rarely do we learn about the plight of the childless woman. This expository paper takes a look into the lives of infertile women in the developed and developing world using Japan and Nigeria as representative nations. In doing so, this paper analyzes the social value of children between societies. The work explores the respective causes and social consequences of infertility and the possible treatments- both orthodox Western and traditional folk- made available in each place. Japan and Nigeria’s comfortably close population sizes and infertility rates make for a compelling comparative analysis. There are significant differences in each country for causes and treatments although the overlaps are just as crucial. Many Japanese women learn too late that they are too old to carry children by the time they realize they want a family. In Nigeria, many infertile women face STDs and other infections or scarring that can otherwise be cured but they do not have access to necessary medical services. In essence, Japanese women are a day late and Nigerian women are a dollar short. Both countries have their respective types of ethnomedicine that many women turn to first. Western therapies like assisted reproductive technology (ART) are mutually perceived as a last resort. Stigma, however, remains just as caustic in both places. The role of social stigma creates a cascade of financial, medical and cultural consequences for childless women even when they seek treatment. This paper relies primarily on secondary sources including but not limited to local Japanese and Nigerian as well as international medical journals, ethnology and anthropology articles, and a few primary sources like literature and interviews from women directly experiencing infertility. The methodology of synthesizing the data is presented in a compare/contrast structure, looking at the differences and similarities between Japan and Nigeria.
Sports and the modernity of leisure in Nigeria : stadium space and the symbolisms of expressions, 1930-1980
(2015-05) Obasa, Olusegun; Falola, Toyin; Walker, Juliet E.; Denbow, James R.; Jones, Joni L.; Moore, Leonard M.; Dasylva, Ademola 0.
It is well-documented that sports appropriation is universal, though the degree varies from place to place. The emergence of sports in Nigeria provides insights into evolving construction of ethnicity, class, and gender, while simultaneously speaking to local ideas about identity and modernity. For many in Africa, sports clearly represent a passion and pleasure. Two overarching questions guide this dissertation: why were Western sports introduced to Nigeria by the colonial government and missionaries? What role did sports play in processes of identity creation, urban development and modernization in Nigeria? These questions establish the human agency involved within the creation of sporting activities and allow room for the motivations of actors. I answer these questions by examining the broad significance of sports in Nigeria through the stadium. The debates over stadium construction in advance of Nigeria’s independence revealed the ways in which sports critically shaped the conceptions of urban planning and national health in the nation. Although fifty years will be covered here, I focus more on the 1960 to 1980 period in accordance with this dissertation’s emphasis on stadium space and the modernity of leisure. This work shows how spectators used the stadium to construct patronage networks and alliances, and how the government used the stadium as a mobilizing force to legitimize their activities at the grassroots and national levels. In this dissertation, I read the stadium as a representation of power, authority and discipline—the work of architects, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists, and sports officials—and as a venue of lived experiences of spectators, who redefined the stadium in terms that, while not always their own choosing, demonstrated the incorporation of the stadium into everyday life and processes of identity formation in Nigeria. I argue that sports, and the spaces in which they unfolded, dramatically shaped society, politics and culture in Nigeria. I argue that through sport competitions, Nigeria became fixed in the national consciousness as modern.
Teachers’ knowledge of early reading development and instruction : a survey of primary grade teachers in FCT Abuja, Nigeria
(2022-07-29) White, Zainab Umar; Toste, Jessica; Clemens, Nathan; Falcomata, Terry S; Falola, Toyin
Despite investment of resources in education across Nigeria, low rates of literacy among the student population continue to remain a concern. Previous research has suggested that one critical factor related to student reading achievement is teachers’ knowledge of reading development and instruction. Thus, the current study sought to explore knowledge of early literacy development and instruction among primary grade teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria. The data used in this study were collected through a secure Qualtrics survey between January and May 2022. Following thorough screening and cleaning of the survey data, the final sample included 391 primary grade teachers (58.82% female) from both the public (53.96%) and private sectors (46.04%). Overall, knowledge of primary grade teachers in FCT Abuja, Nigeria regarding reading instruction was low, with scores ranging between 4-24 on the 40-item teacher knowledge survey (TKS). Across three sections of the TKS, participants obtained mean scores of 3.73 (SD = 1.85) on 14 items related to pedagogy, 7.29 (SD = 2.65) on 21 items tapping foundational reading skills, and 0.93 (SD = 1.00) on 5 items tapping meaning making/comprehension. Private school teachers performed higher on the TKS (M = 13.30, SD = 4.25), compared to those in public schools (M = 10.80, SD = 3.08). When measuring teachers’ perceptions and beliefs about early reading instruction, there was a high level of endorsement of all statements, both those that were supported by evidence and those that were not. Most teachers in this sample reported that English was the language in which they first learned to read (85.42%) and their secondary school instruction was in English (95.91%). Finally, regression analyses were used to examine the relative influence of teachers’ professional characteristics on TKS score. Teaching certification, years of experience, and formal coursework were not statistically significant predictors of knowledge, while participation in professional development significantly predicted teachers’ TKS scores. Findings from this study have implications for understanding the teaching workforce in Nigeria and how this may support initiatives that attempt to improve teacher training, reading instruction, and the overall educational landscape.