Description
Book SynopsisA methodical analysis of relations of domination and subordination through media narratives of nationhood in an African context. Nation as Grand Narrative offers a methodical analysis of how relations of domination and subordination are conveyed through media narratives of nationhood. Using the typical postcolonial state of Nigeria as a template andengaging with disciplines ranging from media studies, political science, and social theory to historical sociology and hermeneutics, Wale Adebanwi examines how the nation as grand narrative provides a critical interpretive lens through which competition among ethnic, ethnoregional, and ethnoreligious groups can be analyzed. Adebanwi illustrates how meaning is connected to power through ideology in the struggles enacted on the pages of the print media overdiverse issues including federalism, democracy and democratization, religion, majority-minority ethnic relations, space and territoriality, self-determination, and threat of secession. Nation as Grand Narrative will triggerfurther critical reflections on the articulation of relations of domination in the context of postcolonial grand narratives. Wale Adebanwi is associate professor of African American and African studies, University of California-Davis, and a visiting professor at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
Trade ReviewWith its recuperation of the nation as an entity, and its insistence on the reality of identity politics both as a contested terrain and as the most meaningful narrative for Nigerian press history, this book represents a significant landmark in the new African print cultures scholarship. * AFRICA *
[A] brilliant combination of the analysis of political history and the mass media in pre- and post-colonial Nigeria. The book will be suitable as resource material for students, scholars and practitioners of political science, history, mass media and discourse analysis. * JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES *
This book is an asset to anyone who desires to, as closely as possible, experience major historical events in Nigerian history. [It] is a brilliant piece of evidence that there are non-anthropological methods to unearthing deep understanding of what exists today in Nigeria. As such, the book is recommended reading not just for Nigerians and Africans, but also for the common student of politics. * PUBLIUS: THE JOURNAL OF FEDERALISM *
This is a thought-provoking book which takes a novel approach to some of the most fundamental questions facing contemporary Africa. It deserves a wide readership. * AFRICAN JOURNALISM STUDIES *
The book represents a major contribution toward understanding the immensely complex role that newspapers have played in the political history of postcolonial Africa; it provides a unique and indispensable reflection on the very specific ways in which postcolonial societies have approached democracy. * AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Nation as Grand Narrataive Interpretive Theory, Narrative, and the Politics of Meaning In Search of a Grand Narrative: The Press and the Ethno-Regional Struggle for Political Independence Hegemony and Ethno-Spatial Politics: "Nationalizing" the Capital City in the Late-Colonial Era Paper Soldiers: Narratives of Nationhood and Federalism in Pre-Civil War Nigeria Representing the Nation: Electoral Crisis and the Collapse of the Third Republic The "Fought" Republic: The Press, Ethno-Religious Conflicts, and Democratic Ethos Narratives, Territoriality, and Majority-Minority Ethnic Violence Narratives, Oil, and the Spatial Politics of Marginal Identities Conclusion: Beyond Grand Narratives Notes Bibliography Index
