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University of Cape Town for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy THE NIGERIAN HISTORY MACHINE AND THE PRODUCTION OF MIDDLE BELT HISTORIOGRAPHY BY SAMAILA SULEIMAN B.A. & M.A., Bayero University Kano, 2004/2010 DISSERTATION SubmittedUniversity to the Department of Cape of Historical Town Studies University of Cape Town for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2015 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town THE NIGERIAN HISTORY MACHINE AND THE PRODUCTION OF MIDDLE BELT HISTORIOGRAPHY ABSTRACT While existing studies on Nigerian historiography cover renowned historians, major historical writings and prominent historiographical traditions, there is hardly any exploration of the institutional processes and concrete circumstances within which historical knowledge is produced. Deploying a range of sources, from in-depth personal interviews – with historians, archivists, museum curators and publishers of history texts – archival research to museum displays, this thesis examines the production of history and the socio-political tensions and conflicts associated with it in postcolonial Nigeria. Specifically, it explores the linkages between Nigerian history as a discursive practice and the institutions where historical knowledge is produced such as history departments, archives, museums and the publishers of history and scholarly texts. I see these processes as a kind of “history machine”, defined as the interconnected system of social technologies through which the Nigerian state defines the discursive limits of the nation by appropriating, packaging and relaying discrete ethnic histories as Nigerian history in specific national cultural institutions such as archives and museums. But it is not robotic or a centrally run machine. The Nigerian history machine, originally activated as a nationalist intellectual mechanism against colonialist historiography in the wake of decolonization, broke down into a multitude of regional compartments in the postcolonial period, leading to the proliferation of “extra-national” discourses in areas like the Middle Belt region. The practices of collecting, organizing, classifying, naming and appropriating discrete cultural symbols activates, as much it silences, the voices of certain communities. Each site of production strives, ostensibly, to produce Nigerian history, retaining and concealing the distinctive historical repertoires of each constituent ethnic community as they go through the history machine. In the process certain communities were ostracized to which they responded by manufacturing their local histories against the institutional representation of their pasts in History Departments, National Archives and National Museums. Through a textual analysis of the writings of historians and other scholars of Middle Belt extraction, this study posits that the textual tradition of the Middle Belt historiography is animated by a discourse of marginality and resistance to the dominant interpretations of northern Nigerian history and historiography, an epistemic struggle by the minorities to reassert their “historical patrimony” or reclaim their “historical dignity” through the creation of projects that highlight their historical past. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special gratitude to Professor Shamil Jeppie, whose penetrating questions taught me to question more deeply. I thank him especially for expanding my vision of historiography and directing me to a wide range of cutting- edge theoretical paths to reading the making of historical discourse. I would also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Andrea Brigaglia, my co-supervisor, whose valuable insights into northern Nigerian history and the dynamics of identity politics have helped tremendously in enriching the thematic and empirical focus of this thesis. To my beloved mother, wife, and children, I cannot thank you enough for your love, inspiration and patience. My gratitude is due to the following individuals: Professor Haruna Wakili, Malam Ibrahim Mu’azzam. Professor A.R. Mohammed, Professor Ibrahim Bello Kano of Bayero University Kano, Professor Aminu Isyaku Yandaki, Professor Mustafa Gwadabe, Musa Ibrahim Abba, Dr. Salisu Bala, Arewa House, whose unwavering encouragement and support, towards the completion of this thesis, has been tremendous. Your assistance in various capacities is truly appreciated. This thesis would not have been possible without the support of the Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Fellowship (SSRC) funded through the Carnegie Foundation of New York. Their generous grants and platforms for international workshops have been extremely useful for researching and completing this thesis. I am also extremely indebted to Huma, and particularly the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project, University of Cape Town, for offering me financial aid and a robust intellectual space for writing up this thesis. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Rifqah Kahn, who was always willing to respond to my queries, and for her untiring support during my stay in Cape Town. I am also indebted to Dr. Mauro Nobili of the University of Illinois, Susanna Mollins-Literas, Professor Deborah Posel, Dr. Ilana Van Wyk, Dr. Zethu Matebeni, Simbarashe Gukurume, Abubakar Sadiq Abdulkadir and Chapane Mitiua. I appreciate you all for your edifying partnership and support. I thank Bayero University Kano for giving me a three-year study leave, which enabled me to pursue this study. The curators of National Archives Kaduna, National Museums Jos, Kaduna and Makurdi, as well as Directors of research centers, deserve a special gratitude for granting me interviews and access to their valuable iii repositories. Members of staff of the History Departments of University of Jos and Benue State University, I say thank you for facilitating this intellectual endeavor with your ideas and intellectual resources. iv DECLARATION I, Samaila Suleiman, hereby declare that the work on which this thesis is based is my original work (except where acknowledgements indicate otherwise) and that neither the whole work nor any part of it has been, is being, or is to be submitted for another degree in this or any other university. I authorize the University to reproduce for the purpose of research either the whole or any portion of the contents in any manner whatsoever. Signature Date :………………………………………………. : ………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………………………i ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………….ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………….iii-iv DECLARATION………………………………………………………………………..iv TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………….vi-viii ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………………..viii-ix LIST OF MAPS ………………………………………………………………………...x LIST OF FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS…………………………………………xiii-xiii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………............1-32 THEORISING THE “HISTORY MACHINE ………………………………....4-11 THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT: NIGERIA AND THE POLITICS OF FEDERALISM……………………………………………………………….....11 -21 CONSTRUCTING THE MIDDLE BELT DISCOURSE COMMUNITY…….21-25 THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT........................................................25-29 SOURCES AND APPROACH............................................................................29-30 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS.................................................................................29-32 CHAPTER ONE……………………………………………………………………….33-74 THE NIGERIAN “HISTORY MACHINE” INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………33-35 MAPPING THE FIELD: HISTORIANS AND THEIR PROFESSION………..36-49 THE MAKING OF ARCHIVES………………………………………………..49-61 MANUFACTURING NATIONAL ANTIQUITIES AND HERITAGE……….62-70 THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION AND CURRICULUM PRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….70-74 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..74 CHAPTER TWO……………………………………………………………………….75-100 DECENTERING NIGERIAN HISTORY INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................75-76 vi FIRST RUPTURE...............................................................................................76-81 THE MIDDLE BELT AS A SECONDARY THEME OF NIGERIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………..81-83 THE ABU SCHOOL OF HISTORY…………………………………………...83-87 SECOND RUPTURE…………………………………………………………..87-93 TOWARDS MIDDLE BELT HISTORIES…………………………………….93-95 THE ALLEGIANCES OF MIDDLE BELT HISTORIANS…………………...96-99 CONCLUSION...................................................................................................99-100 CHAPTER THREE…………………………………………………………………101-136 THE MIDDLE BELT HISTORIOGRAPHY OF RESISTANCE INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………101 “UNI JOS OUR UNI JOS”: THE PLATEAU HISTORY PROJECT AND THE THRESHOLD OF MIDDLE BELT HISTORIOGRAPHY…………………..101-106 THE BENUE VALLEY PROJECT…………………………………………...106-111 WRITING WITH VENGEANCE: THE TEXTUAL TRADITION OF MIDDLE BELT HISTORIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………...111-126 HISTORY WRITING AND THE SETTLER-INDIGENE DEBATE………...126-135 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...136 CHAPTER FOUR…………………………………………………………………….137-149 DISSIDENT HISTORIES AND THE STRUGGLE FOR ARCHIVES INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………...137 THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES KADUNA……………………………………137-144 LAWYERS IN THE ARCHIVES: SETTLING LAND, CHIEFTAINCY AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES…………………………………………………………144-145 PUTTING
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