UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Utilitarian Pleasures: Print Culture and the Development of a Reading Public in Southwestern Nigeria A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Regan Buck Bardeen 2013 © Copyright by Regan Buck Bardeen 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Utilitarian Pleasures: The Production of Literature and the Development of a Reading Public in Southwestern Nigeria by Regan Buck Bardeen Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Edward Alpers, Co-chair Professor Andrew Apter, Co-chair Beginning with Christian missionary efforts to create a standardized Yoruba print language in the mid-nineteenth century, the Yoruba-speaking region of southwestern Nigeria was rapidly integrated into a network of print production that spanned the Atlantic Ocean. The emergence of a local reading public engendered the desire of administrative and religious stakeholder agencies to dictate the development of a print culture in southwestern Nigeria. These agencies saw their work on the production and dissemination of literature as a political and moral investment in the region, one that would pay dividends with the development of a Yoruba reading public whose worldview aligned with their own. This dissertation examines the strategies used by missionaries, philanthropists and government administrators to control how and what Nigerians read, ii from the colonial period through independent rule and up to the economic collapse of the 1980s. It argues that independent Nigerian governments echoed the desires of earlier agencies that literature be used to teach moral lessons or practical skills, with the aim being the education of a nationalized citizenry. Utilizing missionary and government archives, along with publisher interviews and library records, I show the extensive human and monetary resources invested in influencing a Nigerian reading public under both colonial and independent rule. The dissertation concludes that the readers of English and Yoruba literature who composed this localized public accepted the instructional agenda being disseminated through print and ultimately embraced the utilitarian pleasures of their books. iii The dissertation of Regan Buck Bardeen is approved. Steven Nelson Edward Alpers, Committee Co-chair Andrew Apter, Committee Co-chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv To the memory of my mom Karen Jeffrey Buck, who remains a source of strength v Table of Contents ________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT ii ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x VITA xii INTRODUCTION 1 HISTORIOGRAPHY 4 SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY 10 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 11 1 THE GOOD BOOK: RELIGION AND LITERACY IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA, 1840-1910 16 THE MISSION TO CIVILIZE 19 THE CREATION OF WRITTEN YORUBA 26 THE MAKING OF A NEW ELITE 39 LITERACY AND PRINT CULTURE 49 2 COMPOSITION BY COMMITTEE: LITERATURE AND BOOK PROVISION BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS 55 LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND TEXTBOOK PROVISION 58 THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE IN NIGERIA 71 MISSION EFFORTS EXPANDED 83 3 BOOKS FROM ABROAD: THE PROVISION OF KNOWLEDGE IN COLONIAL NIGERIA 104 BOOK PROVISION AS CULTURAL MISSION 105 GOVERNMENT READING ROOMS IN THE WESTERN REGION 113 COLONIAL LITERACY EFFORTS IN THE POST-WAR ERA 123 MISSIONS AND THE ECONOMY OF BOOKSELLING 138 4 BOOKS FOR THE MASSES: NIGERIAN READERS UNDER COLONIAL RULE 159 MASS EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT IN BOOK PROVISION 161 TASTES OF THE READING PUBLIC 178 THE EXPANSION OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY 190 BRITISH PROPAGANDA AND GOVERNMENT BOOK SUBSIDIES 198 5 PRINT CULTURE IN INDEPENDENT NIGERIA: “BOOKS ARE YOUR BEST COMPANION” 213 “TORRENTS OF BOOKS” 216 GOVERNMENT HESITANCY IN LITERATURE DEVELOPMENT 222 MULTINATIONAL PUBLISHERS 227 vi NIGERIAN PUBLISHERS 234 THE NATIONAL AND STATE LIBRARY SYSTEM 241 CONCLUSION: NIGERIAN READERS IN THE STERILE SEASON 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY 254 vii Abbreviations ________________________________________________________________________ CMS Church Missionary Society DLMS Dike Library Manuscripts Section, University of Ibadan GCA Girton College Archive, University of Cambridge LSE London School of Economics Library Special Collections NAI National Archives of Nigeria, Ibadan NAUK National Archives of the United Kingdom OA Ogunsheye Archive, Ibadan RCS Royal Commonwealth Society Library, University of Cambridge SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies Library Archives and Special Collections, University of London URSC University of Reading, Special Collections viii List of Figures ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Map of Nigeria, Western Region xiii 2. CMS Bookshop, Abeokuta 38 3. British Council Centre, Lagos 128 4. Locally Owned Bookshop, Ibadan 187 ix Acknowledgements ________________________________________________________________________ When I first entered graduate school, I read that it takes an average of 8.3 years to complete a Ph.D. in African History. Exactly 8.3 years later, I wish to thank my dissertation committee co-chairs, Edward Alpers and Andrew Apter, for guiding me with great patience and perspicacity to this endpoint. Their questions and comments challenged me to become a better historian. Committee members Ghislaine Lydon and Steven Nelson have also been invaluable in providing insightful feedback on my work and encouraging new ways of thinking about Africa and the world. Even if these scholars have tried and failed to dampen my enthusiasm for the comma and use of the passive voice, my research and this dissertation are immeasurably improved by their input. There are many other professors and staff members at UCLA whom I wish to thank. Caroline Ford served as my minor field representative on my examination committee and oversaw my first publication. I learned a great deal from Christopher Ehret about historical methods and Africa’s not so recent past. Ruby Bell-Gam provided me with useful research advice. Sheila Breeding and the UCLA African Studies Center allowed me to be part of their wonderful activities and activism. Eboni Shaw and Hadley Porter kept me from getting lost in a large department and constantly encouraged me during this long process. I am grateful for the generous financial support that I have received throughout the course of my studies. UCLA’s Department of History and International Institute provided tuition and research funding. I participated in the Fulbright-Hays Yoruba intensive language program and appreciate the work done by Tunde Akinyemi to coordinate it. The University of London’s Institute for Historical Research awarded a Mellon pre-dissertation research grant that allowed me to consult a number of vitally important archives in and around London. A Fulbright U.S. Student Research Grant from the United States Department of State gave me the gift of time – nearly a year spent in archives in Ibadan, Nigeria and traveling throughout the region. I was able to produce this dissertation using the documents I collected along the way, the interviews so graciously given and the insights gleaned from living daily with the capricious NEPA. For their assistance while I was in Nigeria, I would like to thank the University of Ibadan’s Department of History and its former Head of Department Christopher Ogbogbo, Olisa Muojama, Joseph Abiola and Jean-Luc Martineau of IFRA-Nigeria. Dr. F.A. Ogunsheye gave me access to her personal (and immaculately organized) archive and talked with me on a number of occasions about librarianship and reading books in Nigeria. Sarah Gabbert Brown was a kind friend and a quick study in the archives. Finally, I am grateful to Abigail Iheanacho and her family who welcomed me easily into their lives and gave me a home away from home. The friends who have supported me, made me laugh, listened to my endless worries and read draft after draft of my writing deserve more than a note of thanks here. But this dissertation is the most monumental thing I have accomplished, so I hope that they are happy (or more likely, relieved) to be here with me. Thanks to Dahlia Setiyawan, who made me finish this, Brad Benton, Neely Benton, Laura Foster, Lauren Acker, x Tiffany Gleason, Kierra Crago-Schneider, Diana Raesner, Naomi Taback, Heidi Hyun, John Compton and Rebecca Blue. I want to end by thanking my Buck and Bardeen families and especially my sister Ashlyn for being there, always, and expecting me to succeed. Above all, I owe my eternal gratitude to James Buck Bardeen, who sits next to me even now, checking over my bibliography at 3 a.m. He has spent much of his life watching me read, write or fly off for another around of research, but he is always willing to support me with joy and humor. These qualities have been much in demand in our small apartment ever since our twin boys, Luke and Simeon, joined us just as I was settling in to write this dissertation. I am decidedly not thanking them for assistance in finishing it … but they gave me the joy of being Mama Ibeji and they became my reason to write. My deepest appreciation to you all. xi Vita ________________________________________________________________________ 2003 B.A., History with Honors and Women’s Studies University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 2004-2005 Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship University of Ghana Legon, Ghana 2007-2009 Executive Board Member History Graduate Student Association University of California, Los Angeles 2008 M.A., History University