The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School DECOLONIZING HISTORY: HISTORICAL CONSCSIOUNESS, IDENTITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT OF NIGERIAN YOUTH A Dissertation in Education Theory and Policy and Comparative and International Education by Rhoda Nanre Nafziger Ó 2020 Rhoda Nanre Nafziger Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2020 ii The dissertation of Rhoda Nanre Nafziger was reviewed and approved by the following: Mindy Kornhaber Associate Professor Education (Theory and Policy) Dissertation Co-Advisor Co-Chair of Committee Nicole Webster Associate Professor Youth and International Development, African Studies and Comparative and International Education Dissertation Co-Advisor Co-Chair of Committee David Gamson Associate Professor of Education (Theory and Policy) Rebecca Tarlau Assistant Professor of Education and Labor & Employment Relations Anthony Olorunnisola Professor of Media Studies and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Kevin Kinser Department Head Education Policy Studies iii ABSTRACT Historical consciousness is the way in which we use knowledge of the past to inform our present and future actions. History and culture tie human societies together and provide them with reference points for understanding the past, present and future. Education systems that strip people from their culture and history are inherently violent as they attempt to alienate the individual from his or her cultural identity, separate them from their past and thus cultivate ruptures in the social fabric. Racism is a tool is used to justify neocolonialism and capitalist hegemony. As such, neocolonial education systems reproduce violence and social instability through the negation of history and culture. This dissertation examines the neocolonial and racist legacies in education in Africa through the analysis of Nigeria's history education policy and the historical consciousness of Nigerian youth. This study draws upon theoretical frameworks of Fanonian decoloniality, Critical Race Theory and historical materialism to assess the intersections of race, history, and culture in the formation of the historical consciousness of Nigerian youth, and how this informs their identity and civic actions. This dissertation research includes an in-depth analysis of Nigeria's education policy, tracing the origin and influences of history education and social studies policy from the early 20th century through independence and up to the present day. It finds that radical movements in Africanizing history education were countered by the new Nigerian elite soon after independence. Social studies was promoted by the US government to Nigeria and other African countries as an alternative to history education, citing its iv usefulness in the path towards Western styled development. As such, the social studies curriculum encouraged conformity and obedience for Nigerian citizens while advocating for the evasive goal of national unity. Over the next fifty years the Historical Society of Nigeria would struggle to return history back to the curriculum. But, when it was finally returned, it came with concessions. In the second part of my study, using a Youth Participatory Action Research framework, this study demonstrates that despite widespread youth pessimism, Nigerian youth have a sense of historical consciousness. Due to the lack of historical knowledge, they create a 'pidginized' history, made up of different interpretations of the past from a variety of sources including stories, popular media along with written texts. Youth weave historical narratives into their identity and sense of self. While globalized cultural racism impacts youth identity, collaborative history has the potential to restore cultural identity, repair broken relationships between youth and elders, and increase young people’s interest and capacity for civic engagement. In conclusion, I argue that Nigerian youth have become the inevitable victims of culturally racist neocolonial education policies; the removal of points of cultural reference through the marginalization of history education. As such, they face limitations in developing critical historical consciousness and the possibilities for cultural renewal. This study challenges the conception that familial and ethnic ties and allegiances are antithetical to development but gather further evidence that cultural resistance, rooted in v local struggle, is critical to the broader struggle for racial justice and decolonization even in majority Black nations like Nigeria. Finally, this dissertation asserts that the new efforts to return history to Nigeria's curriculum must affirm global Black pan-Africanist identity situated in global context. If history education is to be useful to the task of nation building and social and economic development, it must engender critical historical consciousness, and center youth in all efforts towards engaged citizenship and the re-envisioning of a democratic Nigerian state. The new history project must also embrace the importance of all ethnic groups, including minorities, who are all part of the Nigerian development project. Changes through history education will only be relevant when they are rooted in a broader context of social and cultural renewal. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... X LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... Xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Research questions ................................................................................................ 2 Context and problem statement ............................................................................ 3 Focus of the study ................................................................................................. 8 Importance of the study ........................................................................................ 11 Youth civic engagement ................................................................................ 13 Decolonizing participatory studies ............................................................... 15 Study contributions .............................................................................................. 15 Background to analytical approach ..................................................................... 17 Nigeria's underdevelopment ......................................................................... 18 Neocolonial legacies ..................................................................................... 19 Anti-blackness and the psychology of neocolonialism ................................. 20 Youth and collective agency ......................................................................... 23 Framing the study ............................................................................................... 24 Chapter outlines ................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 2 Overview of Literature and Theoretical Framework .................................. 29 European conceptualizations of historical consciousness ................................... 30 Historical memory and historical consciousness in African contexts .................. 35 Indigenous and cultural studies approach ............................................................. 38 Conceptual framework for historical consciousness ............................................ 41 A Fanonian decolonizing and anti-racist framework ........................................... 45 Fanon's cultural racism, deculturation and cultural mummification ........... 48 Class struggle and historical materialism in Nigerian contexts ................... 56 Racism, anti-blackness and Critical Race Theory ....................................... 61 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 63 Chapter 3 Decolonizing Methodology ........................................................................ 64 Youth Particpatory Action Research approach ..................................................... 66 Counter-storytelling and Critical Race Theory ..................................................... 72 Pilot study ............................................................................................................. 75 Study design .......................................................................................................... 80 vii Data collection .......................................................................................... 81 Selection of sites policy research .............................................................. 82 Selection of Youth Participatory Action Research sites .......................... 83 Policy research participant selection ......................................................... 87 Youth Participatory Action Research participant selection ..................... 89 Participatory field work ............................................................................ 91 Analysis ...............................................................................................................