No longer at ease: intellectuals and the crisis of nation-statism in Nigeria in the 1990s

Abstract

IIntellectuals, traditional and modern, as producers and purveyors of knowledge, ideas and societal totems linked to identity, meaning, culture and politics, have always played critical roles in the construction of nationalism(s). This should not be taken to imply the denial of the more fundamental role of the masses - the popular forces who seek national liberation, and whose anger and blood, fire the engines of national resistance against the exploiter/oppressor, and who expect the most from the fruits of freedom. Yet, while the masses fuel the nationalist fervour, it is the intellectuals who have control of the archi tecture of the ideology of national resistance, and the construction of a politi cal-territorial space of refuge hinged upon a 'national identity'. They are the ones that provide justification either for integration or for decentralisation, in ways that different units would be given autonomy, or even independence, in order to take control of their affairs. Conversely, some intellectuals may work for the perpetuation of the status quo under a national banner, while others seek its transformation either by the devolution of power and autonomy to (sub) national units, or by advocating secession