Nation as Grand Narrative: The Nigerian Press and the Politics of Meaning, by Wale Adebanwi

Abstract

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 and engaging with theoretical perspectives 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, on diverse 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 trigger further 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. Frontcover; Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Part 1: Contextual and Conceptual Perspectives; 1 Nation as Grand Narrative; 2 Interpretive Theory, Narrative, and the Politics of Meaning; Part 2: Colonial Agency and Counterhegemonic Struggles; 3 In Search of a Grand Narrative: The Press and the Ethno-Regional Struggle for Political Independence; 4 Hegemony and Ethno-Spatial Politics: "Nationalizing" the Capital City in the Late-Colonial Era; Part 3: Inclusion, Exclusion, and Democratic Contestations. 5 Paper Soldiers: Narratives of Nationhood and Federalism in Pre-Civil War Nigeria6 Representing the Nation: Electoral Crisis and the Collapse of the Third Republic; 7 The "Fought" Republic: The Press, Ethno-Religious Conflicts, and Democratic Ethos; Part 4: Domination and Resistance in Majority-Minority Relations; 8 Narratives, Territoriality, and Majority-Minority Ethnic Violence; 9 Narratives, Oil, and the Spatial Politics of Marginal Identities; Conclusion: Beyond Grand Narratives; Notes; Bibliography; Index.