Colonialism and Independence: Nigeria as a Case Study :: Research Papers

Colonialism and Independence Nigeria as a Case Study During the colonial period in Nigeria (from about 1850 to 1960), the British, manage any other colonial power, asserted their dominance through a variety of media. The colonial experience of Nigeria and Britain, and Nigerias early post-colonial history can be described, nearly chronologic on the wholey, in three phases or periods the formation of a captured colony, the education and inculcation of proper, British ways (i.e., the taming of the colony), and the immediate aftermath of colonialism (i.e., the independence of the colony). This essay attempts to scrutinize these periods in the wakeful of the theories of Karl Marx, Ernest Gellner, and Jack Snyder. My claim is that Nigerias colonial relationship with Britain, in general, reflects Marxs theory of the dichotomy between the oppressor and the oppressed, Gellners theory that domination and oppression is disseminated through educational means, and Snyders theory on the risks and dangers that young, immature countries face when they gamble on democracy The formation of a captured colony How does one capture a colony? The simple answer is Look at Nigeria. The capture of Nigeria by the militaristic British was one of the early distinct indications of its colonialism thus, it attracted mixed responses. As described by Elizabeth Isichei, an acclaimed Nigerian socio-political critic, many Nigerians were deemed collaborators for helping the British, the public was seen as defiant, but passive, and others were believed to have been rebels (Chapter 14). To adapt one of Isicheis claims, Nigerias confrontation with an alien culture, its conquest, and the experience of an alien rule, created crises (180). There were many riots and conflicts between the Nigerians and the British, although most of the uprisings were eventually subdued by the military power of the British. Riots were commonfrom the culturally rooted Yoruba rio ts in the West and the religious skirmishes with the Muslims and Hausa in the North, to the confrontations with the naturally rich, yet stubborn Igbo and Delta states. Apart from encompassing all the major ethnic groupings and regions in Nigeria, amazingly these conflicts also covered the three most explicit British inculcations cultural, religious, and economic.