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, like any other colonial power, asserted their dominance through a variety of media. The colonial experience of Nigeria and Britain, and Nigeria's early post-colonial history can be described, roughly chronologically, 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 light of the theories of Karl Marx, Ernest Gellner, and Jack Snyder. My claim is that Nigeria's colonial relationship with Britain, in general, reflects Marx's theory of the dichotomy between the oppressor and the oppressed, Gellner's theory that domination and oppression is disseminated through educational means, and Snyder's 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 â€Å"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 Isichei's claims, Nigeria's â€Å"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 common—from the culturally rooted Yoruba riots 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.