This book analyzes how indigenous political power structures in Nigeria survived both the constricting forces of colonialism and the modernization programs of postcolonial regimes. With twenty detailed case studies on colonial and postcolonial Nigerian history, the complex interactions between chieftaincy structures and the rapidly shifting sociopolitical and economic conditions of the twentieth century become evident. Drawing on the interactions between the state and chieftaincy, this study goes beyond earlier Africanist scholarship that attributes the resilience of these indigenous...

This book takes as its theme the ways in which governments legitimate their rule, both to themselves and to their subjects. Its introduction explores legitimacy and pre-colonial states, but the three sections of the book deal with colonial legitimacy, the question of legitimation in the transition from colonialism to majority rule, and the contemporary debate about accountability.

The dawn of neoliberal rationality in Africa in the 1980s coincided with a massive exodus of skilled Africans to the global North. Moving beyond the 'push and pull' framework that has dominated studies of this phenomenon, this collection instead looks at African transnational migrations against the backdrop of rapid and intensifying globalization.

Drawing on the interdisciplinary research projects of scholars from various social science and humanities disciplines, this book explores how African migration to Western countries after the neo-liberal economic reforms of the 1980s transformed West African states and their new transnational populations in Western countries.

In Religion and the Making of Nigeria, Olufemi Vaughan examines how Christian, Muslim, and indigenous religious structures have provided the essential social and ideological frameworks for the construction of contemporary Nigeria. Using a wealth of archival sources and extensive Africanist scholarship, Vaughan traces Nigeria's social, religious, and political history from the early nineteenth century to the present. During the nineteenth century, the historic Sokoto Jihad in today's northern Nigeria and the Christian missionary movement in what is now southwestern Nigeria provided the...

In Religion and the Making of Nigeria, Olufemi Vaughan examines how Christian, Muslim, and indigenous religious structures have provided the essential social and ideological frameworks for the construction of contemporary Nigeria. Using a wealth of archival sources and extensive Africanist scholarship, Vaughan traces Nigeria's social, religious, and political history from the early nineteenth century to the present. During the nineteenth century, the historic Sokoto Jihad in today's northern Nigeria and the Christian missionary movement in what is now southwestern Nigeria provided the...

The dawn of neoliberal rationality in Africa in the 1980s coincided with a massive exodus of skilled Africans to the global North. Moving beyond the 'push and pull' framework that has dominated studies of this phenomenon, this collection instead looks at African transnational migrations against the backdrop of rapid and intensifying globalization.

"One of a two-part volume from papers presented at a symposium on transnational Africa and globalization organized by Olufemi Vaughan and Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome in November 2008 at Bowdoin College"--Introduction.