Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Nation as Grand Narrataive
Interpretive Theory, Narrative, and the Politics of Meaning
In Search of a Grand Narrative: The Press and the Ethno-Regional Struggle for Political Independence
Hegemony and Ethno-Spatial Politics: "Nationalizing" the Capital City in the Late-Colonial Era
Paper Soldiers: Narratives of Nationhood and Federalism in Pre-Civil War Nigeria
Representing the Nation: Electoral Crisis and the Collapse of the Third Republic
The "Fought" Republic: The Press, Ethno-Religious Conflicts, and Democratic Ethos
Narratives, Territoriality, and Majority-Minority Ethnic Violence
Narratives, Oil, and the Spatial Politics of Marginal Identities
Conclusion: Beyond Grand Narratives
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Reviews

With its recuperation of the nation as an entity, and its insistence on the reality of identity politics both as a contested terrain and as the most meaningful narrative for Nigerian press history, this book represents a significant landmark in the new African print cultures scholarship. AFRICA

[A] brilliant combination of the analysis of political history and the mass media in pre- and post-colonial Nigeria. The book will be suitable as resource material for students, scholars and practitioners of political science, history, mass media and discourse analysis. JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES

This book is an asset to anyone who desires to, as closely as possible, experience major historical events in Nigerian history. [It] is a brilliant piece of evidence that there are non-anthropological methods to unearthing deep understanding of what exists today in Nigeria. As such, the book is recommended reading not just for Nigerians and Africans, but also for the common student of politics. PUBLIUS: THE JOURNAL OF FEDERALISM

This is a thought-provoking book which takes a novel approach to some of the most fundamental questions facing contemporary Africa. It deserves a wide readership. AFRICAN JOURNALISM STUDIES

The book represents a major contribution toward understanding the immensely complex role that newspapers have played in the political history of postcolonial Africa; it provides a unique and indispensable reflection on the very specific ways in which postcolonial societies have approached democracy. AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW