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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Teaching History in Twentieth Century Nigeria: The Challenges of Change
Author:Adesina, Olutayo C.ISNI
Year:2006
Periodical:History in Africa
Volume:33
Pages:17-37
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:history education
higher education
Education and Oral Traditions
History and Exploration
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/history_in_africa/v033/33.1adesina.pdf
Abstract:This article assesses the development of history as a discipline in tertiary education in Nigeria, focusing on the Department of History at the University of Ibadan, the home of the famous Ibadan School of History. This is done mainly from the perspective of students. The article first outlines the pioneering activities of nationalist historians in the 1950s and 1960s. The new discipline received great impetus, not only from Africans themselves but from Africanists in general. The decline of history as a discipline in the 1980s is seen as a consequence of economic developments and the introduction of structural adjustment programmes (SAP). There was a shift away from history to social sciences courses which either conferred practical skills or high visibility. The decline of history became one of the 'social costs of adjustment'. In the late 1980s history was also removed from the school curriculum. Between 1997 and 2000 those at Ibadan who chose history as their first subject each year numbered fewer than five. The curriculum was assessed and a number of new courses were designed to reflect new approaches and subjects. Furthermore, departments of history adopted new names to help redefine the focus of the discipline. However, the teaching and practice of history remains endangered in Nigeria. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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