The growth of Nigerian historiography: a preliminary survey

Resumo

In spite of G. R. Elton's belief that "a philosophical concern with such problems as . . . the nature of historical thought only hinders the practice of history", few scholars would probably deny that reflections on the nature and practive of history have made immense contributions to the development of the discipline in western Europe. In Africa where the tradition of academic historical scholarship is relatively short, such reflections have scarcely begun. Nevertheless it is realised that there are occasional needs for stock-taking exercises in order to map out methodological strategies for future studies and relate the historian's efforts to the needs and aspirations of the society. Before such an exercise could be embarked upon, however, a comprehensive account of all historical writings is necessary. Of recent, there have been attempts among Nigerian historians to do this, but the attempts have been confined mainly to highlighting "the inner problems of, and the conflicts in . . . methods and conclusions" rather than in a broad survey of the trend of development as in this article.