Shared histories, divided memories: mediating and navigating the tensions in Nigeria-Biafra War discourses

This article examines the contested narratives engendered by the teaching and writing of the Nigeria-Biafra War. Drawing on the domain of education, it interrogates official and hegemonic narratives forged by the Nigerian state to shape the history, memories, and narratives of the war to suit its own vision, interests, and politics, in the light of marginalized ethnic groups that contest these narratives and reject them as the sole legitimate framework for remembering and interpreting the war. The analysis interrogates the extant education-reconciliation nexus, exploring the kind of education that will best serve the needs and processes of conflict resolution, reconciliation, and nation building in Nigeria.
Introduction From Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Cambodia, Japan, Northern Ireland, and Rwanda to the United States, (1) memories of the past have profoundly shaped the political, socioeconomic, and cultural [...]