The Butler University Global and Historical Studies program offers a course entitled “Revolutionary Europe and Colonial Nigeria,” whose name is both suggestive and slightly misleading.  Although it does pivot on the approximately 80-year time-period during which Nigeria was a part of the British Empire, the course also reviews major events in Europe between the Enlightenment and the present, while devoting considerable attention to developments in modern West Africa.  In a significant way, this website reflects these broader interests of the course.  It is focused not solely on the history of European imperialism or African independence but also on the shared concerns of culture that span both continents and the Atlantic.

Groups of student authors represented below have accordingly investigated topics that reveal sometimes unlikely comparisons and contrasts between “the West” and modernizing Nigeria.  Their subjects run the gamut from political texts to sacred textiles, from festive foods to the rules of the game.  In some areas, we can perceive the profound influence of European values and institutions on contemporary Africa.  In others, the impact of African traditions on the evolution of global culture is equally apparent.  Often, the most striking feature is the modulation of themes that can be found throughout daily life, regardless of language or past history.  Through this exploratory website, students in the course have encountered the accepted understanding of the colonial relationship and have found it transformed by the commerce, technology, and politics of the 21^st century.

Header images, from left: Joy to the World by Phillip Chapman-Bell. Used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / [Female Nigerian AMISOM Police Officer] by AMISOM Public Information. Public Domain / [Drummers] by Melvin “Buddy” Baker. Used under CC BY 2.0 / Africa Standing by Ewinosa. Used under CC BY-SA 4.0