Identity Transformation and Identity Politics under Structural Adjustment in Nigeria

The book itself represents the first systematic effort to undertake a detailed, case study-based analysis of the dynamics of identity politics in contemporary Nigeria. The study was initiated and undertaken at a time of great political turmoil and continuing economic decline which was conditioned by an adjustment programme of sorts and the most brutal experience of military dictatorship in Nigeria’s history. This broad context was to have a direct role in shaping and re-shaping identity politics in Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s but many students of Nigeria’s contemporary political economy were to feel a great sense of frustration at the absence of a properly- researched and historically-grounded analysis of the shifts which were taking place in the contours of identity politics. This study, therefore, represents a major contribution to an understanding of contemporary Nigerian politics, economy and society and is highly recommended to readers for this reason in the hope that it will be found to be insightful and stimulating.

Nyckelord: Nigeria, West Africa, Economics, Structural adjustment, Identity