Emirs in London: Subaltern Travel and Nigeria's Modernity

Emirs in London recounts how Northern Nigerian Muslim aristocrats who traveled to Britain between 1920 and Nigerian independence in 1960 relayed that experience to the Northern Nigerian people. Moses E. Ochonu shows how rather than simply serving as puppets and mouthpieces of the British Empire, these aristocrats leveraged their travel to the heart of the empire to reinforce their positions as imperial cultural brokers, and to translate and domesticate imperial modernity in a predominantly Muslim society. Emirs in London explores how, through their experiences visiting the heart of the British Empire, Northern Nigerian aristocrats were enabled to define themselves within the framework of the empire. In doing so, the book reveals a unique colonial sensibility that complements rather than contradicts the traditional perspectives of less privileged Africans toward colonialism.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: Traveling and Writing the Metropole in the Age of Modernity 1. Literacy, Narrative, and the Colonial Ideational Space 2. Emir Dikko's Metropolitan Adventures 3. Emirs in Britain 4. The Dikko-Nagogo British Connection 5. Metropolitan Travel and Utilitarian Literacy 6. Deepening Imperial Exploration, Imagining the Postcolony Epilogue: The Persistent, Evolving Fraternities of Empire Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Moses E. Ochonu is Professor of African History at Vanderbilt University. He is author of Africa in Fragments: Essays on Nigeria, Africa, and Global Africanity; Colonialism by Proxy: Hausa Imperial Agents and Middle Belt Consciousness in Nigeria, which was named finalist for the Herskovits Prize; and Colonial Meltdown: Northern Nigeria in the Great Depression. He is editor of Entrepreneurship in Africa: A Historical Approach.

Review :
This is an exciting work, which deals with the ruling and educated elites in the Muslim north and catalogues their visits to Britain. - Robert L. Tignore (International Journal of African Historical Studies) One of the most original academic studies of empires in years. - Barnaby Crowcraft (Literary Review) Emirs in London: Subaltern Travel and Nigeria's Modernity by Moses Ochonu looks at a fascination but under-explored part of Nigeria's colonial history. Its gives an intimate account of an intriguing facet of northern Nigerian life. (Brittle Paper) Emirs in London represents a major intervention in the cultural history of colonial Africa, with implications far beyond northern Nigeria. - Oliver Coates, University of Cambridge (Research in AFRICAN LITERATURES) Emirs in London is an important history that gives voice to the experiences of emirs and aristocrats during the colonial era....This book is beautifully written in a style that is as artistic and creative as those whom Ochonu historicizes. - Robin P. Chapdelaine, Duquesne University (Journal of West African History)