Imagined States: Law and Literature in Nigeria 1900-1966

by Katherine Isobel Baxter

Overview

Imagined States examines representations of the law in British and Nigerian high-brow, middle-brow and popular fiction and journalism. Drawing on a rich range of examples, the book focuses on the imaginative role that the state of exception played in the application of indirect rule during British colonialism and in the legal machinations of the postcolonial state. It reads works by Chinua Achebe, Joyce Cary, Cyprian Ekwensi and Edgar Wallace, together with a range of Nigerian market literature and journalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474487566
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/31/2021
Series:	Edinburgh Critical Studies in Law, Literature and the Humanities
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Katherine Isobel Baxter is Reader in English Literature at Northumbria University. She is the author of 'Joseph Conrad and the Swan Song of Romance' (2010) and the co-editor of 'The Edinburgh Companion to the First World War and the Arts' (Edinburgh UniversityPress, 2017), 'Conrad and Language' (Edinburgh UniversityPress, 2016) and 'Joseph Conrad and the Performing Arts' (2009). She is general editor of the journal 'English'.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Literature, Imagination and the State of Exception

1. ‘Natural Justice, Equity and Good Conscience’: History, Politics and Law in Nigeria, 1900-1966

2. ‘I Am the Law’: District Commissioner Fiction and the State of Exception

3. ‘Seeking a Legal Form’: Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson

4. ‘Beast of No Nation’: Bribery, Corruption and Late Colonial Administration in No Longer At Ease

5. ‘Written in the Interest of the People’: Representing the Law in Cyprian Ekwensi and Market Literature

6. ‘Sensational Coverage of a Sensational Trial’: Treason, Journalism and the State

7. Violence and the Law in A Man of the People

Conclusion: Imagined States

Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Yale University Stephanie Newell

Baxter powerfully exposes the permanent "state of exception" that lay behind and beneath colonial law in Nigeria. With reference to an unusually wide spectrum of printed literature ranging from Nigerian "market literature" and newspapers through to elite literary productions, the book tells a fresh story of Nigerian statehood beyond the conventions of nationalist interpretations. The book combines meticulous attention to colonial legal history with close readings of legal systems in colonial and postcolonial writing.

Editorial Reviews

The volume is a remarkable contribution, not just to West African literature, but to legal theory itself and the role that literature plays in enacting and codifying law.

Joseph Conrad Today - J. A. Bernstein

Baxter powerfully exposes the permanent "state of exception" that lay behind and beneath colonial law in Nigeria. With reference to an unusually wide spectrum of printed literature ranging from Nigerian "market literature" and newspapers through to elite literary productions, the book tells a fresh story of Nigerian statehood beyond the conventions of nationalist interpretations. The book combines meticulous attention to colonial legal history with close readings of legal systems in colonial and postcolonial writing.

Yale University Stephanie Newell

Imagined States explores how authors of fiction and non-fiction wove the law through their narratives during the late colonial and early independence period, and how these narratives fed back on Nigerians’ understanding of law and power. My sense of what she envisions is that “imagined states” refers not only to the nation-state but also, perhaps even more, to something like being “in a state,” “the state we’re in” or “the current state of affairs” – a condition or context rather than just a jurisdictional body.

Journal of the African Literature Association - Wendy Griswold