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Handwritten in Lagos: Selfhood and Textuality in Colonial Petitions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2021

Abstract

This paper asks a methodological question: In what way can petitions written in the colonial period introduce us to the persona of the writers – that is, as against mainstream interpretation given to them as mere archival sources? Doesn’t the very nature of the petitions introduce us to the selfhood of those “caught up” in the often-mentioned “sophisticated” concepts of nationalism, politics, power, imperialism, urbanity, and colonialism? What, and how, do petitions tell us about the “interior version” of colonial society as seen in the individual? In an attempt at a deeper understanding of colonial Lagos, this paper examines an alternative feature of petitions as entry into the selfhood of colonial subjects rather than mainstream interpretations of the documents as qualitative exposition to “grand” historical phenomena. Selfhood as examined here is presented as it was constructed by petitions written in Lagos between 1940 and 1960 with a particular focus on three. Their deficiencies in “standards of grammar” notwithstanding, the words are also examined to allow for a demonstration of their qualities as texts: their meanings in singular and collaborative contexts, the gaps they exposed, the information they concealed, the disconnections in chronology they indicated, the “ethics” of grammar they “relegated” for more “substantial expose” of the self, the information they privileged the reader to hear, the identity they formed in the personas they constructed and the voice they generated. This paper suggests that these strands analyzed together affirm the textuality of petitions written by everyday people in colonial Lagos and that these point to the potentiality of such documents to further contribute to the substantial comprehension of the inner qualities of self-identity in Lagos and Nigeria’s colonial history.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article pose une question méthodologique: de quelle manière les pétitions rédigées à l’époque coloniale peuvent-elles nous présenter la personnalité de leurs auteur.e.s, c’est-à-dire par opposition à l’interprétation traditionnelle qui leur est donnée comme de simples sources d’archives ? La nature même des pétitions ne nous introduit-elle pas à l’individualité de ceux qui sont « pris » par les concepts « sophistiqués » souvent cités que sont le nationalisme, la politique, le pouvoir, l’impérialisme, l’urbanité et le colonialisme ? Que nous apprennent et comment les pétitions nous parlent-elles de la « version intérieure » de la société coloniale vue depuis un individu ? Dans une tentative d’approfondir la compréhension de la ville de Lagos pendant la période coloniale, cet article examine une caractéristique alternative des pétitions comme autant d’entrées dans l’individualité des sujets coloniaux plutôt que des interprétations traditionnelles des documents comme exposition qualitative à de « grands » phénomènes historiques. L’identité telle qu’examinée ici est présentée telle qu’elle a été construite par des pétitions écrites à Lagos entre 1940 et 1960 avec un accent particulier sur trois d’entre elles. Malgré leurs déficiences en « grammaire », les mots qu’elles contiennent sont également examinés pour permettre une démonstration de leurs qualités de textes: leurs significations dans des contextes singuliers et collaboratifs, les lacunes qu’elles révèlent, les informations qu’elles dissimulent, les déconnexions chronologiques qu’elles indiquent, l ’« éthique » de la grammaire qu’elles ont « reléguée » pour une « exposition plus substantielle » du soi, les informations qu’elles ont privilégiées pour que le lecteur comprenne, l’identité qu’elles se sont formées dans les personnages qu’elles ont construits et la voix qu’elles ont générée. Cet article suggère que toutes ces dimensions analysées ensemble affirment la textualité des pétitions écrites par des gens ordinaires dans la Lagos coloniale et que celles-ci soulignent le potentiel de tels documents à contribuer davantage à la compréhension substantielle des qualités internes de l’individualité à Lagos et l’histoire coloniale du Nigéria.

Type
Rethinking Africa’s Archives and Oral Sources
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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