Unwritten city
Abuja in the Nigerian literary imagination
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13048832 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Comfort Azubuko-Udah (0000-0002-8348-9475, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 86-104 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-05 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the African Literature Association (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2167-4736 • E-ISSN: 2167-4744 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/21674736.2021.1935648 |
| OpenAlex | W4238133077 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
Abuja was created to be the centralized and thus politically “neutral” capital of Nigeria. This essay investigates how this rhetoric has shaped the city in Nigerian literature. There is a tendency to envision Abuja as a city of near-sterile orderliness with an arid landscape positioned in contrast with Lagos’ organic cosmopolitan bustle. This essay argues that the enduring narrative of Abuja as a space of narrative aridity and unwarranted ambitions is incomplete. By analyzing the city’s masterplan alongside Ibrahim Abubakar’s Season of Crimson Blossoms, It instead advocates for reading less charismatic spaces by placing them on different scales of spatial relationality. Moving from global to an intra-national or regional scale produces representations that acknowledge the value and distinctness of these spaces. In Abuja’s case, it emerges as a hub of the Middle Belt region, significantly influenced by Nigeria’s socio-cultural North. The city’s rich urban character is thus revealed
Aesthetics · Art · Charisma · Geography · Literature · Narrative · Orderliness · Political science · Rhetoric · Sociology · History · Law · Philosophy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |