Nigerian Campus Forms

Abstract

This special issue is the result of a long-running collaboration between the Journal of African Cultural Studies and the Lagos Studies Association (Figure 1). The Lagos Studies Association, through its annual conference held at the University of Lagos, has made a name for itself for the sustained attention it pays to the development and professionalisation of younger scholars. Panels around the theme of Nigerian Campus Forms were first convened at the 2019 conference, and the call invited participants to develop arguments related to any aspects of university life in Nigeria. The research project has at various times consisted of more people than are represented in this special issue, but not all in the end were able to submit their research (Ayalogu, Cheng and Ojudun, Fasan, Nwako and Ogunoye, all with unpublished work in progress, were active participants in the reading group and meetings we had). The current special issue is one of three themed issues published by the Journal of African Cultural Studies devoted to African universities. This issue follows the volume guest edited by Anne Gulick (2023), and a bilingual English/ French issue “Campus Forms / Le campus sous toutes ses forms” is forthcoming, guest edited by Ruth Bush. The collective project on Nigerian universities invited scholars to reflect on the conditions under which knowledge was produced, from a specific place and community. The infrastructure of the University of Lagos campus, where the conference takes place, was a useful starting point from which to document and analyse the remnants of the idealism and beauty of what Tim Livsey in his influential monograph has called Nigeria’s University Age (2017). This beautiful campus, with its buildings that allow fresh air to circulate, and with the lush gardens extending to the lagoon, shows signs of the challenges faced by scholars working and studying there. Kolawole Charles Omotayo’s striking conference presentation was delivered at the 2019 LSA conference. His work documented and analysed the lack of toilet facilities on university campuses, something which was made very concrete for those of us attending the conference and which accurately reflected our experiences struggling to find facilities. In these articles, there is a repetitive refrain of decay and decline, as infrastructures have not managed to keep up with the rising numbers of students seeking higher education alongside other economic challenges facing Nigerian institutions. This special issue provides snapshots of the campus experiences across Nigeria, historicising campus culture, and considering the gendered, religious and international aspects of campus life. Authors present the distinctions between public and private universities,