Emirs in London

Moses E. Ochonu

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.

AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Traveling and Writing the Metropole in the Age of Modernity1. Literacy, Narrative, and the Colonial Ideational Space2. Emir Dikko's Metropolitan Adventures3. Emirs in Britain4. The Dikko-Nagogo British Connection5. Metropolitan Travel and Utilitarian Literacy6. Deepening Imperial Exploration, Imagining the PostcolonyEpilogue: The Persistent, Evolving Fraternities of EmpireBibliographyIndex