History Curriculum Reform Roundtable - Tue. 14 June, 2022 - University of Ibadan

IFRA-Nigeria organised a Roundtable on the History Curriculum Reform on Tuesday 14 June, 2022, from 9am to 5pm. The conference took place at Drapers Hall, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan and online. See the videos of the event below.

Dr Vincent Hiribarren, Director at IFRA-Nigeria & Dr Jimoh Mufutau Oluwasegun, Lecturer at Federal University of Birnin-Kebbi organized this roundtable as a space to open this discussion between scholars from different universities in Nigeria and the United-Kingdom.  They questioned the process of decolonizing the history curriculum.

Prof. Toyin Falola (University Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at University of Texas, Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities) introduced the conference with a Keynote Lecture. 

Curriculum reform is a phrase that we often hear in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In both countries, historians have been accused of holding conservative views of the past. In Nigeria, the History curriculum taught in universities has hardly changed since the 1970s because of the successive financial and political crises. The result is that History is often taught the same way it was 50 years ago. In the United Kingdom, the curriculum has been criticised for being either too nationalistic, too Western-centric and even racist. The consequence is that many British universities are currently trying to update and/or “decolonise” their curricula.

This one-day roundtable gathered historians from different Nigerian universities and King’s College London in order to compare our ideas about curriculum reform. How can we think together about teaching in a 21st-century History Department? How should we change the content of our classes? Which subjects can we focus on for new generations of students? Should we also change the way we teach? In other words, curriculum reform is not only about the new subjects we would like to teach but also about our pedagogy and methods of assessment.

Full programme:

9am-930am: Online keynote lecture by Prof. Toyin Falola (University Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at University of Texas, Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities)

930am-11am
Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju (University of Lagos)
Prof. Okpe Okpe (President, Historical Society of Nigeria)
Prof. Akin Alao (Obafemi Awolowo)

Break: 11am-1130am

1130am-1pm
Prof. Olutayo Adesina (University of Ibadan)
Prof. Olufunke Adeboye (Redeemer University)
Dr Aisha Bawa (Usman dan Fodio University)

Lunch Break: 1pm-2pm

2pm-3pm
Prof. Akinwunmi Yemi (Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Lokoja)
Prof. Mustapha Gwadabe (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria)

Break: 3pm-315pm

315pm-5pm
Dr Alana Harris (King’s College London)
Dr Berenice Guyot-Réchard (King’s College London)
Dr Angel-Luke O’Donnell (King’s College London)
Dr Sandip Kana (King’s College London)

 Pictures from the poster as a courtesy of How Far Nigeria Project.
1. Holiday is Over (70s). First Day @thefountainschools Surulere, Lagos.
2. Group Meeting (Ife -1970), Yoruba women with threaded hair, Eliot Elisofon 3. Nigerian merchant selling textiles, 1961. Forman, Harrison, 1904-1978 UWM LIbraries
4. Two officers and their bicycles (Ibadan) Harris, Eugene V., Clarence W. Sorensen Collection, UWM Libraries.
5. A Mother with a sewing machine in Ibadan market. Not before 1948. Harris, Eugene V., Clarence W. Sorensen Collection, UWM Libraries.
6. A Nigerian man and woman, 1961. Location unknown. Forman, Harrison, 1904-1978, UWM Libraries 7. Yoruba Ladies in Damask & Gold Jewellery, 1970s, Ibadan Photographer, Galleriaclic on Pinterest.
8. Factory workers packaging soap in Ibadan. Forman Harrison, UWM Libraries.
9. Children at school, 1961, Paul Alamsy