Archives as spaces of power: The social life of National Archives of Nigeria

Abstract

There is no shortage of literature on Nigerian public archives. However, most of these works are descriptions and inventories of the archival collections that serve as guides for researchers. there is a tradition in which archives are viewed as discrete auxiliary institutions of the historical profession rather than as concomitant constituent of the whole matrix of historical production. this article offers a new reading of the making of National Archives of Nigeria as epistemological institutions, the political and social contexts of their record holdings and the politics of secrecy, access and identity embedded in the archives.