Conceptual Review of Colonial Beliefs and Attitudes in “Othering” During Postcolonial Africa: Lessons for Nigeria

Abstract

There has been a growing concern regarding post colonialism and its relative role of colonial beliefs and attitudes in “othering”, and this has, also consequently, been a subject of keen inquiries amongst scholars in contemporary international politics. Most of such inquiries have emerged from a wide range of scholarly disciplines including international relations. The primary aim of this research was to examine the role of colonial beliefs and attitudes in “othering” in postcolonial Africa with reference to Nigerian settings. The specific objectives include investigating colonialism in postcolonial Africa and Nigeria in contemporary international politics. It also examined the association between colonialism and othering in postcolonial Africa and Nigeria within the international politics. The central notion of this study was to present the role of colonial beliefs and attitudes in othering in postcolonial Africa. Efforts were made through conceptual orientations with emphasis on colonialism (that is, colonial beliefs and attitudes, othering) and post colonialism. The paper recommended that there should be a growing call among scholars and practitioners to conceptualise race using more complex historical foundations capturing nuances of gender, ethnicity, and skin tone rather than simplifying race as binary. Postcolonial theory should be carefully studied to provide a strong theoretical foundation to understand race and intersectional identity and also to provide a firm capacity to understand race relationships.