The Pan-African Nation: Oil and the Spectacle of Culture in Nigeria. Andrew Apter. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2005. 334 pp.

T.O STANLEY 3 PAGES (1116 WORDS) History Thesis

Abstract According to Apter, “Nigeria’s black and African world was clearly an imagined community, national in idiom yet Pan-African in proportion. Artistic directors and cultural officers invented traditions with pre-colonial pedigree” (p. 6). Apter notes that FESTAC was a mere reproduction of colonial culture which incorporated African^ '. ;to indirect rule. FESTAC denotes the appropriation of colonial culture and the failure of postcolonial state capitalism. FESTAC's commodification of culture masked ethnic cleavages and the lack of indigenous production of indigenous culture.