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E-book Diaspora, Food and Identity : Nigerian Migrants in Belgium

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Penilaian

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Writing this book started from an academic quest but writing the thesis it is based on, was not just an academic venture for me. It was a personal journey as well. In the year 2001, I enrolled for a master’s degree at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels. The choice to study for a Masters in European Studies, focusing on European Integration and Development was not made out of any ambition for a lucrative career at the European Com-mission or affiliated bodies, but rather it was the choice of a migrant pro-pelled by necessity. Having worked for years before joining my partner in Belgium, I found myself undocumented and unemployed which was hard to bear. With nothing to occupy my mind, the frustration was putting pressure on me and those around me. A way out was to occupy myself by studying. So, I chose a master’s programme offered in English. Under no illusions about what I intended to do with the degree, most of the classes were just routine. Then I attended my first lecture for the course “Euro-pean Cultures and Mentalities in Historical and Comparative Perspective” taught by Professor Peter Scholliers. Not only did I find it interesting, it was also academically stimulating for me. As a historian, who worked for years as the producer of a national television cuisine programme in Nigeria, the study of people, society and food from a historical perspective challenged me to look inward at the food and culture within my society.Writing about Nigeria, the people and the culture, is so complicated that sometimes people write about one of the groups within the nation and present them as representative of the Nigerian nation. Nothing can be further from the truth. Homogeneity in all its ramifications is not a given in this diverse and complex nation. As an Igbo from the eastern part of the country, I spent years studying in Calabar, in Southern Nigeria. Upon graduation, I served for one year in Uyo (in the then newly created Akwa Ibom state in Southern Nigeria) as a corps member of the compulsory national youth service (NYSC)1. Later, I moved to Lagos in the west, to study and work, eventually living there for more than a decade. Work and friends (made at the university and the NYSC) provided me with opportunities to visit different parts of the western region. I have never lived in the north but I visited northern Nigeria for work and to spend time with friends and family.I count myself as one of the lucky Nigerians, who have had the good fortune of experiencing the colourful tapestry of Nigerian culture and people. This experience has enabled me to have close contact with people from all over the country, both within their cultural domain and outside, thus giving me an insight into the socio- cultural attributes inherent in the different groups.Having said this, I cannot claim to know any Nigerian group as well as I know the Igbo, which is my ethnic group and helped form my world view. Hence, in this book sometimes in drawing comparison with others, I may use aspects, references and frames of the Igbo culture more than the cultures of other Nigerian groups. However, the aim of this work is to explore and present Nigeria, its diverse people, food and culture within Nigeria and in the diasporas. I have arranged this book in such a way that it will convey an understanding of what it means to be Nigerian. Amidst our complex diversity, the difficult journey and detours in our history, there is a need to portray representations of our society, which can convey our world view and which enabled the emergence of new communities in different cultural milieus. Hence, certain aspects that are not so intrin-sically linked to food are still relevant, because without them, this will be an incomplete history. Comprehending the Nigeria diaspora albeit in Belgium is helped with adequate knowledge of where we came from, who we encountered and how we got to this new place.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

304.84931 DUR d

Penerbit

Switzerland : Peter Lang International Academic Publishers., 2017

Deskripsi Fisik

314 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9782807302113

Klasifikasi

304.84931

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Migration

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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