Teaching and Learning: Biafra, Nigeria, The West and The World: Through The Lens of History

This unit creates the opportunity to analyze a single event in Nigerian history for the purpose of learning more about colonial and post-colonial Africa, the West and the world. This is achieved by starting with a single event and then expanding our inquiry to answer the questions raised by the attempt to grasp the meanings of this event of the late 1960s by moving further and further into the background of the era.
This collection of materials, summarized at this link, was developed to supplement western civ and world civ courses with added sources while also giving students the opportunity to develop skills in historical thinking and historical methodology.

        The material presented can be divided into two broad categories:
                                    1. Historical Information and Primary Sources
                                    2. Pedagogical Material, Suggested Questions,
                                             Study Guides

Before gong further we need to address a key question: Why Study Biafra--And What Was It Anyway? The answers introduce current events in Nigeria and the concept of "historical lenses" as a way of understanding the past.

The following links connect to the historical substance of the unit. Although each of these chronological sections is of a different length, together they take you from the events themselves further and further into the past to find the material needed to explain the event. Each of the chronological sections is subdivided to facilitate collaborative learning and to create some themes for analysis.

This is an experiment on ways to do history in the electronic age. This technology promises that the user will be able to address an issue by working from the present back into the past, collaborate more easily with fellow students and faculty, deal with a wider range of sources than are available at many colleges, and stay away from learning packages with pre-determined outcomes. The following destinations spell out items of greater interest to instructors but also to students who want to know what instructors have been told.

How Is This Unit Structured--And How Does It Work?

Unit Goals/Methods of Evaluation.

Why Was This Unit Created?

Who Created This Unit?

These links represent resources to help you carry out the major work of this course. You may want to refer to them from time to time.

Internet Links: For a lot of valuable connections that add background to all parts of this project.
Bibliography: Here are a few of the books I used as background for developing this site.