RECONSTRUCTING NIGERIAN HISTORY: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION OF HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

African societies, including Nigeria, were historically misrepresented by Eurocentric scholars as primitive and lacking a valid history, with thinkers like Hegel and Trevor-Roper dismissing African history due to its reliance on oral and material traditions rather than written records. This biased view contributed to the marginalization of Nigerian history in global narratives. A key challenge in Nigerian historiography is the scarcity of reliable sources for reconstructing pre-literate societies. This study explores how interdisciplinary approaches—incorporating archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, and oral traditions—address these challenges by enhancing source reliability and academic acceptance. It argues that integrating diverse methodologies allows for a more accurate and nuanced reconstruction of Nigerian history. The paper concludes that an interdisciplinary framework not only enriches Nigerian historiography but also improves its credibility and relevance across academic and public domains