Thisvolume advances extant reflections on the state constituted as the Ur-Power in society, particularly in Africa.It analyzes how various agents within the Nigerian society'encounter' the state - ranging from the most routine form of contact to thespectacular. While many recent collections have reheated the old paradigms - of the perils of federalism; corruption; ethnicity etc, our focus here is on encounter , that is, the nuance and complexity of how the state shapes society and vice-versa.Through this, wedepart from the standard state versus society approach that proves so limiting in explaining the African political landscape.

Autorentext

WADE ADEBANWI is Assistant Professor of African Studies at the University of California, USA.

EBENEZER OBADARE is Assistant Professor of African Studies at the University of Kansas, USA. He is the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation award and considered a rising star in African studies.

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Excess and Abjection in the Study of the African State; E.Obadare & W.Adebanwi Deconstructing 'Oluwole': Political Economy at the Margins of the State; O.Ismail The Spatial Economy of Abjection: The Evacuation of Maroko Slum in Nigeria; S.Folarin 'Rotten English': Excremental Politics and Literary Witnessing; S.L.Lincoln The Perils of Protest: State Repression and Student Mobilization in Nigeria; B.Akintola Vocalizing Rage: Deconstructing the Language of Anti-State Forces; A.Olusola Olaniyan The Subaltern Encounters the State: OPC-State Relations 1999-2003; O.Olarinmoye The State as Undertaker: Power and Insurgent Media in Nigeria; A.Olukotun From Corporatist Power to Abjection: Labour and State Control in Nigeria; E.Remi Aiyede When the State Kills: Political Assassinations in Abacha's Nigeria; I.Olawale Albert The Sharia Challenge: Revisiting the Travails of the Secular State; R.Suberu Koma: A Glimpse of Life at the Edges of the State; M.Kabir Isa References