Nigerian Writings (Fragments)

This collection of texts is drawn from the Silvia Federici Papers, recently donated to the Feminist Theory Archives at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. The works presented here date from Federici’s teaching work in Nigeria from 1984 to 1987 and include subsequent scholarship and activism as a member of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa in the early 1990s. Consisting of journal entries, short articles, and drafts, the writings provide first-hand accounts of the effects of structural adjustment and military government repression on Nigeria’s economy, environment, and education system with emphasis on the accompanying repression of women. A final draft article from circa 1993 unfolds a broad critique of an international capitalist discourse on structural adjustment in Africa and Latin America. A brief introduction by Arlen Austin contextualizes these works in relation to Federici’s oeuvre and the history they address.