Abstract

What connection can one make, on the normative level, between epistemology and nation building? What sort of inquiry is possible in this regard? In this paper, I provide answers to these questions by looking into the nature of nation building against the background of its epistemological foundations which, though not so obvious, are nonetheless necessary and palpable upon deeper reflection. To this end, the following questions become central: what sort of convictions stand behind the nation state’s structure and functioning? What sort of knowledge are these convictions? If these convictions are objective realities, could they be known? What, if any, are the justificatory grounds for these convictions? In answering these questions, direct recourse will be made to the Nigerian context as a paradigm. Against this background, a theory of the epistemological foundations of nation building in Nigeria is conceived. The central argument is that Nigeria, like most African states, operates with a linear epistemological foundation of nation building which is limited in many important respects. This forms the reason this paper rearticulates the epistemological framework of nation building in Africa around the theorization of complexity, failure and error.