Interpretation and Reconstruction of the Nigerian Civil war

How do the different generations in Nigeria differently or similarly interpret the Nigerian Civil
War?
By Adeniji Oluwatomisin
Table Of Content:
- Introduction
- The Nigerian Civil war: Causes,effects,etc
- Concept of Generation
- The different generational interpretations of the war
- What is left of the war today: the legacy of the war
- Conclusion

INTRODUCTION :
The research question of my project is: How do the different generations in Nigeria differently or
similarly interpret the Nigerian?

SOURCES :
How I intend to answer this question
-Articles
-Books: memoirs and novels about the war, written from two different generations: There Was A
Country published in 2012 by Chinua Achebe and Half Of A Yellow Sun published in 2006 by
Chimamanda Adichie
-Oral interviews

THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR;DATE,CAUSES AND EFFECTS

-Date of the war
-Causes of the war: remote causes
Immediate causes
-Effects of the war: positive and negative

THE CONCEPT OF GENERATION

The concept of generation refers to a group of individuals who are born and raised during a
particular period of time. Generations are often defined by shared experiences, cultural
influences, and technological advancements that shape their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Each generation is characterized by its own set of values, social norms, and generational traits.

THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONAL INTERPRETATION OF THE WAR

THE WAR GENERATION
-They lived through the war and have personal experiences of the war
-They interpret the war based on loss, trauma and they see it as an event that caused significant
loss in the country
-Many of them do not like to talk about it.

THE POST-WAR GENERATION

-They were born shortly after the war and do not have personal experiences of the war.
-They interpret the war based on stories passed down to them from their parents,grandparents
or the societal views

THE YOUNGER GENERATION

-They are born in the digital age.
-Their interpretation could be influenced by a desire for balanced viewpoints and a nuanced
understanding of the conflict's causes, consequences, and lessons for the present and future.
-Their interpretation is also based on passion,i.e we have the group that cares and there is the
group that does not care.

LEGACY OF THE WAR

-A generation of mixed interpretation of the war
-The war is not celebrated or mentioned enough in the history of Nigeria, the effect is that it has
produced a generation that knows nothing about the war.
-It has created an Awareness of ethnic differences

CONCLUSION
The answer to the above question is that there is no single, "correct" way to understand the
Nigerian Civil War. Each generation has its own unique perspective, and these perspectives are all
valid but by listening to each other and sharing our different experiences, we can come to a
better understanding of this complex and tragic event. In addition to the three generations
mentioned above, there is also a growing number of Nigerians who are interested in learning
about the war from a historical perspective. These Nigerians may be from any generation, but
they are united by a desire to understand the war and its legacy. They are often drawn to
academic research on the war, as well as to personal accounts from those who lived through it.
The general point remains that after over 50 years of this tragic event, Nigerians still have mixed
interpretations and understanding of the war based on their different generations.