Death and the Textile Industry in Nigeria

Elisha P. Renne is Professor Emerita in the Departments of Anthropology and of Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, USA.

• Introduction: The Work of the Dead and the Coalition of Unpaid Textile Workers of Nigeria Chapter 1. The City of Kaduna as Colonial Construct Chapter 2. New Work-time Regimes: The Rise and Fall of Kaduna Textiles Ltd (KTL) Chapter 3. Workers’ Health and Deaths after the Closure of Kaduna Textiles Ltd Chapter 4. Burying the Dead: Hometowns, Houses, and Cemeteries Chapter 5. Widows' Dilemmas and Experiences of Hardship Chapter 6. Consequences for Children, Problems for Families Conclusion: Death, Deindustrialization, and Time

"In Death and the Textile Industry in Nigeria, Renne (emer., anthropology and Afroamerican and African studies, Univ. of Michigan) provides a close, intimate examination of the ramifications of the demise of the textile industry in Kaduna, Nigeria. The book looks at the rise of the city of Kaduna as an industrial center, then traces its decline and the closing of its major textile mill. The author includes richly detailed interview excerpts from women who lost their husbands and focuses on how they conceptualize health and ailments in the context of life in Kaduna. One of this volume's unique features is an intriguing chapter titled “Interlude,” which includes beautiful full-color portraits of six Kaduna women with whom the author worked. Translations of Renne's interviews with the women about their lives accompany the photos. This book is very narrowly focused and rich with interviews, photographs, and narratives of life within this community. It will be of most interest to students and scholars of Nigeria and West Africa and to anthropologists and others who are interested in practices surrounding death and dying and in industrialization and deindustrialization."E. E. Stiles, University of Nevada, Reno