Death and the Textile Industry in Nigeria

Book excerpt: This book draws upon thinking about the work of the dead in the context of deindustrialization—specifically, the decline of the textile industry in Kaduna, Nigeria—and its consequences for deceased workers’ families. The author shows how the dead work in various ways for Christians and Muslims who worked in KTL mill in Kaduna, not only for their families who still hope to receive termination remittances, but also as connections to extended family members in other parts of Nigeria and as claims to land and houses in Kaduna. Building upon their actions as a way of thinking about the ways that the dead work for the living, the author focuses on three major themes. The first considers the growth of the city of Kaduna as a colonial construct which, as the capital of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, was organized by neighborhoods, by public cemeteries, and by industrial areas. The second theme examines the establishment of textile mills in the industrial area and new ways of thinking about work and labor organization, time regimens, and health, particularly occupational ailments documented in mill clinic records. The third theme discusses the consequences of KTL mill workers’ deaths for the lives of their widows and children. This book will be of interest to scholars of African studies, development studies, anthropology of work, and the history of industrialization.