Segregation in the City: The Historical Sociology of Segregation in Metropolitan Kano

Akachi C. Odoemene, Redeemer's University (RUN), Nigeria

One underlining and defining characteristic of Kano, Sudanic Africa’s oldest, and one of Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan city, is the segregation of neighbourhoods. This began to be developed from the early stages of the city’s foundation in about the 7th Century AD. Kano’s segregation – one of the greatest influence in its socio-political organisation – took two waves: the pre-colonial (7th Century) traditional pattern and the 20th Century colonial model. This phenomenon was not only between social groups (‘indigenes’ and ‘settlers’) but also on religious grounds (between Islamic believers and non-believers). As the city’s chequered history has been fundamentally and considerably influenced by the trajectories of its cultural foundations and modern transformations based on these segregation types, this paper interrogates the history, dynamics, politics and sociology of segregation therein, and its two waves, on the city. The various implications of these on urban development, multiculturalism and human relations are also examined.