History and the Necessity of Adjunct Disciplines in Nigerian Universities by Nkereuwem D. Edemekong

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ABSTRACT
The term ‘History’ has remained an object of polemics.’More often than any academic discipline, it has generated controversies regarding its nature — whether it belongs to the arts or science; or which methodology is most suitable for studying the past. In recent times, History has increasingly been relegated to the background
especially in Nigeria. Nevertheless, the discipline has continued to loom large. Its multifaceted and utilitarian dimensions leave the historian with excess of historical reconstruction to embark upon. Until the 19th century, History was distinctively concerned with political events. Historians wrote exclusively about the biography of great men, wars, diplomacy and affairs of the state. The developments that were essentially anchored on increasing economic and technological discoveries including the use of ethnographical data, amplified the study of History thereby incorporating other disciplines in the process. Today, historians rely not only on politics but economics, psychology, law, archaeology, language/ linguistics, geography anthropology, science and technology, etcetera, to interpret and reconstruct the past. The central argument in this paper is that History has by this interconnectedness demonstrated the great virtue of humility by accommodating and assimilating other disciplines thereby allowing historians to benefit comprehensively from these disciplines. The paper concludes that because of the many theories and laws historians draw from the adjunct disciplines in interpreting History, it becomes obvious why thoroughbred graduates of History demonstrate versatility in any area they are called to serve.

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