The Architecture of Memory: Built Heritage, Social Identity, and Urban Change in the Historic Cities of Northern Nigeria

Historic cities in northern Nigeria carry an architectural and urban heritage that is simultaneously a repository of collective memory, an expression of Islamic scholarship and political authority, and a resource for contemporary identity formation, yet its relationship to rapid urban change and social transformation has not been theorised with sufficient sophistication to guide either conservation practice or urban planning policy. This dissertation develops an original theory of architecture as social memory, analysing the mechanisms through which built heritage in the historic cities of Kano, Zaria, and Sokoto encodes, transmits, and contests collective social identities under conditions of rapid urban change. The theoretical framework draws on Maurice Halbwachs' collective memory theory, Pierre Nora's sites of memory framework, and Doreen Massey's relational place theory to construct an original architectural memory theory that accounts for the dynamic rather than static character of heritage meaning in rapidly urbanising contexts. Empirical evidence is generated through multi-sited ethnographic research in each city combining architectural biography tracing of twelve significant structures in each city through social memory interviews with diverse community stakeholders, spatial analysis of the relationship between heritage demolition and social memory disruption indicators, and analysis of heritage discourse in public media, royal announcements, and professional architectural publications. Three original theoretical propositions are advanced: a theory of mnemonic landscape as a non-monumental heritage category, a social memory agency theory of informal heritage protection by community groups, and a postcolonial heritage politics theory explaining the contested significance of pre and post-colonial building fabric. Keywords: architecture of memory, built heritage, northern Nigeria, social identity, historic cities.