Reading Nigerian War Literature in the Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches at Secondary Schools in Anambra State

This study examines pedagogical approaches to teaching Nigerian civil war literature in secondary school English and literature classrooms in Anambra State, South East Nigeria, exploring how teachers select, contextualise, and facilitate student engagement with literary texts addressing a historical trauma that remains socially sensitive in the South East geopolitical zone. Nigerian civil war literature, encompassing fiction, poetry, drama, and memoir addressing the 1967 to 1970 Biafran conflict, occupies a significant and growing place in the Nigerian literary curriculum, yet the pedagogical challenges specific to teaching this literature in communities with direct generational memory of the war have not been studied in any focused way. The study employs a qualitative research design, conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 secondary school literature teachers across six schools in Onitsha, Awka, and Nnewi Local Government Areas, supplemented by classroom observation in three schools. Thematic analysis identifies the strategies teachers use to introduce war literature, manage emotional responses, and contextualise historical events for students whose grandparents' generation lived through the conflict. Findings reveal significant variability in teacher confidence and curriculum support for civil war literature, with many teachers reporting discomfort with the emotional dimensions of the material and lack of official pedagogical guidance. Recommendations include the development of a state-level teacher professional development programme for war literature pedagogy that acknowledges the specific affective context of Anambra classroom communities. Keywords: war literature, pedagogy, secondary school, Anambra State, Nigerian civil war.