There Was a Campus: Nostalgia, Memory and the Formation of University of Nigeria “Campus Kids” Online Communities

ABSTRACT The ceremonial opening of the University of Nigeria on 7 October 1960 formed part of Nigeria’s independence celebrations, linking the destiny of the institution to the nation. Seven years later, the outbreak of the Nigeria–Biafra war (1967–70) instigated a decoupling. This article reads the war as a turning point in the history of the institution, and examines the post-war dynamics on campus, arguing that the momentum many university academics invested in building Biafra was transferred into the rebuilding of the University of Nigeria. In the post-war context, community building was a central aspect of the university’s restorative project, and the experience of “campus kids”, the children of university staff growing up on campus, was shaped by the sense of kinship that was fostered between families. With a focus on campus kids from the 1980s and 1990s, this article explores the use of social media in facilitating the reconnection of campus kids online. It discusses the use of online spaces in the remapping of the past, community building and socio-economic support, and suggests that these digital communities present a contemporary online iteration of the home-town association.