PROJECTING THE PLAYWRIGHT’S IDEOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS THROUGH PROVERBS: A STUDY OF SELECTED WORKS OF FEMI OSOFISAN AND SAM UKALA

Authors

  • Uwem Affiah Department of English & Literary Studies University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria
  • Offiong Ene Amaku Department of Linguistics, Arthur Javis University, Nigeria
  • David Ekanem Udoinwang Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejls.v4i1.406

Keywords:

ethno-dramatics, language resources, African drama

Abstract

Language forms an important part of African drama, for it reveals certain aspects of African cultural experiences that are couched in indigenous language resources. From creating sound effects, to poetic imagery or to emphasizing meaning and offering wisdom or even cuckolding, oral language resources have in no small measure enriched and reinforced the ideological contents of Osofisan’s and Ukala’s selected plays. As exponents of indigenous theatre, one finds that Osofisan and Ukala wrap up meaning in a plethora of folktales, riddles, proverbs, songs, and oral poetry, which beyond edutainment, stimulate deep thinking and offer their drama, a distinctive linguistic richness that reveals the defining characteristics of an ethno-drama theatre. Therefore, the paper utilizes the ethnodramatic approach to interrogate the application and stylistic merits of these language resources and their centrality to Osofisan’s and Ukala’s dramas. In so doing, the paper establishes the aesthetic impact language resources wield on the thematic presentations of these playwrights.

 

Author Biographies

  • Uwem Affiah, Department of English & Literary Studies University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

    Uwem Affiah, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar, Nigeria. His research is mostly in African Drama and African Oral Literature. He is on Google Scholar, ReseachGate, Academia and Orcid. His Orcid number is: orcid.org/0000-0002-5825-1473

  • Offiong Ene Amaku, Department of Linguistics, Arthur Javis University, Nigeria

    Offiong Amaku, M.A., is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, Arthur Javis University, Cross River State, Nigeria. Her research interest is in African Drama. She can be found on ResearchGate, Academia, Google Scholar and Orcid. Her Orcid number is: orcid.org/0000-0003-1970-8060.

  • David Ekanem Udoinwang, Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria

    David Udoinwang, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He is concerned with research in Ecocriticism and Autobiographical Studies. He can be found on Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Academia and Orcid. His Orcid number is: orcid.org/0000-0002-7384-6782

References

Adelugba, Dapo, Olu Obafemi and Sola Adeyemi. “Anglophone West Africa: Nigeria.” History of Theatre in Africa. Ed. Banham Martin. Oxford: Cambridge UP. 2004. 138-158. Print.

Affiah, Uwem and Ndubisi Osuagwu. “Ethnodramatic: Towards a Theory for Indigenous African Drama. www.isorjournals.org.5.2 (2012): 6-10. Retrieved on 4th April 2018.

Bhadmus, Muhammed. “The Popular Theatre and Radical Aesthetics of Femi Osofisan.” The Postcolonial Lamp: Essays in Honour of Dan Izevbaye. Eds. Aderemi Raji-Oyelade and Oyeniyi Okunoye. Ibadan: Bookcraft, 2008. 231-49. Print.

Boehmer, Elleke. Colonial & Postcolonial Literature. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Chinweizu, Jemie Onwuchekwa, and Ihchukwu Madubuike. Towards the Decolonization of African Literature. Enugu: Forth Dimension, 1980. Print.

Clark, J.P. Song of a Goat. Ibadan: Mbari, 1961. Print.

Crow, Brian and Chris Banfield. An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre. London: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.

Dzobo, Noah. African Proverbs: The Moral Value of Ewe Proverbs. Accra: Woeli Publishing, 2006. Print.

Ebeogu, Afam. “Domestication Processes in African Literary Drama.” Trends in African Drama & Theatre. Ed. Uzoma Nwokochah. Owerri: Crystal Publication, 2000. 1-19. Print.

Eko, Ebele. “Traditional African Drama: The Dynamics of Total Integration” Literature and Black Aesthetics. Ed. Ernest Emeyonu. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1990: 328 – 36. Print.

Eyoh, Luke. “Oral Tradition as a Paradigm for message Decodification: A Study of J. P Clark Bekederemo’s Song of a Goat.” Trends in African Drama & Theatre. Ed. Uzoma Nwokocha. Imo: Crystal, 2000. 138-151. Print.

Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Penguin Books, 1980. Print.

Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Literature in Africa. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1970. Web.

Gbilekaa, Saint. Radical Theatre in Nigeria. Ibadan: Caltop Publications, 1997. Print.

Jeyifo, Biodun. “Literary Drama and the Search for a Popular Theatre in Nigeria.” Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book. Ed. Yemi Ogunbiyi. Lagos: Nigeria Magazine Publication, 1981. 411-24. Print.

----. The Truthful Lie: Essays in a Sociology of African Drama. London: New Beacon, 1985. Print.

Laurence, Margaret. Long Drums and Cannons: Nigerian Dramatists and Novelists 1952 –1966. London.: Macmillan, 1968. Print.

Nwabueze, Emeka. Research Methods: An Integrated Approach. Enugu: ABIC, 2009, Print.

Olaniyan, Tejumola. “Festivals, Ritual and Drama in Africa.” African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Eds. T. Olaniyan and A. Quayson. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2010. 353-63. Print.

Osofisan, Femi. Playing Dangerously: Drama at the Frontiers of Terror in a Post-Colonial State. Ibadan UP, 1998. Print.

-----. Major Plays – 1. Ibadan: Opon Ifa Readers, 2003. Print.

----. Morountodun and Other Plays. Essex: Longman, 1982. Print.

----. “Ritual and the Revolutionary Ethos: The Humanistic Dilemma in Contemporary Nigerian Theatre.” The Nostalgic Drum. Trenton: Africa World, 2001. 91 – 103. Print.

----. Morountodun and Other Plays. Ibadan: Longman, 1982. Print.

----. The Nostalgic Drum. Trenton: Africa World, 2001. Print.

Rotimi, Ola. Kunrunmi. Ibadan: UP, 1971. Print. ----. Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.

Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King’s Horseman. London: Methuen, 1975. Print.

----. “The Fourth Stage: Ogun/Origin of Yoruba Tragedy.” African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory . Eds. T. Olaniyan and A. Quayson. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2010. 366-74. Print.

Ukala, Sam. Iredi War. Ibadan: Kraft, 2014. Print. ----. Akpakaland and Other Plays. Ibadan: Kraft, 2014. Print.

----. “Politics of Aesthetics.” African Theatre, Playwrights and Politics. Eds. Martin Banham, James Gibbs, Femi Osofisan. Oxford: James Currey, 2001: 29-41. Print.

Wa Thiong’o, Ngugi. Homecoming. London: Heinemann, 1972. Print.

Wolfang, Meider. Proverbs: A Handbook. Greenwood Press, 2004. E-book.

Downloads

Published

2023-01-06

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).