Emeka Aniago
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Theatre and Film Studies, Faculty Member
In Nigeria and other nations with their territory being part of the Lake Chad Basin, anxiety is high and growing because Boko Haram’s “strident messages exacerbate intra-Muslim tensions and worsen Muslim-Christian relations in the region”... more
In Nigeria and other nations with their territory being part of the Lake Chad Basin, anxiety is high and growing because Boko Haram’s “strident messages exacerbate intra-Muslim tensions and worsen Muslim-Christian relations in the region” (Thurston 2016: 5). In addition, because the agenda of Boko Haram appear jumbled and its sponsors indistinct, curiosity has led to the conceptualization of theories aimed at providing illumination. The study interpretively discusses how insecurity and anxieties in northeast Nigeria resulting from Boko Haram’s insurgency propel the articulation of several conspiracy theories explaining Boko Haram’s emergence, evolution and agenda, and the areas where lack of consensus subsists. The study classifies the theories into three categories, namely, the Freedom Fighter and Soldiers of Faith, Proxy Political Tool, and Islamic Caliphate Quest theories, and examines their suppositions and arguments to highlight the degree of plausibility. Substantially, the st...
The need to proffer solutions to the consequences of girl-child forced marriages in Nigeria has continued to draw scholarly attention within the ambits of sociology, history, law and human-right, women and gender studies, health, and... more
The need to proffer solutions to the consequences of girl-child forced marriages in Nigeria has continued to draw scholarly attention within the ambits of sociology, history, law and human-right, women and gender studies, health, and psychology studies. However, studies examining the application of Nollywood films as advocacy texts in this regard are scarce. In response to this gap, this study examines interpretively Stephanie Linus’ ‘Dry’ as a filmic advocacy text, portraying the psychological trauma and the socio-economic burden of girl-child marriages in northern Nigeria. Our interpretive analyses utilize theories espousing how denial of childhood can become traumatic to the child-wives and eventually become a socio-economic burden to their family, community, and country. The key observation is that ‘Dry’ typifies a proper and efficacious utilization of film as an advocacy platform to interrogate and communicate matters relating to health and wellbeing revolving around girl-child...
The paper examines Alex Asigbo’s Once upon a School as a drama of social criticism through an interpretive analysis of embedded metaphors as forms of behaviour intrigues, twists and turns that characterize humans in quest to achieving... more
The paper examines Alex Asigbo’s Once upon a School as a drama of social criticism through an interpretive analysis of embedded metaphors as forms of behaviour intrigues, twists and turns that characterize humans in quest to achieving their aspirations. The play evaluates behavioural tendencies as products of social construction of reality, which revolve around influences of nature and nurture, locale specific social realities and contexts. To discuss the behaviour of the characters in the play, the paper adopts content analysis approach regarding specific aspects of the play such as characters’ choice of language, particularly humour, the characters’ projected ideological inclinations, the existing didactic values, and the socio-cultural variables that propel the social construction of certain realities. Furthermore, the paper adopts Abraham Maslow’s view on the humanistic perspective as the theoretical paradigm applicable to the analysis of the play’s characters’ conducts in speci...
This paper examines the social interventions, inclinations and paradigms in Temsula Ao’s poem “My Hills” and Tanure Ojaide’s poem “Delta Blues” as reflections and interrogation of deplorable human actions propelling the degradation... more
This paper examines the social interventions, inclinations and paradigms in Temsula Ao’s poem “My Hills” and Tanure Ojaide’s poem “Delta Blues” as reflections and interrogation of deplorable human actions propelling the degradation eco-heritage in Nagaland Northeast India, and Niger Delta south-south Nigeria. Thus, our focus will be on how both poets present similarities in their lamentations and advocacy against monumental inhumanity destroying natural environment. Therefore, drawing from the concepts of eco-criticism, this paper examines nuance of advocacy and interrogation of the direct/indirect complicity and disinterest subsumed in the shades of actions and inactions of both ‘insiders’ and ‘others’ who are in many ways, interwoven in the social malaises and negativities Ao and Ojaide project. To add rigor to the analysis, this paper adopts ‘eco-criticism’, to discuss the portrayal of social identity questions, environment despoil, and the subsisting human/environment symbiosis ...
This study examines some social realities of the dramatization of the supernatural in Ernest Obi’s Idemili and Afam Okereke’s Billionaire’s Club, and how these portrayals relate to the subsisting social worldview on supernatural in... more
This study examines some social realities of the dramatization of the supernatural in Ernest Obi’s Idemili and Afam Okereke’s Billionaire’s Club, and how these portrayals relate to the subsisting social worldview on supernatural in Nigeria. Thus, this study aims to illuminate on the nuances of the dramatization of mysticism and the ethereal as manifestations of actual and typical realisms in contemporary Nigeria society. To realize this am, this study adopts critical discuss analysis in evaluating relevant aspects of the selected films. Similarly, this study adopts Ann Bowers and Isabel Allende’s contextualization of magical realism theory as our preferred conceptual frame. Essentially, this theoretical leaning aims at re-assessing the dimensions to social worldview of Nigerians on the relatedness, relevance and efficacy of the supernatural in human circumstances, from diverse perspectives. In this regard, this study evaluates the shades of bias to the mystical and supernatural, as ...
We learn from history that some consequences of abysmal government policies and dysfunctional tactics include socio-economic retrogression, increased deprivation ideology, victimhood, rebellion, war and revolution; and theorists have... more
We learn from history that some consequences of abysmal government policies and dysfunctional tactics include socio-economic retrogression, increased deprivation ideology, victimhood, rebellion, war and revolution; and theorists have provided several plausible contextualizations for elucidation. One of such conceptualizations is Ted Robert Gurr’s theory of relative deprivation, which can be applied to illuminate sufficiently how discontent enacted in Ahmed Yerima’s trilogy can lead to aggressive responses. Thus, through an interpretive approach, we shall look at how Yerima portrays creatively in his trilogy – Hard Ground, Little Drops, and Ipomu why a show of force, divide and rule, carrot and stick tactics by successive Nigerian governments have exacerbated grief, restiveness and rebellion in Niger Delta because of unwholesome oil exploitation and ineffectual corporate social responsibility approaches. In the end, this study proposes that Niger Delta oil exploitation related discon...
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Artistic symbols in many ways act as complimentary narrative tools that elevate and define the message from the artist, which can help to generate efficacious consciousness and mood aggregation in the beholders. The purpose of this study... more
Artistic symbols in many ways act as complimentary narrative tools that elevate and define the message from the artist, which can help to generate efficacious consciousness and mood aggregation in the beholders. The purpose of this study is to deepen the appreciation of the embedded significances of keys as symbolic objects in selected symbolist art by Alex Idoko which represents variously, mystical attributions and significations as understood within different worldviews. Through the application of interpretive discuss approach in relating relevant concepts of symbolism, the study elucidates on the symbolical, mythological, mystical and metaphorical denotations and attributions of chains, padlock and keys in line with Victor Turner’s concept of operational, exegetical and positional meanings. In the end, we observe that the selected work by Idoko subsume deep and dense creative vision projecting deliberate effort in using art as a means of sharing cultural ideas, mystifying aesthet...
In Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book, the editor Yemi Ogunbiyi has brought together in one volume a collection of essays on different kinds of theatre practices from parts of Nigeria by thirty-one major scholars. The... more
In Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book, the editor Yemi Ogunbiyi has brought together in one volume a collection of essays on different kinds of theatre practices from parts of Nigeria by thirty-one major scholars. The book has nine parts and thirty-one essays. The introduction of Yemi Ogunbiyi, ‘Nigerian Theatre and Drama: A Critical Profile’, explains the widely held opinion about the origins of Nigerian theatre and drama as that which is speculatively linked to numerous traditional, religious and functional rituals practiced in Nigeria. This lengthy introduction attempts to be an overview of highlights of essays in the collection. It touches on the sides and nuances to the debate on the contexts, forms and functions of ritual and drama as well as the debate about the evolution of ritual to drama and opposing views of the evolutionary and relativist schools of thoughts
This study presents an interdisciplinary approach towards a critical analysis of some impacts of crude-oil exploration in Niger Delta and polemics of viable conϐlict resolution framework. This approach involves analysis of Ahmed Yerima’s... more
This study presents an interdisciplinary approach towards a critical analysis of some impacts of crude-oil exploration in Niger Delta and polemics of viable conϐlict resolution framework. This approach involves analysis of Ahmed Yerima’s creative portrayal in Hard Ground which revolves around the variables activating conϐlicting emotional interests in matters concerning ‘black gold’ in Nigeria, and how these variables resonant in debates and demands for Nigeria’s polity restructuring because of perceived resource mismanagement. More so, our scope includes an analytical attempt at illuminating elaborately our interpretation of the dimensions to the loud and shrewd inclinations subsuming what some see as solution to the lingering conϐlict, and the suppositions explaining why others see the debates and demands on polity restructuring as dark convoluted ploys aimed at hidden agenda. Hence, through select theories of victimhood, this study attempts to elucidate on the variables propellin...
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This study critically examines available literature on soro starting with the earliest publication to the most recent literature accessible, to underscore the level of growth in soro scholarship, the existing gaps and instances of... more
This study critically examines available literature on soro starting with the earliest publication to the most recent literature accessible, to underscore the level of growth in soro scholarship, the existing gaps and instances of convergence in analysis in studies under-review. It analytically reviews all available data in order to highlight major contributions from each in appreciating the growth of scholarship on the soro. As part of this review, the scholarly strength of the studies will be determined by evaluating the research process adopted, the academic background of the authors, and how the authors’ perspectives may have influenced their conclusions. An analytical review of this nature will provide a concise but detailed catalog of adequate scholarly materials currently available for the study of soro, that can provide a baseline for further research into this subject and related forms within the genre.
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This study examines the aesthetics, efficacy, and propriety of the embedded metaphors in characterization, music, and colour application as creative vision in projecting victimhood atmosphere around traumatized Niger-Deltans due to many... more
This study examines the aesthetics, efficacy, and propriety of the embedded metaphors in characterization, music, and colour application as creative vision in projecting victimhood atmosphere around traumatized Niger-Deltans due to many years of deprivation in Blood and Oil. Thus, this study explains how Blood and Oil represents a credible narrative, subsuming polemics of environmental degradation, health misery, massive unemployment, subjugation, and violent restiveness in Niger Delta due to poor political leadership, greed, and corruption. On creative vision, we are discussing how the ingenious application of characterization, music, and colour combined effectively in creating an enduring mood for the scenes in the film as channels of accentuating intended messages. To add relevant scholarly rigor, we applied victimhood theory and interpretive discuss approach to create relevant and lucid insights regarding the inclinations and actions of select characters in the film as well as a...
This study is an analytical contextualization of the Igbo trado-cultural and Christian perspectives on the context of prayer as a mystical reality and experience. Thus, this study examines the inter-play of faith and testimonies in the... more
This study is an analytical contextualization of the Igbo trado-cultural and Christian perspectives on the context of prayer as a mystical reality and experience. Thus, this study examines the inter-play of faith and testimonies in the validation of the efficacy of prayer, as well as the relationship between fate and prayer from the dominant Igbo socio-cultural worldviews. This study’s case-study is Ahmed Yerima’s Idemili . However other relevant African plays form part of the secondary analytical data. The authors apply content analysis in the discussion of the focal study Idemili . Thus, the interpretive argument of relevant suggestions, positions and perspectives of the characters form the basis of contextualization. Theoretically, this study discusses the mystical and efficacious essence of prayer as a faith and a culture defined experience. Therefore Geertz’s concept of interpretation of culture forms the pivot and frame of our analysis. Again this paper adopts Selmon’s elucida...
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One of the major topical concerns that have taken the centre stage in scholarly as well as pedestrian discourses in Nigeria in recent time is the apparent intractable web of Nigeria’s socio-political woes. However, the nuances and shades... more
One of the major topical concerns that have taken the centre stage in scholarly as well as pedestrian discourses in Nigeria in recent time is the apparent intractable web of Nigeria’s socio-political woes. However, the nuances and shades of opinions on the topic are in many ways interesting and at the same time disturbing. A common essence in relation to the topic is polemics of corruption and leadership failure. From critical observation, it is apparent that the trajectories of scholarly perspectives on some assumed reasons behind the lingering Nigeria’s socio-economic woes have continued to generate more debates. Thus, the stimuli and reactions from the various perspectives and the attendant debates form the focal points of the study. In reaction to these vistas of perception and inclinations, the paper attempts a contextualization of the supposed popular views in relation to Achebe’s postulations in The Trouble with Nigeria. The study adopts social constructivist paradigm, interp...
This paper evaluates the multiplex nature of the dramatized decadence and the nuances of salvation prescribed by Ifechi Jane Odoe as encapsulated in her positivist polemics in Edge of the Brink. Primarily this study’s discussion revolves... more
This paper evaluates the multiplex nature of the dramatized decadence and the nuances of salvation prescribed by Ifechi Jane Odoe as encapsulated in her positivist polemics in Edge of the Brink. Primarily this study’s discussion revolves around interpretive reading of her shades of representation to extrapolate on the attributions subsumed in her portrayal. To examine the subject matters, this study leans on the view that social realities are evolutionary and not permanently static, that the pace of evolutionary trends of social realities vary from one society to another, and that influential factors such as custom, religion, and human circumstances contribute in many ways in propelling a continual re-aggregation of social realities for individuals as well as communities. Hence, this paper discusses the metaphors as well as trajectories to the dramatized decadent polis and the contextualization of suitable re-birth as Odoe proposes in the focused play. To this end, this paper adopts...
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This paper examines analytically Emeka Nwabueze’s illustration of the political predisposition of some politicians in A Parliament of Vultures. Primarily, the focus of analysis in this paper are: the place of drama as a medium of... more
This paper examines analytically Emeka Nwabueze’s illustration of the political predisposition of some politicians in A Parliament of Vultures. Primarily, the focus of analysis in this paper are: the place of drama as a medium of promoting public awareness and debate in Nigerian polity; the aesthetic significance of Nwabueze’s choice and arrangement of words that forms his play’s title, the conceptual description and designation of the political culture enacted in the play as ‘gutter-politics’, and lastly, the theoretical interpretation of social constructs as prime stimuli that contribute towards the germination and evolution of some prevalent political realities and manifestations. Consequently, this paper explains how A Parliament of Vultures reveals symbolically the prevailing political realities in Nigeria, Particularly how one of the legitimate arms of government, the national and state parliaments, is perceived to have been hijacked and overtaken by mediocrity perpetuated by ...
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Production of video films in Nigeria have risen fast to become a vital and dynamic medium of entertainment and education. Evident is its palpable capacity to enhance the preservation and strengthening of Nigeria’s advantages in her... more
Production of video films in Nigeria have risen fast to become a vital and dynamic medium of entertainment and education. Evident is its palpable capacity to enhance the preservation and strengthening of Nigeria’s advantages in her socio-cultural diversity. Hence, the view that the boom in Nigeria film industry, popularly referred to as Nollywood has provided a robust platform to encourage the propagation of Nigerian indigenous language appeal. In line with this thinking, this study illuminates on the factors capable of hindering or enhancing the strengthening as well as the preservation of Igbo language through Nigerian video films. To this end, this study adopts case reference analytical method, which involves interpretive and descriptive approach to selected case study. To situate this study within unambiguous theoretical perspective, this study adopts Albert Bandura’s ‘Social Learning Theory’. Hence, our hypothesis is that a properly structured and sustained conscious applicatio...
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The study examines The Prime Minister’s Son written by Greg Mbajiorgu 1 as a drama of social criticism by discussing the trajectories of social construction of depravity and the apparent destructive re-calibration of psychical disposition... more
The study examines The Prime Minister’s Son written by Greg Mbajiorgu 1 as a drama of social criticism by discussing the trajectories of social construction of depravity and the apparent destructive re-calibration of psychical disposition of the concerned individuals. Thus, the study analytically looks at the playwright’s authorial perspectives on social class segregation paradigm and the subsisting realities as phenomena that are products of social construction of reality. In a bid to illuminate on the deliberate attempts by Mbajiorgu to use drama to criticise a society’s problems, in pursuance of plausible conceptual suppositions, the study applies the theory of social construction of reality and the polemics of social criticism as the preferred conceptual and analytical frames. Lastly, in applying content analysis as the preferred analytical approach, the study projects that the analytical conclusions arrived at in the study will further the appreciation of Mbajiorgu’s portrayals...
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This paper examines the typologies as well as the contexts of literary source materials in Cyprian Ekwensi’s Burning Grass . Particularly, this paper’s focus will be on how various kinds of realities, otherwise the source materials,... more
This paper examines the typologies as well as the contexts of literary source materials in Cyprian Ekwensi’s Burning Grass . Particularly, this paper’s focus will be on how various kinds of realities, otherwise the source materials, represented in Burning Grass , (like the aspects of nomadic Fulani culture, identity, and environment), can be classified either as ‘actual’ or ‘typical’ realities, specifically from the reader’s point of view. Therefore, this paper aims to elucidate on what informs this study’s categorization of literary source materials either as ‘actual’ or ‘typical’ realities. In a bid to attain a plausible explanation, this paper contextually analyzes material in the focused study Burning Grass , and applies the researcher’s field experience as a means of evaluation the primary data essentially from culture-specific perspectives. Key words : Actual, Nomadic Fulani, Realities, Source Materials, Typical, Typologies
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We learn from history that some consequences of abysmal government policies and dysfunctional tactics include socio-economic retrogression, increased deprivation ideology, victimhood, rebellion, war and revolution; and theorists have... more
We learn from history that some consequences of abysmal government policies and dysfunctional tactics include socio-economic retrogression, increased deprivation ideology, victimhood, rebellion, war and revolution; and theorists have provided several plausible contextualizations for elucidation. One of such conceptualizations is Ted Robert Gurr’s theory of relative deprivation, which can be applied to illuminate sufficiently how discontent enacted in Ahmed Yerima’s trilogy can lead to aggressive responses. Thus, through an interpretive approach, we shall look at how Yerima portrays creatively in his trilogy – Hard Ground, Little Drops, and Ipomu why a show of force, divide and rule, carrot and stick tactics by successive Nigerian governments have exacerbated grief, restiveness and rebellion in Niger Delta because of unwholesome oil exploitation and ineffectual corporate social responsibility approaches. In the end, this study proposes that Niger Delta oil exploitation related discon...
This study examines the application language and speech for the purpose of deception as a means of achieving concealment of information as portrayed in two plays of a Nigerian playwright Emeka Nwabueze. Thus, this study attempts to... more
This study examines the application language and speech for the purpose of deception as a means of achieving concealment of information as portrayed in two plays of a Nigerian playwright Emeka Nwabueze. Thus, this study attempts to discuss some typologies of deception and concealment of information as a means of understanding better, the reasons and circumstances that inform the description of concealment of information as good, bad, devious, ugly, legal or illegal. This attempt will help us to interpret why and when concealment of information as well as deception are essential in achieving survival, progress, redress, defence, discovery, illumination, satisfaction or vendetta directly or indirectly. Though concealment of information can occur through inaction and nonverbal mediums, we are focusing on deception through language and speech, and how worldview aids in locale specific definition and perception of forms of deception and concealment of information. The discussion in this ...
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The purpose of this study is to extend scholarly reading of the contributions of Michael Soi’s politics paintings to social debates as a means of deepening our understanding of the complex relationship between art and politics. Thus, this... more
The purpose of this study is to extend scholarly reading of the contributions of Michael Soi’s politics paintings to social debates as a means of deepening our understanding of the complex relationship between art and politics. Thus, this study assesses relevant variables indicating how Soi’s selected paintings are effectively his means of projecting his views about his experiences, expectations, dreams, fears and reservations concerning his society’s socio-political realities. In an attempt at analyzing the functionality and aesthetic significances of Soi’s paintings, this study discusses relevant perspectives from individuals on politics paintings particularly how they can propel meaningful debates. Therefore, to gather relevant information on people’s responses to this kind of painting, we utilized viewer response approach and follow-up interviews. More so, we applied interpretive analysis in assessing the paintings (as metaphors depicting social realities), the collated response...
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This paper analytically discusses the efficacy of Obiora Udechukwu’s eight paintings particularly their commonality in projecting humanity universal common, pervading melancholy consciousness, and their propensity to activate effectual... more
This paper analytically discusses the efficacy of Obiora Udechukwu’s eight paintings particularly their commonality in projecting humanity universal common, pervading melancholy consciousness, and their propensity to activate effectual catharsis. This paper also discusses how these eight paintings provide cognitive channels through which plausible interpretive attempt at psychoanalysis of Udechukwu in relation to the paintings can be attained. We are adopting interpretive approach in our attempt at coming up with plausible deductions and extrapolations of the embedded significations in the paintings. To deepen our purview on efficacy of these paintings as stimuli for emotion activation, we shall apply select theories explaining contexts of melancholy consciousness, effectual catharsis and cognitive channels of psychoanalysis in relation to paintings as texts. In the end, our interpretations indicate that Udechukwu’s techniques in these paintings create perpetual atmosphere subsuming...