Evelyn Urama

Preparations, colourful costumes and ritualized performances have been the hallmark of festivals over time. The Onunu Festival of the people of Nsukka town of Enugu State, Nigeria is accompanied with ritualized performances which give it intense cultural meanings. Traditional performing arts like music, dance, drama, poetic chants, songs, masquerade organised in various communities in Nigeria originate from their culture which is handed over from one generation to another. In Igboland, these indigenous ritual performances serve as the means through which their cultural heritage is performed and disseminated. Although God is believed to occupy the realm above, everywhere and in all things, in traditional Igbo society people depend on the ancestral spirits, gods, deities, and other supernatural forces for survival. These ritualized performances are organised for entertainment and also to maintain the link with ancestral spirits which manifest in different forms for different purposes ...

Corruption is one of the numerous problems that besieged most African nations immediately after their independence and is still eating deep into their systems. In Nigeria, the economic, socio-political and religious sectors are in disarray. Corruption is increasing and is at the edge of turning into a norm. It has reached the extent of undermining development and economic prosperity that more than 75% of the people are living in abject poverty. Politicians devoid of integrity, patriotism and commitment lead but blow the whistle on their efforts in the fight against corruption. Many writers have expressed the menace of corruption in their works. This paper explores playwrights’ critical responses to the fight against corruption in Nigeria and aims at providing solutions by highlighting the severe punishments to be meted on citizens guilty of corruption. It also aims at unfolding qualities expected of the citizens for a meaningful fight of corruption.

European nations colonized most of the African societies and as a result had political and economic power and control over these nations. With the western domination, the colonists ruled the African nations and every other person was to obey their command. The colonizers introduced hegemonic educational system to Africans in which they were taught the European ethos without their studying African culture. Due to this hegemony, the European colonial masters imposed their culture on Africans and it succeeded in reshaping the cultural and political lives of Africans. Many Africans abandoned African customs and beliefs when they gained western education. Therefore due to this hegemony Africans lost their authentic/real selves and became adulterated. Their main concern becomes to create and recreate themselves through going back to their culture and origin. Through poststructuralist analysis of ‘Heavensgate’ and ‘Path Thunder’ in Labyrinths (1971), this paper explores how Christopher Oki...

Just like social occurrences such as human sacrifice and slavery enhanced retardation of progress in Africa in the past, trafficking is another social occurrence addressed in contemporary African literature that impedes progress and tarnishes the image of the victims. Human trafficking is rampant in Africans and some part of the world in this 21st century. This paper examines how Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked (2008) and Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters′ Street (2009) highlight social occurrences and how they contribute to the spread of girl trafficking in Africa. It also explores how both men and women are partners in trafficking, forming trafficking networks that lure girls from Nigeria to Europe and make huge profits from their misery. These pimps use ‘juju magic’ and rituals as a threat to exert complete control over the girls and also to ensure their compliance. The trafficked girls share their life experiences by telling their tales of woes exposing the shame that accompan...

Astronomical observations used by the ancient people of Africa were developed out of the people's desire to have concrete manifestations of their gods and religious beliefs as well as for time-keeping – day, night and calendar for agricultural and festive seasons. The sky entities (the solar and stellar systems) observed become part of the lives and events here on Earth and so are also part of the context of African literature. This paper examines the ways in which different African peoples have reflected on the role of the sky entities in their literature.