Olu Obafemi's Ogidi Mandate in the Historical Recreation of Anti-Imperalist Drama
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Date
2014
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Department of the Performing Arts, University of Ilorin
Abstract
History has it that , there has been an age long enemity between the Okun-Yoruba speaking people of Kogi State and the Nupe people of Kwara State ; which was caused by the local imperialism imposed on the former by the latter. The purpose of this paper is to build on the obvious fact that , literature in this context drama does not exist in a vacuum .Rather, it draws substantial resources from history, which is an indispensable element of society. The paper identified and discussed those historical features recreated by Olu Obafemi in Ogidi Mandate [2010] to validate the connection between history and literature. This paper did a critical analysis of Odidi Mandate using as its weapons, the utterances of the characters in the play text matching the same with the events of war which resulted from that local imperialism. As epitomized in the play text , the playwright envisioned a cohabitation of the Okun and Nupe folks in the contemporary society without recourse to injuries sustained by the former in the historical encounter. The findings revealed a paradox of aesthetic vision. For the Okun-Yoruba speakers , tough the wounds are healed, the scars are indelible; which in away hampers a genuine cohabitation. The paper concluded that the entire scenario created and recreated in Ogidi Mandate “is to develop a kind of nostalgia”, Balogun ,[20007,p,206] in the Okun-Yoruba speakers about their historical past and at the best procedure a dint of psychotherapy for them in the process.
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Keywords
Ogidi Mandate, Anti-Imperalist, Social Rebirth, Literary Discourse
Citation
Balogun, P.O. & Balogun, B. J. (2013). Olu Obafemi's Ogidi Mandate in the Historical Recreation of Anti-Imperialism Drama, The Performer, University of Ilorin, 15: 121-133. Department of the performing Arts, University of Ilorin.