WITHIN AND BEYOND PROLITERIAN PHILOSOPHY: OLU OBAFEMI AND THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL ORDER OF MERIT (NNOM) AWARD
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Date
2019-03
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The Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin
Abstract
Obafemi won the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award in Humanities for the year 2018. The award was in recognition of his tremendeous contributions to the intellectual development of Nigeria and indeed his deep entrenchment of proliterian philosophy that canvasses the core values of justice, equality, fairness and freedom as moral ideals for promoting meaningful lives and peaceful co-existence. In view of this accomplishment, this paper examined the literature of Obafemi in the episteme of an ideological philosophy of art and society. Obafemi’s ideological persuasion in its forms, dimensions and styles seek to arouse consciousness among the African masses, who are the victims of the neo-colonial oppression and exploitation. His literature appears to be a potent catalyst for the nation’s development because it instructs the readers as it mirrors society. The paper concludes that in spite of the ernomous energies that Obafemi and his other humanist/socialist writers have invested in literature and theatre, African masses are still grappling with challenges of poverty, marginalization, exploitation and endemic backwardness. The revolutionary import in their works is yet to take root in the consciousness of the masses as to engender the social change envisioned.
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Keywords
Obafemi, Order of Merit, Humanities, Ideology, Theatre