Religious and Cultural Aesthetics of the Feminine power in Ahmed Yerima's Osun
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Date
2025
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Department of Performing and FIlm Arts, University of Ilorin.
Abstract
The African society represents a socioreligious landscape characterised by diverse cultures and traditional practices that aesthetically, influence gender relationship. In Nigeria, both Islam and Christianity coexist alongside indigenous ancient beliefs, which emphasise purity, spiritual cleansing, and the utilisation of feminine power as instruments for regeneration. Therefore, this study explores the religious and cultural aesthetics of feminine power in Ahmed Yerima's Osun. This study adopts the descriptive research design and content analysis with Arnold Arnold Berleant's Cultural Aesthetics Theory (2005) to foreground the study. The descriptive design is to conceptualise issues on the silent struggles of women, especially as contextualised in Yerima's Osun. Findings reveal that women have developed a feminine force capable of intercepting and reprimanding the influences of patriarchal tendencies within society's culture and religions. It is observed that these spiritually driven socio-religious practices have resurfaced through various avenues, Characters like Apena and Iyemoja should be emulated for supporting justice for tradition, and the mothers of the night's effort at destroying lecherous tendencies like King Ogidan for plaguing women and society. Ahmed Yerima's play, Osun offers a compelling narrative that underscores the religious and cultural aesthetics of feminine power within Yoruba cosmology. To further explore the theme of feminine power in African drama, it is recommended that scholars conduct comparative studies on similar portrayals in other playwrights' works. Theatre practitioners should also engage in productions that celebrate female agency in African spirituality.
Description
The African society represents a socioreligious landscape characterised by diverse cultures and traditional practices that aesthetically, influence gender relationship. In Nigeria, both Islam and Christianity coexist alongside indigenous ancient beliefs, which emphasise purity, spiritual cleansing, and the utilisation of feminine power as instruments for regeneration. Therefore, this study explores the religious and cultural aesthetics of feminine power in Ahmed Yerima's Osun.