Fractured Space and the Anthology of Repression and Resistance in Sorosoke: An #Endsars Anthology (2022)

Abstract

Anthology frames have remained one of the virile platforms associated with edited works which prioritise the harvesting of poetry compositions. However, without prejudice to its plausible credentials, anthologised works that harness diverse themes through different authors are always devoid of the steam of engagement that characterises themed anthologies. This article, in focusing on themed anthologies, presents the typologies of anthologised poetry works in Africa as concrete basis for the evolutionary trends in poetry writing in Africa and Nigeria in particular. The article isolates Sorosoke: An #Endsars Anthology (2022) to engage with the themes of repression and resistance which motivate the anthologised compositions. Similarly, the article streamlines the nexus between the central themes, youth resistant encounters against repression and digitisation which now serves as alternative platform for social engagements and the arts. After demonstrating how the refractions in the studied text have revealed the social hemorrhages in postcolonial Nigeria, the article concludes by harping on tolerance and humanity as healing values for the mirrored space that is in dire need of redemption.