Nigeria, the most populous and one of the most ethnically diverse states in Africa, only celebrated her fortieth independence anniversary at the close of the twentieth century.But very many developments have impacted on her literary culture.Notable among these are the civil war that was fought from 1967 to 1970, prolonged exposure to military dictatorship and the tensions and conflicts that mark her political life and agitations of the constituent units within the Nigerian federation.In this regard, an experience that has elicited remarkable poetic response in recent times is the condition of the people of the oil-rich Niger Delta.The scholarly response to the Niger Delta situation has been remarkable but it has also been confined to assessing the social and economic realities that precipitated the collective revolt of the people after the late Ken Saro-Wiwa brought the plight of the Ogoni people to the attention of the international community.But the neglect of the cultural dimension of the crises necessitates exploring the unique contribution of the region to the making of contemporary Nigerian poetry, especially as it sustains a remarkable trans-ethnic literary practice. Earlier studies on the Niger Delta (Osaghae 1995; Cayford 1996; Travis 1997; Narr 1997; Na-Allah 1998; Osha 2001; Campbell 2002) privilege the experience of the Ogoni, who were the first to initiate sustained resistance and consequently became the most politically visible group in the region. This study seeks to broaden the engagement with the Niger Delta experience by underscoring the shared agony of the people of the region.This is a way of admitting that “[t]he Ogoni situation of land alienation, environmental degradation and government neglect of popular rights [...] is replicated in all oil-producing areas of Nigeria” (Olorode 1998: 2). The study sets out to specifically explore the link between the shared agony of the people of the Niger Delta and a tradition of protest poetry that has been thriving in the region in the past decade. lm.facebook/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fetudesafricaines.revues.org%2F11742&h=aAQHy5fip&s=1
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 19:27:51 +0000
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