Beauteous Birds Under Africa's Burning Skies: A Perspective on the Praxis and Exegesis of Popular Literature in Contemporary Nigeria
Keywords:
Odia Ofeimun, African Literature, Nigeria, Literary Society ofNigeria (LSN)Abstract
The title of this paper is derived from one of Odia Ofeimun's poetry collections for dance drama entitled: Under African Skies. This collection is paired with AFeast of Return. It was launched in March 2000 in Lagos when Ofeimun clocked 50. Also launched on that day were two other collections of poems: Dreams at Work and other Poems and London Letters and other Poems. While the former among other subjects, pays tribute to renowned activists and artists all over the world, from Dambuzo Marechera to Che Guevera, Ortega ey Gasey, Vaclav and John Muafangejo, the latter captures Ofeimun's diasporic adventures in Britain, couched in rhythm and trope oflove with banter. A poet and political activist, Ofeimun stood tall throughout those decades of military dictatorship in Nigeria and other parts of Africa; his graying beard a living witness to "decades of living through whispers/decades when only poetry could make things happen/on streets and squares in a dialect of flowers" (Ofeimun,29).References
Adamu, Abdalla Uba, et al., eds. Hausa Home Videos: Technology, Economy and
Society. Kano: Centre for Hausa Cultural Studies, 2004. Print. Adeoti, Gbemisola. "Laughable Feast." The News Magazine 30 June, 1994: 11-2. Print. Afolayan, Adeshina, ed. Auteuring Nollywood: Critical Perspectives on the
Figurine. Ibadan: Ibadan UP, 2014. Print. Ajaye, Franklyn. Comic Insights: The Art of Stand-up Comedy. Los Angeles:
Silman-James, 2002. Print
D'Angelo, Frank J. "The Rhetoric oflntertextuality." Rhetoric Review 29.1 (2010):
-43. Print. Balogun, Frarn;oise. TheCinema in Nigeria. Enugu: Delta, 1987. Print. Barber, Karin, ed. Readings in African Popular Culture. London: International
African Institute, 1997. Print. Bhadmus, 0. Muhammed, ed. The Nigerian Cinema: Gender and Sexuality in
Nigerian Motion Picture. Kano: Bayero UP, 2019. Print. Burke, Peter. "Popular Culture Reconsidered." Storia della Storiografia 17 (1990):
--49. Print. Gans, Herbert J Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of
Taste. New York: Basic, 1974. Print. Ekwuazi, Hyginus. Nigerian Cinema: Pioneers and Practitioners, Jos: National
Film Institute, 2004. Print. Fashek, Majek. "Majek Fashek inna New York." Spirit of Love album. StepLivelyVideo.com. Web. 8 May 2021. Gbadamasi, Agbonjor Jonathan. "Difference between Corona and Ebola". MC
EDOPIKIN: Instagram. 11 Mar. 2020. Web. 30 Oct. 2020. Hassabian, Anahid. "Popular." Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. Ed. Bruce
Homer and Thomas Swiss. Malden: Blackwell, 1999. Print. Haynes, Jonathan Haynes, ed. Nigerian Home Films, Rev. and expanded ed.
GBEMISOLA ADEOTI JSLN 2020
Ohio: Ohio U Center for International Studies, 2000. Print. Husseini, Shaibu. Moviedom: Clips on the Pioneers. Lagos:All Media International, 2010.Print. Lamarque, Peter. The Philosophy of Literature.Oxford: Blackwell, 2009. 62. Print. Moore, Carlos. FELA: This Bitch of a Life (1982). Abuja: Cassava Republic, 2010. Print. Obiechina, Emmanuel N, ed. Onitsha Market Literature. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1972. Print. Ofeimun, Odia. Dreams at Work and Other Poems. Lagos: Hornbill House of the
Arts, 2000. Print. - A Feast of Return and Under African Skies. Lagos: Hornbill House of the Arts, 2000. Print. Ogundipe, Stephen. "Hybridity and the Construction of Olanrewaju Adepoju's
Poetry." Diss.Obafemi Awolowo U, Ile Ife, 2015. Print. Olaniyan, Tejumola. Arrest the Music!: Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics. Ibadan:
Bookcraft, 2009. Print. "The Bigness ofRichness: Wealth, Power, and Body Size in African Political
Cartoons." Seminar Paper presented at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo U, Ile lfe. 13Sept.2012. Print. Olaniyan, Tejumola, and Ato Quayson, eds. African Literature: An Anthology of
Criticism and Theory. Malden: Blackwell, 2007. Print. Olorunyomi, Sola. Afrobeat! Fela and the Imagined Continent. Trenton, N. J.:Africa
World, 2003. Print. Omoko, Peter Emuejevoke. "National Consciousness and Cultural Identity in
Urhobo Popular Music." Journal of the Literary Society of Nigeria (JLSN) 7
(2015): 130-151.Print. Paul, Helen. "Stand-up Comedy in Nigeria as an Alternative Theatre: A Study of
Selected Performances." Diss. U of Lagos, 2018. Print. Rogers, Mary F. Contemporary Feminist Theory: A Text/Reader. Florida:
McGrawhill, 1998. Print. Scott, Robert L., and Bernard Brock. Methods of Rhetorical Criticism. New York:
Harper, 1972. Print. Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. New York: Pearson, 2006. Print. Zina, King. "What is the Meaning of Blood Group Certificate?" Sergeant Efosa:
Instagram. 3 Oct. 2019.Web. 30 Oct. 2020
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of the Literary Society of Nigeria
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.