African Journals OnLine
Humanities Review Journal

Volume 2 Number 1, June 2002
Abstracts

FROM COROMANTESE TO CROMANTI: A FOLKLORIC ACCOUNT OF THE SPREAD OF GHANAIAN CULTURE TO CARRIACOU, GRENADA

Donald R. Hill, Ph.D.

Nearly unique in the English-speaking Caribbean, the people of Carriacou, Grenada trace their descent to specific African “nations” locally called Cromanti, Ibo, Manding, Moko, etc. Among these groups they say that Cromanti is the “First Nation,” the most important among their African ancestors. Using evidence from oral histories gathered both in Ghana, the home of the Cromanti people, and Carriacou. This paper traces a probable account of Cromanti origins, how the Cromanti's got to Carriacou in the late eighteenth century, and what influence they have had on Carriacouan culture.

MODERNIZATION AND PROFESSIONALIZATION OF THE NIGERIAN ARMED FORCES: THE FIRST PHASE 1967 - 1979

Akin Alao, Ph.D.

The Nigerian civil war contributed significantly to the remarkable speed of military modernization and professionalization. Before the war, the military as an arm of the state system was completely subordinated to the democratically elected government and was maintained principally as a symbol of the country's independence and sovereignty. Post civil war developments in Nigeria obviously provided the opportunity for the rebirth of discipline, order and esprit de corps in the Armed Forces. It would seem that the military came out of the war, more organized, more confident in its ability to cope with the problem of securing the territorial integrity of Nigeria and above all, better professionally led and equipped than at any time in its history. Nigeria's new international image and the role she started playing in international relations up to the level of the United Nations called for the modernization and sophistication of her Armed Forces. Nigeria could no longer pretend that she had no enemy who might one day invade or insult her territorial integrity, independence or sovereignty as a nation.

HAGHER AND WOMEN': A GENDERED EXCURSION INTO AISHATU AND ANTIPEOPLE”

Mabel I. Evwierhoma, Ph.D.

Recent Nigerian drama of ideological concerns bring to the fore issues of women-centredness. This means that plays by male and female playwrights often delimit themes that portray the strengths and weaknesses of women in texts. Iyorwuese Hagher made his entrance into the Nigerian theatre scene many years ago. This means his focus in his dramaturgy is an all-embracing one, where the ideology of women-centredness is concerned. His plays AISHATU and ANTIPEOPLE reveal identity themes that are engendered. This gendering of playtexts is not a recent phenomenon where Hagher is concerned. The women in both plays are women of flesh and blood or real women we encounter everyday on the streets. They are not imaginary women, rather we experience them in interpersonal relations that leave them dispossesed of the initial strengths and the opportunities they had. Therefore, this paper evolves a gender stance from a reading woman .Any alternative from a masculinist stance may present further openings to the texts.

VOCABULARIES IN AFRICAN DANCES: FOCUS ON ANCESTRAL WORSHIP AND FERTILITY DANCES

Rasaki O. Bakare, Ph.D.

The objective of this research is to compile and document the vocabularies used for communication in the dances indigenous to West Africa. This exercise seeks to provide an alternative to the Euro- American technique called `notation' for the creative benefit of contemporary Choreographers, who must keep expanding their body of vocabularies and who can only be relevant and effective by using the vocabularies that can easily be connected to and decoded by their immediate audience. This study is necessitated by our conviction that creativity and personal statements are central to the art of choreography. We insist that the contemporary West African choreographer must rise beyond a perpetual regurgitation of old dances by creating his own dances, which are relevant to his time and society. However, we equally insist that for reasons of relevance and effective communication, the paralinguistic properties of the old dances should be used as vocabulary. A vocabulary of dance systems, which produce new meanings, is only possible through an examination of the very basis for the production of dances already in existence.

PLAY DIRECTING AND DIRECTORS: AN EVOLUTIONARY DOCUMENTATION IN THE NIGERIAN THEATRE

Rasheed A. Musa

The character of the theatre director in the theatre is always a subject of controversy. While the theatre director can be seen as the `god of the theatre', he/she can also be seen as a priest and a carrier who must coordinate human and material resources – a master and a messenger. Drawing from the above, this paper traces the evolution of play directing and the theatre director in different theatres of the world. It also critically evaluates the art of play directing and the Nigerian theatre director.

COMMUNICATION AND RURAL DEVELOPEMENT: A MODEL FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Elo Ibagere, Ph.D.

The failure in developemental endeavours in the rural areas of Africa does not stem substantially from the lack of funds. Rather, other factors conspire to make rural development a difficult task. One of these factors is communication. This paper examines the role of communication in the process of rural development. In pursuance of this, the paper explains the concept of rural development and change. Thereafter, it discusses how the mass media could be used to aid rural development through communication. The problems of this endeavour are also examined as well as how these problems could be surmounted. Based on conclusions drawn from the critical examination of the process of rural development, recommendations are made on how the process can be carried out effectively.

PACKAGING ARTISTIC PRODUCTS FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: A SURVIVAL STRATEGY

Etop Akwang

Since its inauguration through the electronic connectedness of the whole world, “Globalism” has miniaturized the spatial immensity of the world by the conquest and contraction of archaic, geographic spaces into accessible electronic spaces. This has led to the dissolution of originary, pristine identities, and the rise of a new, industrial megalomania that is now specified by mergers of previously individuated conglomerates. Without doubt, African and Nigerian artistic products and cultures are implicated in this new sphere of interaction. The question examined in this study is: How do our artistic products (just as our industrial manufactures) endure or survive this arena of sophisticated competition overhauled by the trade punditry and politics of metropolitan Europe and America?

THE COMMUNICATIVE VALUE OF QUESTION FORMS IN NIYI OSUNDARE'S POETRY

Asomwan S. Adagbonyin, Ph.D.

This essay is an exercise in stylistic analysis. It examines question forms, a dominant feature of the poetic production of one of Nigeria's most important poets, Niyi Osundare, using the poet's eight volumes for illustration. As it shows, question forms may look ordinary and may just be designed for what they are: to seek information from the addressee, but a poet could exploit them to advance the communicative value of his art. In the volumes under study, question forms not only provide an opportunity for Osundare to talk to his assumed listener; they also serve as avenues for him to engage the reader in important dialectics and push forward his own arguments. The question forms are, therefore, in this way ideational in function, while also being largely rhetorical

LANGUAGE, NATIONAL INTEGRATION AND NIGERIA FEDERATION

Adebayo A. Joshua, Ph.D.

The position of this paper is that the lack of any true national integration in the country is traceable to the belief and conduct of the elite class represented in the various ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. The masses believe in their various elite classes to the level of misnomer, while the elite on the other hand use their position to consolidate their own gains. In addition, the government exercises power in an intentionally exclusive manner, with emphasis on the dominant and subordinate structures in the society. In a situation like this, the search for true unity and national integration would have no end. There is no loyalty to the nation any more, except complex ethnic or sectional loyalties. However, the opinion of this paper is that the beginning for the achievement of a true federation is to allow the political objectives, as enshrined in the constitution, to be the guiding principle of any government in this country. Failure to uphold and put into practice these constitutional provisions means that Nigeria would remain very much in the woods.

LINGUISTIC INGENUITY AND POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY: THE MILITARY PHENOMENON

Diri I. Teilanyo

This paper investigates the peculiarities in the use of the English language by former military rulers, and most especially, the former Nigerian leader General Ibrahim Babangida in his administration and suggests that Babangida deliberately manipulated language through coinages and unconventional or curious use of terms to achieve curious political goals. It views this ingenious use of language as being part of the Machiavellian model for political engineering.

NIGERIA'S FOURTH REPUBLIC IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY: A COMMENTARY IN POLITICAL COMMUNICATION

I. S. POPOOLA

A serious fundamental issue that is being glossed over covertly and overtly under the current democratic dispensation in Nigeria, is the issue of whether or not it is appropriate for the current `Republic', which began on May 29, 1999 to be referred to as the 'Fourth Republic'. Thus, this paper hypothesizes and asks: Is Nigeria already in the Fourth Republic? Could an aborted republic be counted as a full-fledged republic? What are the characteristic features of a republic? What role did the Mass Media play in the birth of the so-called Fourth Republic? Through the methodology of Content Analysis and application of relevant theories of Mass Communication, backed up by contributions of leading political scholars, the paper attempts a heuristic approach which will help in the placement of the current republic in its appropriate position in the country's political history.

APPRAISING THE CONDITIONS OF UNIVERSAL MORALITY

Temisan Ebijuwa, Ph.D.

The hub of our discussion of the conditions of universal morality is predicated upon the fact that the argument that a society's social life can only be measured by the peculiarities of its culture cannot lead us too far in our bid to improve human lives and our social condition. In other words, it is a way of showing that there are certain elements of human life, both physical and social, the existence of which creates the atmosphere for the evolution of cross-cultural values and by which we can appraise values that will lead to the development of human society. The call for a context-bound conception of morality has lost much of its hold in view of the interlocking network of our contemporary life. We also observed, while explaining the distinction between absolution and universalism, that morality needs not be absolute in order to be universal. This, we did by explicating the conditions for the existence of universal morality across cultures.

RETHINKING AN AFRICAN ETHICAL SYSTEM: BETWEEN CHANGE AND CONTINUITY

Alloy S. Ihuah

European researchers on Africa at various times had concluded (though erroneously) that Africans live unexamined lives. But of course, as has been pointed out by P. O. Bodunrin, an African who himself once denied the existence of African Philosophy, the question of whether there is an African philosophy has generally been unhesitatingly answered in the affirmative. The question at issue today is what constitutes its substance. Such is the province of this paper, to rethink an aspect of African Philosophy – Morality (ethics), ancient and modern, among the Tiv of the lower Benue valley in Nigeria. This shall be done in the light of what has changed and what has remained unchanged, and the effects of the change on Tiv social system.