Le Griot Dans La Litterature Postcoloniale: Une Etude De Guelwaar De Sembene Ousmane

Le griot dans la société traditionnelle africaine de l’ère précoloniale est un personnage complexe chargé d’une myriade de fonctions. Il est bien respecté et honoré. La présente étude se donne l’objectif d’examiner profondément la peinture du griot dans la littérature africaine postcoloniale utilisant Guelwaar de Sembène Ousmane comme texte de base tout en établissant ses fonctions et ses portraits. L’étude privilégie quelques théories critiques comme le postcolonialisme, les théories marxiste et féministe. De plus, l’examen s’effectue à la lumière de l’image du griot d’antan et des sept catégories de nouveaux griots postulés par Ifeoma Mabel Onyemelukwe. Nous découvrons deux types de griot dépeints par Ousmane dans Guelwaar : le griot personnage littéraire nommé Guelwaar et le griot écrivain contemporain africain, Sembène Ousmane lui-même. Ces deux griots entretiennent des rapports de similitude et de divergence avec le vrai griot. Mais le griot écrivain contemporain africain ressemble beaucoup plus au griot d’antan en dépit des points de divergence. Nous finissons par déceler dix-huit fonctions du griot et par-là arriver aux dix-huit portraits du griot dans Guelwaar dont le griot bibliothèque publique bien documentée et le griot détenteur de la littérature écrite africaine postcoloniale. Nous parvenons à la conclusion que la littérature postcoloniale, comme l’atteste Guelwaar de Sembène Ousmane, se caractérise par une revalorisation des valeurs authentiques, honorables et louables du griot de caste. Ceci est symbolisé par l’apparition du griot personnage littéraire dans certaines oeuvres de la littérature écrite postcoloniale africaine comme Guelwaar et surtout la prééminence accordée aux griots écrivains contemporains africains tel Sembène Ousmane. The griot, in the traditional African society is a complex personality charged with multiple functions. He is well respected and honoured. The objective of the present research is to make an in-depth study of the depiction of the griot in post-colonial literature using Guelwaar as study text while establishing his functions and portraits. Postcolonialism, Marxist and Feminist theories constitute the theoretical framework. Furthermore, the examination is carried out in the light of the image of the real griot and the seven categories of new griots promulgated by Ifeoma Mabel Onyemelukwe. It is found that Sembène Ousmane depicts two types of griots in Guelwaar, namely: the griot as literary character named Guelwaar and the griot as contemporary African writer, Sembène Ousmane, himself. These two griots have certain similarities and differences with the real griot. But the findings show that the griot as contemporary African writer resembles more the real griot, their points of disparity notwithstanding. Eighteen functions and eighteen portraits of the griot are established, among which are: the griot as well documented library and the griot as custodian of written postcolonial African Literature. A firm conclusion is reached, that postcolonial literature, as reflected in Sembène Ousmane’s Guelwaar, is characterized by the revalorization of the real griot’s authentic, honorable and praise-worthy values. This is symbolized in the projection of the griot as literary character in some literary works like Guelwaar and in particular, the preeminence given to griots as Contemporary African writers as typified by Sembène Ousmane.

Acculturation and Traditional Mortuary Rites of the Nawfia of Southeastern Nigeria

This ethnography explores the traditional mortuary rites of the Nawfia, an Igbo group of Southeast Nigeria, aiming to understand the mortuary rites of the Nawfia, how and why it has changed and the factors responsible for the changes. The main data collection strategy was participant observation that began in April 2014. It was supplemented with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The study found Christianity as a major acculturative factor that has altered almost all the facets of the traditional mortuary rites of the Nawfia Igbo. Furthermore, mortuary rites do not only reinforce social solidarity among the Nawfia Igbo people but also according to what the Nawfia people believe, enable the deceased to attain his rightful position in the spirit world.

Trade Protectionism and Border Closure in Nigeria: The Rice Economy in Perspective

Rice is one of those staples that Nigerians cannot do without; several tonnes of rice are consumed by Nigerians on daily basis. Yet its domestic cultivation and processing are largely ignored by a greater percentage of ordinary Nigerians. Although scholars have produced fascinating studies on both the domestic production of rice, its international trade, and the border closures that are contrived to facilitate local production, there is scarcely any serious scholarly effort that attempts to examine Nigeria’s rice economy from the political-economic perspective, especially with attention on the gainers and losers during periods of border closures in Nigeria. This study intervenes in the discourse by focusing on the political-economic implications of Nigeria's rice economy. The major thrust of the research is to discover how far the trade protectionist efforts of the governments of Nigeria impact the domestic economy. In essence, it seeks to discover the gainers and losers of Nigeria's border closures.

The Perennial Philosophy in the Bhagavadgita: Where the East and the West Meet

This article explores and interprets the fundamentals of perennial philosophy that the Bhagavadgita (the BG). The perennial philosophy of the BG crystalizes the first cause of reality. It leads to the zenith of knowledge, exhibiting how all the dualities and contradictions that run in this gross world merge into postulates the oneness of eternal reality. The eternity of the truth and first cause is in the integration and totality of oneness that radiates the entire creation. Western philosophy and science also make the same quest and disseminate the ideas and theories that resemble the perennial philosophy of the BG. In this regard, the entirety of perennial philosophy invites a systematic study. Having been compiled a few centuries before Christ, it remains to revisit how the BG resounds the rhythms of perennial philosophy propounded in the East and the West. This article has applied the qualitative approach. Exploratory and interpretive methods have been implemented to relate the ideas of perennial philosophy both from the BG and Western metaphysics.

Versifying Unease in Postcolonial Nigerian Society: Politics of Corruption and Oppression in Akan Essien’s Stabbed Alive. Rage Alive and Halima Amali’s I Want to Join Them

Postcolonial Nigerian society is confronted by corruption and oppression that emerged in the wake of independence. In recent times, these challenges have evolved in the creative consciousness of writers in their versified writings. Poetry, which serves as a veritable medium for the projection of philosophical thought, reflects these vagaries as the unique genre employed by poets for humanity that is dismayed by the irony of hope and survival. This paper examines corruption in politics and oppression of the masses. It showed that the drawbacks witnessed in the country attribute to the aforementioned variables. The choice of Essien’s Rage Alive. Stabbed Alive (2010) and Amali’s I Want to Join Them (2016) is informed by the fact that there is a lack of scholarly research on these collections. The paper adopts spivak’s postcolonial framework in the context of the Nigerian society, while the descriptive method of textual analysis aimed to show how political leaders in their deployment of corrupt and oppressive schemes, advance their kleptomaniac agenda. Thus, the study submits that for a functional and progressive society to exist, fundamental changes in its socio-political affairs must be undertaken.

Creativity Inherent in Abigbo Performance Composition: Use of Imagery and Musical Repetitions

This paper unfolds systematically organized requisite performance composition defined in words and with exemplary scores to buttress the texture. The communication principles of behaviour, protocols, skill and tools needed to achieve music dissemination set objectives are highlighted in the study. The very last facet of the study given deserved attention addresses varieties of vocal devices including use of imagery, repetition of musical extracts and the like. Data are collected through interview as well as participant observation medium. In the long run, the study justifies the uniqueness of Abigbo in musical inventiveness as it affects its application of the keystones constituting the thrust of the paper. In keeping with this observation, the study concludes that musical repetition in their varieties, made use of imagery and, of course, performance composition cannot be dispensed with if the peculiarity of Abigbo must be maintained.

Clause Structure and Word Order in Ákè

Ákè is by historical and linguistic facts a dialect of Edo which has not received significant linguistic attention. This neglect informs an inquiry into the in ternal structure and organization of its basic clause. This paper studies data of everyday usage of competent speakers of Ákè and argues that it displays a subject-verb-object order. The study provides a not too elaborate description of the nominal and verbal constructions in Ákè and reduces the description to analysis using the X-bar theory as conceived within the Minimalist Program. It therefore states that nominal phrases can be analysed as a projection of Determiner Phrase (DP) because independent existence is not a requirement for considering an element as the head of a projection. The variable position which the head D occupies in the superficial syntax of Ákè is analysed as the effect of movement for feature checking. In the spirit of the Minimalist Program, this study recognizes the head of the clause as Tense (T), which could be overt or null and predicts that it dominates Negative Phrase (NegP) as Neg is assumed to c-select the Verb Phrase (VP).

A Rationalist Critique of Sally Gadow’s Relational Nursing Ethics

The ethic of care proposed by Carol Gilligan in late twentieth century instantly elicited a wide range of adaptations and elaborations in numerous disciplines, under the banner of ‘relational ethics’. Sally Gadow’s ‘relational narrative’ is one of these adaptations. Like Gilligan, Gadow aims to dismantle ethical rationalism or universalism, wherein the foregoing mainstream nursing practice had purportedly focused on applying existing philosophical theories of ethics to all conceivable clinical situations. For Gadow, every moral engagement, such as that between a nursing professional and a patient, comes with inherent unique features that render impotent any attempt at universalisation. Each clinical encounter is rather defined by the ability of the professional to engage the client in an intimate, caring relationship that enables healing to take place. Against this backdrop, this paper argues that the theory of Relational Narrative, particularly as conceptualised and articulated by Sally Gadow, cannot be carried through without making some rationalist assumptions, because professionalism in nursing practice is by definition, a deeply embedded ingredient of rational reflection. Furthermore, nursing professionals can make progress or impact only by having recourse to the code of ethics; also, direct application of Gadow’s theory puts the nurse in a dilemma when it comes to dealing with patients suffering from chronic contagious diseases, such as the Ebola or the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Finally, juxtaposing Gadow’s work with the ideas of the earlier scholars she criticises unsparingly, the paper found that traces of universalist, rationalist assumptions abound in her thought precisely because of the wealth of influence she has garnered from philosophers and psychologists; influences going as far back as Descartes and Kant, down to Rawls and Kohlberg. The data used for this study came from library and archival materials, as well as from internet resources.

Covid-19 and Nigeria: Rethinking the Architecture of National Security

This paper explores the disputed concept of security. It is a modest attempt at investigating the perceived repercussions of the outbreak of Covid 19 on Nigeria’s National Security. In this regard, the paper deployed the qualitative approach of research, such that historical research method is applied via secondary sources of data, including textbooks, official documents, and internet sources, among others. The paper is nested around the changing notion of security, highlighting non-military threats repercussions of Covid 19 on Nigeria’s National Security. A key finding of the paper underscores that there exists a strong fact that threat to contemporary Nigeria’s National Security now includes non- military issues.

Une Analyse Descriptive Des Erreurs D’orthographe Lexicale Dans L’interlangue D’apprenants Nigérians Du Français

Cette étude se plonge dans l’interlangue d’un groupe d’apprenants nigérians de Français Langue Étrangère pour évaluer leur compétence en construction dans le domaine de l’orthographe lexicale. Cette compétence est évaluée par le biais des erreurs qui représentent des symptômes révélateurs des difficultés d’apprentissage et des points d’appui pour un enseignement meilleur. L’étude cherche dans un premier temps à expliquer les difficultés liées au processus d’apprentissage de l’orthographe lexicale et dans un deuxième temps à proférer des voies et moyens pour aider l’apprenant à mieux apprendre. Le corpus est constitué de productions écrites collectées auprès d’étudiants de première année de licence inscrits au cours de rédaction en français. Les résultats montrent que les types d’erreurs qui prédominent sont les erreurs liées aux accents, suivies des erreurs à dominante phonétique et des erreurs à dominante non-fonctionnelle. Par ailleurs, l’anglais, la langue seconde de ces apprenants, constitue la langue pourvoyeuse de la plus grande influence sur leur comportement orthographique. L’étude recommande que plus d’attention soit accordée à l’enseignement de l’orthographe lexicale dans les activités de classe de FLE au Nigéria. This study focuses on the interlanguage of a group of Nigerian learners of French as a Foreign Language in order to assess their competence level in lexical spelling. This competence in phonographic encoding is measured through errors, which can be seen as symptoms showing learning difficulties and at the same as tools through which the learning process can be improved upon. Specifically, the study investigates the difficulties associated with learning of lexical spelling and suggest ways through which the learner can learn it better. Data for the study are elicited through written productions of first-year undergraduate students enrolled in a French Composition course. Results reveal that errors of diacritic marks predominate in the written productions of these students, followed by phonetic induced spelling errors and errors related to non-functional alphabetic letters. English, the second language of these learners, is the language with the greatest influence on their spelling behaviour. The study recommends that more attention should be accorded to the teaching of lexical orthography in French Language classroom activities in Nigeria.