Existential Tensions and the Ifá Divinity in Isidore Okpewho’s Call Me by My Rightful Name

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay explores Okpewho’s Call Me By My Rightful Name (2004) and its unique contributions to the discourse of the old African diaspora consciousness. It examines how Okpewho harnesses the extraordinary element of existential tensions as a significant strategy to reconnect the old African diaspora to their ancestral community in Africa. Showing how this novel is similar, different and transcendent to other old African diaspora narratives, I argue in this piece that Okpewho’s mastery and use of the Ifá divinity that functioned as a reminder, an emotional therapy and a tour guide to reconnect the old African diaspora to their African ancestry, is a critical way to underscore the “Nigerianness” of such a contemporary neo-slave narrative. Okpewho is an important African diaspora writer whose works have been largely ignored and by interpreting his creative ingenuity as regards the old/new African diasporic experiences, I bring a fresh contribution to the discourse of African literature in the diaspora.