Isidore Okpewho

Abstract

Isidore Okpe who came into scholarship and creative writing from a rich exposure to classical studies from the University of Ibadan in 1964. Classical studies armed him with the requisite knowledge about ancient philosophies, languages, religions and histories. Together with his deep awareness of the African heritage, Okpewho knew that the false views held about Africa, particularly by foreigners, were either because of dubious racial theoretical formulations, glorified ignorance or certain disdain and disrespect for the “Other”. Thus, in his scholarship and writing he was committed to restoring the dignity of both the African unconscious and her aesthetic sensibility as well as to querying the misrepresentation of Africa’s image and cultural heritage. In all his writings ̶ scholarship, imaginative creations or fieldwork on oral art ̶ he emphasised the artistic integrity and aesthetic consciousness possessed by the traditional art forms he encountered in his career. More importantly, he sought to understand the variety of approaches adopted by traditional African art creators and formulators to communicate their messages, dramatically depict them, and invest on what they produce an enduring artistic and aesthetic paraphernalia. In some cases, he reflected some of these oral artistic artifice and vignettes on his own creative pieces. This chapter examines Okpewho’s intellectual project of giving back to the continent and its diaspora what a hundred years of Eurocentric scholarship has denied them, particularly in oral literary compositions.