Polemics of Nigerian Worldviews on Mystical Realism and Social Class Conflicts in Sam Ukala’s The Placenta of Death

Abstract

This study examines the nuances of Sam Ukala’s2 contextualization of African social worldviews on mystical realism and the shades of social class conflicts in The Placenta of Death. The focal aim is to discus and come up with plausible appreciation of the perspectives projected in the play as regards to the contexts and application of mysticism in the dramatized inter-personal class conflicts. Consequently, the reasons for these conflicts, the social stratifications emanating from these conflicts, the contextualization of the sides to the social divide, the realities of the deep mutual mistrusts, and the shades of contempt and apprehension that are projected in the play are part of the study foci. Thus this study applies magical realism as the preferred theoretical frame in analyzing the perspectives, contexts and realities of mysticism, numinous influences and supernatural connotations as well as the sociological suppositions on the reality of the never-ending social class conflicts. To discuss these contexts and perspectives as perceived in The Placenta of Death, we adopt contextual interpretative approach in a bid to extrapolate and provide locale and culture specific attributions of occurrences, actions and inactions dramatized in the play.