Ola Rotimi Research Articles

Some Things Are Better Unknown: Confronting Traditional Practices of Prophecy in African Cultural Beliefs through Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame

In contemporary Nigeria, the proliferation of prophetic claims has profoundly influenced popular religious practices across all societal strata. This phenomenon engages individuals from various backgrounds as they seek divine insights and prophecies from spiritual leaders. This study focuses on Ola Rotimi's play The Gods Are Not to Blame to critically examine the role of prophecy within African cultural beliefs. While existing scholarship on Rotimi's work often analyzes themes of fate, tragedy, and the allocation of blame within the play among others, scant attention has been paid to the fundamental role of prophecy itself as the root cause of the play’s tragic events. This research aims to conduct a deconstructive reading of the play, scrutinizing how the characters' pursuit of foreknowledge and attempts to alter their fates paradoxically precipitate their destinies. The method involves a detailed textual analysis of the play, focusing on key dialogues and actions that highlight the characters' motivations and the unfolding of events. The findings reveal two key instances: first, Baba Fakunle’s prophecy, which foretells disaster for Odewale’s family, leads his parents to attempt to kill him to prevent the predicted calamity. Ironically, this attempt to alter the future sets in motion the very disaster they sought to avoid. Secondly, an elder’s parable causes Odewale to discover the prophecy's truth. In trying to understand and avoid his destiny, Odewale discovers that his actions to prevent it end up fulfilling it. Both instances suggest that the desire to know and change the future is fraught with peril, often precipitating the very outcomes one seeks to avoid. The conclusion emphasizes the prudence of embracing the uncertainty of the future, as attempting to alter it can lead to unintended and often tragic consequences.

Bodies as Temples

Abstract The portrayal of disability within sacred and dramatic narratives offers an avenue for the examination of societal and theological paradigms. Such an examination is attempted in this study by investigating the representation of disability in the Bible and Ola Rotimi’s play Hopes of the Living Dead through the theoretical frameworks of Ableism and Reynolds’ hermeneutical approach. Biblical stories depicting disability as a curse, a tool, and a subject of divine healing are used in the research to explore the complex interplay between societal perceptions and theological implications. Rotimi’s dramatization of people with leprosy further elucidates themes of marginalisation and resilience within a predominantly secular context. Integrating Ableism theory, this paper critiques normative conceptions of ability and disability, while Reynolds’ hermeneutical methodology facilitates a nuanced interpretation of the often-conflicting representations found in both sacred texts and dramatic literature. This interdisciplinary approach yields comprehensive insights into the cultural, religious, and social constructs surrounding disability, advocating for more inclusive and empathetic interpretative practices.

Exploring social media as an apparatus for audience engineering in the Nigerian theatre milieu

This study investigates the use of social media as an apparatus for audience engineering in the Nigerian theatre milieu. This interrogation becomes vital as live theatre in Nigeria continues to struggle to maintain clientele due to decreasing audience response. Using the mixed-method approach, this paper explores engaging social media channels (Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Tiktok) in select experimental productions - Ifure Ufford-Azorbo’s Beyond my Scars, staged in the Model Theatre Studio (MTS) at the University of Uyo, Daniel Kpodoh’s interpretation of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame presented at The Arena in Port Harcourt and VickyBon Uzuazor’s Diary of a Pastor’s Wife staged in Akwa Ibom State University Pinnacle Theatre. This study is underpinned by the Technology Acceptance Model, Diffusion of Innovation and Social Media Engagement Theory in its framework. In its findings, the use of social media increases the reach of the production information to prospective audiences and also enhances the reach of theatrical presentations through live feeds; therefore, social media has proven capable of attracting new audiences for wider reception of the theatre product. This suggests that social media has become a useful apparatus for audience engineering in Nigerian theatre, enabling practitioners to leverage online platforms to shape audience engagement, build community, extend conversations and promote artistic works to reach wider audiences. The study contributes to our understanding that; social media technology is a supportive performance apparatus of connectedness and is potent in influencing and transforming the theatrical landscape in Nigeria and beyond through audience engineering. This paper therefore recommends the creative and consistent use of social media platforms as standard production protocol for the reinvigoration of the theatre milieu, especially in Nigeria.

Migration and Culture Shock: Neo-Cultural Praxis and Mathe-Logic Reformations in Selected Texts

The study examines ‘Migration and Culture Shock: Neo-Cultural Praxis and Mathe-logic Reformations in Babel of Voices, Tinuke’s Last Dance. It also reviews various feelings and excruciating experiences of the people. This provides a discursive analysis of society and constant need to x-ray those aspects of cultural trends that are problematic. The research is library oriented. Psychological and historical approaches are used in the study as theoretical framework to achieve greater result concerning issues raised in this study and writer’s lenses through the society. In a nutshell, the findings of this research highlights those social problems to draw attention of the audience on various aspects of acculturated behaviours vis-à-vis education that may have touched the playwright to initiate discourse in the guise of critiquing these anomalous situations for highlighted reforms. Babel of Voices situates Charles Okwelume as the likely person who will advance or take Ola Rotimi’s banner in creativity. It also attempts to look at the society to inform audience on the relevance of exposing these abnormal practices and challenges that are inimical to culture and progressive society. These necessitate trends, prospects and challenges of Nigerian culture in this twenty-first century.

Explication of Ogba Proverbs as a Tool for Conflict Resolution

Proverbs originated orally based on the oral literature history of storytelling passed down from generation to generation through stories and sayings. However, some believed that they originated from written scripts. Proverbs are words of wisdom used to impart knowledge to people. In Ogba, proverbs are used predominantly by the elders to warn, advice, instruct and educate on issues of paramount importance to the society. Proverbs elu are epigrammatic in nature and usually misunderstood as idiom olu-eknurnu. Proverbs elu often use figures of speech, such as metaphors, similes or allusions to make a point. In the literary parlance, renowned African writers like Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi and others adopt the use of proverbs in their works. This paper analyses the Ogba proverbs as a tool for conflict resolution in Ogba land of Rivers State, Nigeria. It is discovered that proverbs are used in major types of discourse involving the elders as evidenced in their use in palaces of chiefs to settle issues of marriage, land, chieftaincy, accusations of witchcraft and wizardry and other cases that are settled locally according to Ogba tradition and custom. This paper adopts the qualitative approach propounded by Isidore Okpewho. It concludes that proverbs are a veritable tool used by the elders to settle disputes in their homes, families and kindred.

The Delphic Oracle and Ifa Oracle: Limits of Divination in Oedipus the King and The Gods Are Not to Blame

ABSTRACT Events in Oedipus the King and The Gods Are Not to Blame by Sophocles and Ola Rotimi, respectively, validate the notion that the future, locked in the unknown, can be investigated and exposed through diverse divination procedures. In the texts, both playwrights valorize the Delphic Oracle and Ifa Oracle in Greek and Yoruba mythologies, respectively, paying attention to their immediate accuracy while ignoring their misleading potential and limitations. This article posits that although divination as a prognostic process provides a lens into the seeds of time, it is fraught with inadequacies that have misguided the existential order, thus altered human destiny and evidently created dislocations and gaps in the texts. Although divination appears accurate in the texts, a deconstructive analysis reveals it is full of limitations that the playwrights ignore in a bid to achieve their artistic objectives.

Practs of Violence in Ola Rotimi’s OurHusband has gone Mad Again

Existing literature on Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband has gone mad again reveals that the study of the text has been largely focused on the literary rather than linguistic analysis. This paper therefore focuses on the study of the practs of violence in participants’ interaction in the text. The study revealed that there are two types of violence in the text: matrimonial and political. Participants hinge on the cognitive, Sociocultural, situational and linguistic common grounds to pract rebuking, boasting, regretting, deceiving, revolting and attacking. Besides, dysphemisms in the text are used as the linguistic toolof ridiculing the protagonist The play sanitises corruption polygamous life of political actors in independent African nations.

The Relevance of the Practice of Ifá Divination in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame

The custom of Ifá divination is common among the Yorùbá of Western Nigeria, and among Africans generally. This paper attempts an evaluation of the relevance of the practice of Ifá divination in the selected play of Ola Rotimi to Yorùbá culture and metaphysics. This is purposely to attain a greater and more profound awareness of its role as a symbol of communal and cultural identicalness. Using The God Are Not to Blame (1975) as an illustration, the paper contends, in a poignant manner, that the elements of Yorùbá Ifá divination, through oracular devices, well manifested in the structuring principles of Rotimi’s work. This is analyzed from spiritual and mythological angles. With an overwhelming lucidity, the paper posits that actions in the play are influenced by an assumption that any collective catastrophe or adversities are the outcomes of disharmony between disparate cosmos. The aforementioned includes a detailed interrogation of the rationality and logic of these beliefs as Rotimi presents them. Through the ambiance of the various events in the play, the paper establishes that the practice of Ifá divination in Yorùbá land is not only a way of life but has also transcended traditional, Christian, and Muslim traditions and beliefs. Finally, while recognizing the enduring popularity and artistic forte of Rotimi’s magnum opus, the paper broadens spasmodically our perception of the pervasiveness and practical relevance of the practice of Ifá divination as means for rectifying evil destiny, regulating what the future holds and resolving problems of existence in Yorùbá culture and metaphysics.

Functions of Pauses and Hesitations in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again

All normal human beings have the ability to pass across different messages in different contexts without necessarily making use of the oral form of language. These other ways of passing across messages and meanings without using the oral form include gestures, facial expressions, vocalisers, interjections as well as pauses and hesitations which are the subjects of this study. The data for the study are extracted from Ola Rotimi’s play entitled Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again using insight from the concept of context for its analysis. The play is selected for the research because it contains several instances of the use of pauses and hesitations which are capable of yielding novel functions of the two phenomena. The novel functions of pauses and hesitations discovered in the data are: pauses and hesitations perform the function of emphasis when they occur together; hesitation is used to indicate that the current speaker is emotionally unstable; hesitation and pauses are used to demonstrate strategic competence during interactions; in addition, the two phenomena when deployed effectively in the appropriate context may indicate fear of the person that one is interacting with; lastly, hesitations can be used to pass across certain feelings that may be appropriately interpreted in context.

African Trado-Medical Diagnosis and Treatments of Affliction in Ola Rotimi’s <em>The Gods Are Not To Blame</em>

This study examines African trado-medical diagnosis and treatments of affliction in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not To Blame. Though different studies have been done previously by scholars on treatments of diseases across the world, the aspect of trado-medical diagnosis and treatments of affliction in dramatic works has not been explored. This literary text is purposively chosen due to its contextual relevance and qualitatively analyzed. The study adopted the Freudian psychoanalytic approach which focuses on characters’ psyche and the motivations responsible for their negative thoughts, emotions and actions as presented in the chosen text. It found that abominable offences attract the wrath of gods, evil spirits and ancestors which cause afflictions in African societies. However, non-scientific methods like divination and in-depth interviews and focus group discussions can be employed to diagnose the cause of the life-threatening disease while forms of treatment such as sacrifices, herbal medicines, counseling and so on are provided.

Turn-Taking Mechanism in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to Blame

Conversation analysis is an approach which deals with verbal and non-verbal aspects of language in a situation of everyday life. Dialogues in Ola Rotimi’s The gods are not to blame are classified as naturally occurring conversations because they involve two or more interlocutors (characters) who employ turns to deliberate on issues that are related to the roles the gods play in the lives of human beings. So, as pertinent as conversation analysis is in dealing with matters bothering human beings, no enough research has been carried out on it. Therefore, this paper seeks to undertake study on turn-taking mechanism in the above named text so as to see how it is being used by the characters in it. The paper adopts sacks et al, (1974) conversational model as its theoretical framework. The text is analysed and the results show that aspects of turn-taking mechanism such as starting up, taking over, interruption, filled pauses or verbal fillers, silent fillers ellipses, questions, declarative sentences and silence run through the text. Lexical items such as “oh”, “well”, “no” are also used in the text to take turns. Turns are allocated on the bases of current speaker select next speaker, current speaker self-select and current speaker continuous. The study also found that the use of turn-taking mechanism in the text makes the conversations run smoothly. The study concludes that conversation analysis is an excellent tool for studying naturally occurring conversations. Glob Acad J Linguist Lit; 2022, 4(3): - DOI :

Formulating a Translation Model for Postcolonial African Literature Through the Study of Selected Works of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Efua Sutherland and Ola Rotimi

Postcolonial theory focuses on addressing gaps that are encountered when dealing with literary works or contexts that are minor or peripheral. It explores ways in which dominated or colonized culture can adapt tools of the dominant discourse to fight against its political or cultural dominance. Postcolonial studies serve as a useful tool for translating texts from one language to another. One has to be conversant with the approaches used by postcolonial writers to be able to appreciate their texts and eventually translate them. This paper used the methodology of textual analysis to examine portions of the selected works of four postcolonial African writers; namely, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Efua Sutherland and Ola Rotimi, to bring out key strategies by which these writers decolonized the minds of their African audience. The main decolonizing strategies discussed include adaptation, vernacularization and pidginization. Based on the findings from the analyses, the paper proposes some translation principles for dealing with postcolonial texts. The paper contributes not only to translation studies in Africa but also contributes to the decolonization of Christianity in Africa.

The dramaturgy of Ola Rotimi

This study examines the evolutional phases of Ola Rotimi as a dramatist and his contribution to Nigerian, African and world drama. In this study, some of Ola Rotimi’s plays are analysed, to investigate and document how his Yoruba and Ijaw cultural background became an important tool in the craftsmanship of his plays, especially those that comment on social issues. In addition, the study discusses the influence of Western drama on the drama of Ola Rotimi. Rotimi studied at Yale School of Drama and Boston University, in the United States of America. Consequently, his exposure to western dramatic theories, dramatic concepts, epochs in world drama and theatre shows, clearly, in many of his works. Furthermore, this study asserts that Rotimi was also influenced by the cultures of Yoruba Traditional Travelling Theatre, storytelling, rituals and festivals among the Yoruba people. The study relied primarily on secondary literature; and related Rotimi’s drama and theatre to Cremona’s (2007) concept of ‘Theatre as Poly-System’ and Sauter’s (2007) theory of ‘Theatrical Events’. Rotimi, in his dramaturgy, embraced ‘socio commitment’ by dramatizing issues that concern the Nigerian populace, in connection to socio-political and economic mishap, in his plays, such as Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again (1977), If … (1983), Hopes of the Living Dead (1988), the three-act plays: Who is a Patriot? When Criminals Turn Judges, Man Talk, Woman Talk, and Tororo, Torororo-ro-ro (2006).

Confluence of Kinship and Divinity in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus

Blood and affinal ties are central in any discourse on kinship. This paper grapples with representation of kinship ties within a spiritual matrix envisioned in the dramaturgy of Ola Rotimi and Sophocles. The Gods Are Not to Blame being an adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King whose storyline is continued in Oedipus at Colonus, makes it possible for the article to explore the interplay between divinity and kinship in the milieus reflected in ancient Greek and African societies. Whereas previous scholars have majorly focused on consanguinity to make sense of kinship affiliations, this article examines how Greek and African notions of spirituality impact on affinal relationships depicted in Rotimi and Sophocles’ drama. The interrogation is conducted by examining the effect of divinity on kinship from the dimension of in-laws and wives. The analysis of the three plays hinges on psychoanalytic literary theory. The paper concludes that while the involvement of the divine in human relationships enhances affinal ties, it also contributes to their disintegration when divine-centrism supersedes communitarian interests.

Social Cohesion in Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi: A Resonance of History, Culture and Law

The crisis of the Yoruba Nineteenth Century was a display of internal dissensions, internecine wars, and inter-personal ego. However, the Alaafn remained the ruler of the Oyo Empire, but depended on Ibadan and Ijaye for defense. In 1858, Alaafn Atiba summoned all the leading chiefs in his territory to introduce his Crown Prince, Adelu, as his successor. Tis move was against the constitution of Oyo, which stipulated that the Crown Prince (aremo) commits suicide on the Alafn’s death. Ibadan agreed to the change, while Ijaye opposed the imposition. This is the kernel of historical narrative used by Ola Rotimi, in constructing his play, Kurunmi, to refect rivalry between the Ibadan warriors and those of Ijaye. Tis essay examines the confict to refect and suggest the need for just, peace, and unity for social cohesion among Yoruba people, and by and large, Nigerians.

Wifehood (Im)politeness in Negotiating Responsibility, Position, and Solidarity in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again

This study examines how wifehood is discursively practiced in Yorùbá traditional polygamous marriage system as portrayed in Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again. Purposively, excerpts involving the three wives of the major character, Lejoka Brown were basically sampled from the text. Through the instrumentality of politeness and impoliteness theories the study has unpacked the negotiation of responsibilities among wives in discharging their wifehood, where language is discursively used politely and impolitely based on the display of native competence and incompetence of the personalities involved. The study unveils hatred, unverified assumption, ignorance, anger and misconception as emergent factors that usually birth rivalry in wifehood negotiation of position that characterized impoliteness and family dysfunction in the rich verbal sociocultural setting. The study underscores the peaceful coexistence of wifehood within family discourse as a contribution to solving unhealthy marital issues characterized by linguistic politeness and impoliteness that pervade the contemporary society.

THE ROLE OF FATE IN TRAGEDY: A CASE STUDY OF ROTIMI’S THE GODS ARE NOT TO BLAME

The traditional pagan view of human tragedy which existed several centuries back in the ancient Greek religious myths was transposed not only to Western Europe but also to the African context in the literary representation of reality in tragedy. Common religious metaphysics across cultures occasionally occasion common conception of human tragedy across generations of human history, but such cosmological cross-cultural convergence does not take for granted their dynamic perspectives on the role of fate in human tragedy. To be sure, the audiences of each time, view and appreciate tragedy within their unique geo-political and cultural milieu. In this sense, Erich Auerbach’s new historicist reading and post-modern montage of texts and commentaries validly confirms humanity’s representation of reality from their religious and traditional customary dispensations across space and time. Coming into the world in the West African Nigerian Yoruba metaphysical universe, the tragic personage holds his fate in his own hands. The gods and supernatural beings in the invisible realms claim foreknowledge of the fate which the tragic hero brings into the world, yet do not influence the fate-holder in the winding trail of life to the fulfillment of tragic fate. The gods in the mythico-religious worldview of the Yoruba natives permit the fulfilment of prehistoric fate based on the fate-holder’s individuality, as dictated by his carnal nature. This paper therefore posits that tragedy occurs as a product of the constant working of fate in the tragic hero which fulfills itself in a tragic conflict through the hero’s free-will, according to the prophecy of the gods in Ola Rotimi’s The gods are not to blame. This is more so in the Aristotelian concept of catharsis in tragedy due to the interplay between prehistoric fate and historic fate, the latter being the product of the former. 
 
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AESTHETIC DIMENSIONS OF OLA ROTIMI’S THEATRE

The study examines Ola Rotimi’s Theatre from both the literary and theatrical perspectives. The study contends that Ola Rotimi created/developed simplicity of style both in his playwriting and in theatre practice. The study also notes that Rotimi has created the drama and theatre of lasting quality through his knowledge of the culture and tradition of his people and his copious deployment of Para-linguistic aesthetics in his plays. Rotimi anchores all these on his knowledge of world theatre in his practice, thus creating the phenomenon of total theatre. The study concludes that the laws of the theatre are provisional and subject to change, derived from creativity and not from theory.KEYWORDS: Ola Rotimi, Aesthetic Dimensions, African Theatre, Playwriting, Para-linguistic aesthetics, Theatre Practice

An Exploration into the Satiric Significance of Abuse in Selected Nigerian Drama

A general survey of the contemporary Nigerian theatre and drama reveals that several contemporary Nigerian dramatists have harnessed the art of abuse—invectives— as a device for conveying meanings in their works and achieving their satiric goals. These dramatists create characters that engage abuse to articulate the thematic concerns of their drama, accentuate the conflicts in them, and establish the socio-cultural and political setting of their drama. Although extant works on satiric plays have focused on the use of language, and other satiric devices such as grotesque, irony, burlesque, innuendo, sarcasm, among others (Adeoti 1994; Adenigbo & Alugbin 2020; Mireku-Gyimah 2013; Nyamekye & Debrah 2016), sufficient scholarly attention has not been given to the art of abuse as a trope in Nigerian drama. The article explores the artistic significance of abuse and its forms in selected works of two contemporary Nigerian dramatists: Femi Osofisan’s Altine’s Wrath (2002) and Ola Rotimi’s Who is a Patriot? (2006). These two plays are selected because they manifest ample deployment of the art of abuse and engage various sociopolitical issues. Hence, the article discusses how the art of abuse in these plays projects and addresses such sociopolitical realities as oppression, exploitation, resistance, self-interest versus national interest, and capitalism, among others. The article engages the principles of superiority theory of humour as espoused by Henri Bergson (2003) for textual analysis. It contends and concludes that abuse, as an inherent part of social and human interactions, has been an effective tool in satirising ills in individuals and society at large.

Kemi Atanda Ilori. The Theatre of Ola Rotimi: Power, Politics and Postcolonialism. Leeds: Universal, 2017, viii + 156 pp., €21.90 (paperback).

Article Kemi Atanda Ilori. The Theatre of Ola Rotimi: Power, Politics and Postcolonialism. Leeds: Universal, 2017, viii + 156 pp., €21.90 (paperback). was published on May 1, 2021 in the journal Journal of Contemporary Drama in English (volume 9, issue 1).