Introduction / Tanure Ojaide and Enajite Eseoghene Ojaruega -- Towards a Bio-regional, Politico-Historical, and Socio-Cultural Identity of the Niger Delta / Tanure Ojaide -- Form and Content of Ibibio Traditional Festivals: Ekpo, Ekpe and Mbopo / Effiok Bassey Uwatt -- Traditional Ijo Poetry / Imomotimi Armstrong -- The Cultural Aesthetics of Benin Traditional Festival Performances / Josephine Ebiuwa Abbe -- Urhobo Udje: An Indigenous Satiric Genre / Tanure Ojaide -- Benin Art: Changes Through Time and Space / Ndubuisi C. Ezeluomba -- Urhobo Culture and Modernism: Configuring Mutual Reinforcements in the Art of Bruce Onobrakpeya / dele jegede -- Art for Land and Water: An Artistic Geography of the Western Niger Delta / Perkins Foss -- Cosmopolitans at One with Homeland: Niger Delta Popular Musicians from Rex Lawson and Victor Uwaifo to Omawumi and Burna Boy / Senayon Olaoluwa -- Explorations in Pidgin Poetry from the Niger Delta / Sunny Awhefeada -- "Warri No Dey Carry Last": The Niger Delta in Nigeria's Stand-Up Comedy Imaginary / James Tar Tsaaior -- Environmentalism in Modern Poetry of the Niger Delta / Onyemaechi Udumukwu -- Nature's Animism and its Appropriation in Niger Delta Poetry / Reuben Kehinde Akano -- Narrative Constructions of Eco-disharmony in Selected Niger Delta Novels / Saeedat Aliyu -- 'The perfection of chaos': Heeding the nostalgic imperative in selected works by Ben Okri / Rosemary Gray -- From the Niger Delta's Viewpoint: The Nigerian Civil War Literature / Enajite Eseoghene Ojaruega -- Bearing Witness: A Taxonomy of Dissent in J.P. Clark-Bekederemo's Plays / Mabel Evwierhoma -- Representation of the Niger Delta in Nollywood / Gloria Ernest-Samuel -- Literature, Eco-activism and the Saro-Wiwa Imaginary / Sule Emmanuel Egya -- The Poetics of Place and the Niger Delta Minority Discourse in Festus Iyayi's Fiction / Mathias Orhero -- Passivity and Agency: The The Dillemma of Female Characters in Works of Zulu Sofola, Buchi Emecheta, and Tess Onwueme / Asabe Usman Kabir.
Summary:
"This book examines the depiction of the Delta region of the Niger through literature and other cultural art forms. The Niger Delta of Nigeria has been thrust into the global limelight due to resource extraction and conflict, but it is also a region with a rich culture, environment, and heritage. The creative imagination of the area's artists has been fuelled by the area's pressing concerns of indigenous peoples, minority discourse, environmental degradation, climate change, multinational corporations' greed, dictatorship, and people's struggle for control of their resources. Taking a holistic approach to the Niger Delta experience, this book showcases artistic responses from literature, visual arts, and performances (such as masquerades, dances, and festivals). Chapters cover authors, artists and performers such as Ben Okri, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Isidore Okpewho, J.P. Clark, and Bruce Onobrakpeya, as well as topics like the famous Benin bronze figures and Urhobo Udje dance. Affirming the wealth and diversity of the region which continues to inspire creative artistic productions, The Literature and Arts of the Niger Delta will be of interest to researchers of African literature, arts, and other cultural productions"--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.