Browsing by Author "Ogunmekan Damilare"

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    A Review of Jeta Amata's Black November
    (National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, Nigeria., 2023) Ogunmekan Damilare
    e relationship between film and the society is inextricable considering that they both mirror one another. While the society provides art and theatre with (operative) materials, art and the theatre have in return served the society as an X-ray of reality and option of reformation and reconstruction. In most cases, it portrays the historic past, immediate present and also has served prognostic purposes. e paper contends that films offer the society a lens from whence its societal behaviours, policies and the realities of people may be apprehended. Jeta Amata's Black November (2012) serves a microcosmic example of the realities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which is discussed in this paper. e paper contend that Jeta Amata's Black November is an agitation propaganda film that exposes the politics in oil pilfering and the aer effect on communities in the Niger Delta area. e paper concludes that pragmatic steps should be taken to address issues in the Niger Delta so as ensure security of lives and property in the area; and more, provide a viable grievance mechanism to cater for inter/intra community and multinational relationships.
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    Aesthetics of Cultures: The Yoruba Culture in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame
    (ETKI: Journal of Literature, Theatre and Culture Studies, 2023) Ogunmekan Damilare
    Abstract In the face of world power tussle, many cultures today are endangered and threatened. As some have been widely encroached by foreign and imposing nations, some are on the track of extinction. Annexation ideologies and appropriation programs are developed by ambitious countries and under different shrouds to possess other national territories. A notable culprit is the western cultural hegemony and self sought imperialism which is otherwise sugar-coated as civilization. While many independent nations have assimilated foreign cultures in guises of education, migration, and foreign interventions, many nations still nurse the brunt of colonialism. Unfortunately, cultural etiolation continues today with many unsuspecting nations falling victims. The causations for the decline in the traditional gamut of these societies are often hinged upon various instances. A notable mention is the lost Harappan civilization. Once one of the oldest civilisations and often classified with the Mesopotamian, Chinese and Egyptian civilization, the Harappan civilisation has now plunged into a site of research and excavational discoveries. Also, Ajawa, a formal language of the people of Bauchi state in Nigeria has become extinct. Thus, there is no gainsaying that these extinction of cultural values and traditions portend detrimental consequences for our futures than benefits. This is the more reason efforts must be made towards documentation in as many forms as possible. Such preservation mission could help to save cultural values like that of the Yoruba people of western Nigeria and others which may be endangered soon. Playwriting is a way to keep the flag hoisted. Writers such as Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Ahmed Yerima, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ama Ata Aidoo, Efua T. Sutherland, Tawfiq al-Hakim, among many others must be reckoned with for their efforts on African literature. These literary works are archival of African cultures. It is in this light that this paper considers the Yoruba cultural aesthetics in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame. Using literary analysis method, this paper categorises Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame as a play that documents the Yoruba indigenous culture and it examines Yoruba cultural elements like, oral tradition, dance, song, language, proverbs and wise-sayings, etc., in the play. This paper establishes the importance of documentation in cultural preservation. Some of the existing and endangered Yoruba cultural values are among those discussed in this paper. Imperatively therefore, to sustain African cultural values like that of the Yorubas, and keep them from extinction or obsolescence, efforts must be channelled towards writing plays and literature that document and celebrate African histories and cultures.
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    African Philosophy and Playwriting: Reflections on Ahmed Yerima’s Abobaku
    (International Review of Literary Studies, 2024) Ogunmekan Damilare
    The concept of philosophy is such that it not only permeates but also holds sway over diverse areas of human life as much as it commands pertinence in every academic discipline. This also holds sway in playwriting, especially in the African context. However, the cognition of playwriting principles and African philosophical exploration are often scrapped. Therefore, This study looks into the concept of philosophy in generic terms and among Africans. Although it paraphrases the controversy on the existence of African philosophy, it also extrapolates playwriting principles for making a good play and the reflection of African philosophies in African plays. Using the analytic method, it analyses Ahmed Yerima’s Abobaku as a paradigm for this study. It concludes on the importance of paying cognizance to the culture, philosophy, and history of a people as useful substances for playwriting.
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    Biodiversity, Ecomusicology and Fostered Nominal Ecology
    (Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 2024) Ogunmekan Damilare
    The trajectory of different nations of the world has recently been fixated on climate actions and sustainability. The African continent has joined the train too, as countries begin to take strides toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals on sustainable society and climate action. Thus, it becomes necessary to inquire about the viability of a combination of the traditional beliefs and cultural ethos with ecological projects, in achieving these sustainable development goals. Could the already established indigenous systems in Africa be of practical contribution to the protection of biodiversity, environmental sustainability, and other climate actions? Could these already institutionalised and ethnographic programmes engender inclusive climate activity? Nigeria boasts of diverse ecological and biocentric indigenous beliefs, cultures and practices. One of such is the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove. This grove is a concentration of flora and fauna diversity, which has been preserved for years and has also been rooted in spiritual and physical beliefs. Some of the fauna species found in this grove are the African Civet, African giant Snail, and African giant Rat, among others which include Aves. Some flora species include African teak, Camwood, Palm tree, bamboo, and a host of others. Also, music has played a major role in the advocacy for conservation and environmental protection. Singing some songs at the Osun-Osogbo grove and during the Osun-Osogbo festival ensures orientation, sensitisation and promotion of eco-friendly habits, thereby serving ecomusicological purposes. This study therefore focuses on the Osun-Osogbo grove and indigenous values to present a possible sustainable society. Thus, as a response to climate change, this paper draws on these values and the Osun-Osogbo grove to propose conservationism, and artificial cultivation of biodiversity for climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience, using indigenous methods.
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    CHILDREN AS PARTICIPANTS IN TERRORISM: UCHE AGUH’S SAMBISA (2016) AS A PARADIGM
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2025) Ogunmekan Damilare
    In 2002, the organization, Jamat Al Asunnah Lid-Da’wa’l-Jihad popularly known as Boko Haram was created in North Eastern Nigeria. This organization which was founded by Mohammed Yusuf was to later adopt the ideology that Western Education was Forbidden. The decolonial stance of Boko Haram later degenerated into its campaign of violence, leading to the killing of its founder by the Nigerian state. Interestingly, the role of children in the advancement of the Boko Haram insurgency and how this impacts their psychological lives seems to have been overlooked in scholarship on terrorism. There remains a dearth of critical underpinning on how all of the above is represented in Nigerian film. To this end, this study examines child participation in terrorism in Nigeria and its effect on the psychological well-being of the child. Using the Boko Haram terrorist group as a paradigm, the authors argue that children, especially the girl child play a major role in the advancement of terrorism in Nigeria. The study engages in a content analysis of Uche Aguh’s film, Sambisa (2016) to interrogate the challenges the child encounters in the face of terrorism in Nigeria and examines children as major actors in the enterprise of terrorism in Nigeria.
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    People, planet and performance: from Africa to the World, highlights and reflections
    (Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre, University of Regina, Canada., 2023) Ogunmekan Damilare
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    Transculturalism and Culinary Fiesta in Adeola Osunkojo’s The Life of a Nigerian Couple
    (postScriptum: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Literary Studies, 2019) Ogunmekan Damilare
    When the Canadian Professor, public intellectual and philosopher, Herbert Marshall McLuhan, prophesied that “the world is fast becoming a global village”, man did not realise how fast this would be. Multiculturalism, Interculturalism, Transculturalism, Technological advancement and other socio-cultural processes and innovations have made this possible. In Nigeria, the multiplicity of cultures has culminated into an influx of traditional values, and norms. These norms and values include the culinary traditions. The culinary tradition is an aesthetic experience that is pleasing to the senses and also in the transnational space. Transculturality stems from the convergence of various cultures. It is not a rarity to witness a marriage of foods from different cultural backgrounds. Varieties of foods are fully captured in culinary fiestas in ceremonies such as weddings, burials, birthday parties, among others. The Amiedi, Owho-evwri, and Usi of the Urhobo people of the Niger Delta, the Amala, Ewedu and Gbegiri of the Yoruba people, and the Tuwo Shinkafa in Northern Nigeria do not only portray the multiplicity of foods in Nigeria, they also mirror the complex nature of determining one’s taste, especially in homes where couples are from different cultural backgrounds. Consequently, this paper advocates transculturality in the Nigerian culinary traditions. It uses content analysis methodological investigative approach to examine polemic(s) of preference of food among couples in Adeola Osunkojo’s short film, The Life of a Nigerian Couple. The paper is anchored upon Fernando Ortiz’s 1947 theory of Transculturalism, the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures. This research reveals that food is an art and as such can only be evaluated within the context of the culture from which it emanates. We conclude that the advocacy for a transcultural Nigerian society will not only facilitate peaceful coexistence, it will also serve as machinery that would improve culinary processes in Nigeria and beyond.