Department of English

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    A Reconceptualization of Yoruba African Culture in the Age of Globalization and COVID-19
    (The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Change, 2023) Adebayo Abidemi Olufemi
    Abstract The paper interrogates the culture of the indigenous people of the Southwest Nigeria, the Yoruba people, in the face of the global pandemic, the Coronavirus. It is a study which has been motivated by the fact that the Yoruba culture which prides itself as the best and superior culture in the local parlance has been compelled to adjust to an unforeseen circumstance from a clime offshore. The Yoruba social philosophy and cultural orientations constitute part of and symbolize a form of African culture which has been seen by Africans as a closed culture. It is, therefore, of a critical note that Yoruba culture is no longer as it used to be in the pre-COVID-19 era. For example, the people have realized that the Yoruba alterna tive medicine may not be as potent and this is contrary to practitioners’ claims. Also, the Yoruba masses tend to desist from idolizing the political elite as before when the political office holders were seen as indomitable and super humans. In addition, the cultural orientation that the congregation is less important than the clergy has changed or is changing after all, and the sub-culture of the immoral category of the society, the tuale sub-culture, is being standardized. This is contrary to the closed stance that the Yoruba culture custodians maintain on this culture as an African culture. This signifies that the Yoruba culture is not insulated from dyna mism that characterizes a culture, and that the culture is no superior as claimed. Keywords Yoruba culture · Southwest Nigeria · COVID-19 · African culture · Tuale sub-culture · Global pandemic
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    Literary Creativity and the Condition of the Nigerian Writer in theAge of Globalization and Capitalist Economy
    (SAVANNAH JOURNALOF LANGUAGE, LITERATUREAND COMMUNICATIONSTUDIES (SAJOLLCOS), 2024-12) Adebayo Abidemi Olufemi
    Abstract This paper examines the impact of social change on the Nigerian literary writer in the contemporary Nigerian society. The social change in the country, as in the rest of Africa, has been occasioned by globalization within a capitalist economy which Nigeria practices. Such change in the Nigerian social consciousness has made the African literary writer redefine his/her social identity and more than ever place emphasis on material acquisition. The new orientation of wealth acquisition, however, conflicts with the age-long stereotype of the African literary writer as an austere scholar whose main essence of living is to serve as a watchdog on the ills of the society. This is a reflection of the tenets of the philosophical theory of Determinism as the theoretical framework for the study. Globalization has exposed the Nigerian populace to glamorous lifestyle of Western celebrity, which the society expects the African literary writer to satisfy, in a stifling capitalist economy. Yet, literature, the means of income for the writer, has lost its dominance as the primary source of enlightenment in Nigeria. This may indicate that literary creativity is negatively affected in Nigeria. Consequently, vocational literary creativity may not be so lucrative to many people as a viable source of income. The writer is, therefore, caught between his/her role as the conscience of the society and the expectation of wealth acquisition that the glamour of globalization and an austere economy has madethesociety have of him/her. Key words: Literature, Globalization, African literary writer, Capitalism, Social change
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    Postmodern cynic appraisals of Africa’s geriatric culture of social development in the age of western globalisation and millennial consciousness
    (HUMANUS DISCOURSE, 2023) Adebayo Abidemi Olufemi
    Abstract The paper interrogates the sub-culture of the older generation of the African population and aspires to ascertain if this class of the African population can drive the development of the continent. The research is motivated by the control that the older generation in Africa asserts as they by the virtue of their mature ages and experiences are at the helms of affairs in divergent walks of life on the African continent, particularly in political administration. The paper employs Hollis Chenery's model of Structural-Change Theory which emphasises the patterns of development as the appropriate approach to economic development of a nation as the Structural Change Theory maintains that many countries of the world acquires wealth through different channels. In Africa, a sizeable number of the people in position of authority especially in governance are in the geriatric category of the population and do characteristically exhibit such tendencies as inordinate avarice, ostentation, self supremacy, suppression of the views of women, retributive vengeance with African voodoo, monarchial absolutism, superstition, financial prayer miracle, multiple births, as well as the beliefs that elders should not be queried on their deeds and actions. All of these attributes characterise the traditional African culture, and go against the modern global cultural and attitudinal principles such as financial prudence, hard work, fundamental human rights and science. The social and economic development of the African continent may be stalled and its progress hampered as long as those at the helms of affairs on the continent refuse to approach governance with postmodern approaches and attitudes. There is indeed the need for overt repudiation and elimination of such unprogressive and unproductive traits such as avarice, abuse of women, self supremacy, superstition, conventionalism, and ostentation to mention but a few. Keywords: African culture, Postmodernism, Social development, Old generation, Globalisation
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    Nigeria’s Ghana-must-go slogan, Pan-Africanist diplomacy and the mediation of African literature in the age of globalization and sustainable development goals
    (AIPGG Journal of Humanities and Peace Studies, 2021) Adebayo Abidemi Olufemi
    Abstract: The statement Ghana must Go is a trade name of a brand of a utility bag in Nigeria. However, this nomenclature is a constant reminder of the 1983 expulsion of Ghanaian nationals from Nigeria. Since the expression is derogatory, it naturally threatens the bilateral diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Ghana, and portends a diplomatic row that has the potential to escalate. The study was motivated by the principle of pan-Africanism as its theoretical framework. The threat to the bilateral interaction between Nigeria and Ghana is opposed to the realization of the SDG Goal 16: Peace & Justice and this erodes the partnership accord that the United Nations intends in SDG Goal 17. The Consequence of this is that SDG Goal 8: Economic Growth is un actualized because of diplomatic row. This goes against Goal 1: No Poverty and Goal 2: Zero Hunger. The paper opines that African literature is capable of healing the wound already caused. This is because literature is a formidable tool for social enlightenment, civil education, history preservation and popular source of societal entertainment. The African Literature’s task of re-orientating the Nigeria-Ghana civil societies is capable of averting the disaffection from exacerbating. This task with which African literature could be saddled, unavoidably, is appropriately discharged when the prominent Nigerian and Ghanaian literary writers such as Wole Soyinka write pacifist literary works. Other African nations need contribute to the fence-mending efforts. By this, the disaffection which the Ghana-must-Go Nigerian civil culture is capable of engendering in the Nigeria-Ghana diplomacy will be subdued. 102 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3800152 AIPGG Journal of Humanities and Peace Studies Vol. 2. NO 1.2021 Keywords: African Literature, African culture, Pan-Africanism
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    An avant-garde re-conceptualization of African (Yoruba) culture in the age of Corona-virus, western consciousness, and globalization
    (AIPGG Journal of Humanities and Peace Studies, 2022) Adebayo Abidemi Olufemi
    Abstract: The paper examines the new social and cultural orientations in Africa with specific emphasis on the Yoruba society in Southwest Nigeria. Such new orientations constitute the new components of Yoruba culture as occasioned by the unprecedented negative effects of Covid-19 in Southwest Nigeria. Such novel cultural constituents are strange to the traditional African culture and social life. These novel cultural constituents include demystification of African (Yoruba) mysticism and apothecary, defeatist attack on African communalism, restriction on the showy O wambe (social gathering or fun party) philosophy, as well as cautious resentment of migration to the West or to the East which brings along with it the de-internationalization of the sensory taste. These novel cultural constituents tend to be in tandem with the contemporary global cultural and social realities. As such, the traditional African (Yoruba) cultural practices and beliefs (such as communalism) in their pristine nature are lackluster, and consequently do expose the people to the ravaging effects of Covid-19 pandemic. More evident dangers could be noted in the futility of the African cultural assumptions such as the perceptions of the traditional Yoruba people about the gods and prophets who are seen as their saviors whereas the custodians of the gods and those who claim to be of God interceding for the people possess manipulated identities. The new cultural philosophy has resulted in the progressive alliance with the Western values and a re-evaluation of globalization as a result of its both negative and positive effects. This could be deduced, respectively, from the global spread of Covid-19 and new found austerity among the Yoruba people as a novel cultural tenet. Key words: African culture, Covid-19, Globalization, Communalism, Southwest Nigeria