UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities

D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and the legal overreach in its ban: A study of the implications for law and literature

Onyebuchi James Ile, Adaoma Igwedibia — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On the one hand, the Age of Enlightenment in Europe triggered off scientific discoveries and technological innovations. Science and Technology became yardsticks for progress in the world. This led to industrialization and the subsequent commodification and annihilation of emotion, spiritual and even sexual life of humankind; on the other hand, in the far East, Iran for example, there is radicalization of religious life and preference of religious life over emotional and sensual life. In Europe, the intellectual life became privileged over the emotional and intuitive life, human relations degenerated so much so that even families grew apart from themselves. Writers as D.H. Lawrence felt the need to draw our attention to the havoc being wreaked on human relations; while Rushdie felt outraged by deification of a man he considered sexually perverse. D.H. Lawrence achieves his aim through the text, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was adjudged by the law as pornographic and was, therefore, banned; while Salman Rushdie also achieves his through his The Satanic Verses, which was rather adjudged blasphemous and was also banned with Fatwa placed on the head of the writer. The objective of this paper was to examine aspects of the narrative as lawyers or judges would examine cases to see how Lady Chatterley’s Lover yielded to obscenity to warrant it being banned as well as to understand why the prosecutors failed and why the work was later unbanned. It examined also The Satanic Verses to also see how it yielded to blasphemy and to understand why it was not banned in Western Countries. It is hoped that this study would help in further understanding the relationship between Law and literature. The methodology deployed was textual data analysis; and it was concluded that the determining of justice in law involves interpretation just as interpretation is needed in the pursuit of meaning in the text; and that legal briefs as well as judgments are in themselves narratives just as literature is. Finally is it was concluded that law will eternally be deconstructive in the pursuit truth or fact just as literature the pursuit of meaning in literature will depend on the eternal deconstructive process.

How has the quest for itiwa sleeti aided the neglect of African indigenous languages?

Osita Nnajiofor — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Itiwa sleeti in a loose translation means “to break the slate,” is an aphorism that was used during colonial period and beyond by Igbo- Africans to denote an unbridled passion to the acquisition of western education. Due to the high cost of acquiring western education and the intellectual rigor involved, many African parents could not face this challenge at that point in time. As a result these parents later took up the remedial challenge of bequeathing their children this perceived asset which they didn’t get. Unfortunately, this unbridled pursuit has left many valuable African cultures to be neglected and subjugated on the long run. The disastrous impact of this neglect is felt in the use of African indigenous languages because many of them are currently endangered while some have gone into extinction. My aim in this essay is to show how the unbridled quest for western education has aided the neglect of African indigenous languages. Though, some external factors like multilingualism, (which is a fall out of mindless partitioning of the continent by the west), Over-reliance on foreign languages as official language of instructions by Africans and their government and underdeveloped vocabularies and concepts have necessitated this neglect. I argue that there is an internal factor that is pioneered by African parents to foist these foreign languages on their children with the “mind view” that foreign languages serve the “actual need” of the hour more than indigenous languages. I contend that since the indigenous languages help the African child to establish both emotional and intellectual closeness with their parents in communicating their feelings in their own indigenous language at home, then restoration of African indigenous languages should begin from the home since charity they say begins from home.

Nzipụta Mmekọrịta Mmadụ na Ekerechi n’Abụ Ederede Igbo a Họọrọ

Nkoli Nnyigide — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines selected Igbo written poems so as to observe the extent to which the poets have represented various natural phenomena such as trees, sun, moon, rain, among others and the relationship between man and his environment in their poems. It is obvious that some Igbo poets like the Western poets represent some natural phenomena in their creative works. Their major concern is to project these natural phenomena and enhance the relationship between humans and these phenomena through their literary works. In spite of the efforts of many Igbo poets in representing different natural phenomena in their poems, previous studies have shown that some Igbo literary scholars, critics, teachers and students show more interest in studying other issues represented in Igbo written poetry like issues that border on the society, politics, leadership, gender, religion, culture, economy, among others. This shows that they do not have interest in the natural phenomena and the purpose for their representation in written Igbo poetry. It is against this backdrop that this study examines the natural phenomena prominent in the selected Igbo written poems so as to identify the nature of relationship between these natural phenomena and man as projected by the poets. The study adopted the ecocritical literary theory in analysing the selected poems and the data were presented descriptively. From the analysis, this study reveal that the selected poems represented the importance of some natural phenomena to man especially the economic values. This study also observed that there is good relationship between the natural phenomena projected in the selected poems, among other findings. It is hoped that this study would help to project and enhance the relationship between man his environment.

Developing the child’s potentials through play: The police children’s college, Oji River experience

Emmanuel O. Iroh — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study seeks to identify traditional games, its uses and importance to the overall development (physical, mental, social, moral and intellectual) of the child. The study is participatory in approach and qualitative in nature. The work is based on the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud who opined that during play, the child expresses negative emotions which they have no control in their everyday lives. Freud sees play in terms of catharsis- purgation of emotions. It is his contention that playing provides a safe haven for the child to discharge these emotions and gain control, since play is intrinsically motivated. It is supported by the psychosocial theory of Lev Vygostsky, who views play as a significant tool for children’s development. According to him, children make meaning of their environment through play and that play helps to develop 85% of a child’s brain during the first five years of their life. The data for the study were collected using two methods, namely: practical experiment with the pupils and the participatory approach involving the researcher and primary three and four pupils of Police Children’s School, Oji River, Enugu State. The data from the various games played were assessed and analyzed using explanation analysis from the different practical sessions. Ten traditional games were selected and used by the researcher for the experiment. The researcher concludes that a child’s imaginative and problem-solving abilities are enhanced when they participate and play together as a group. The work therefore recommends the application and use of the traditional games in the education of the child as this will invariably lead to the production of a sound individual capable of contributing to the growth of our nation, Nigeria.

Teilhardian Evolutionism: A philosophical reconsideration

Hyginus Chibuike Ezebuilo, Dominic Chigozirim Iwuogu — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Philosophers, right from the Classical Greek period, have grappled with the problem of the origin, nature, and future of the universe. On one pole of the debate evolutionists who see the universe as an organism in the process of cosmic evolution. On the other pole of the debate are creationists who hold that reality was created by a supreme being. Interestingly, this debate has led to heated disagreements between these two rival camps. In the face of this problem, this work explores the view of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who proposes a unique theory of evolution which integrates some ideas of the creationists. This cosmic evolution, according to him, is the ongoing and unfolding process of the creative impulse, which is personalized in the human person until it reaches its apex in personal relationship with the transcendent at the Omega Point. This work attempts to expose Teilhard de Chardin’s entire theory of cosmic evolution; the stages of the process of cosmic evolution, the laws which govern the process and the end to which it tends, that is, the Omega Point. It points out the strengths and weaknesses of his arguments as well as the implications of his entire theory for the present human society. In the final analysis, this research work maintains that despite its obvious downsides, Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolutionism is remarkable for its synthesis of science with religion, its revelation of the uniqueness of the emergence of internet in the evolutionary continuum and its prognostication of a glorious future predestined for the cosmos from the very onset of evolution. Analytic method of research was employed.

A discursive reading of ideology, dominance and resistance in political texts

Kelvin Mathayo Lukanga — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The North (or the West) considers itself superior to the South and has thus arrogated to itself the right to ‘guide’ it in many a sphere, something that has gone down badly with some countries in the South, so much so that some of them resist this domination. It is against this background that this paper analyses four texts from the two contending geo-political zones to untangle discursive strategies of positive self-presentation and negative other presentation. Using Teun van Dijk’s (2006) ideological square, the paper analyses the texts concerning aspects of ideology, dominance and resistance. It has been found that Donald Trump and the European Parliament (representing the North), as well as John Pombe Joseph Magufuli and Nicolas Maduro (representing the South), deployed semantic macrostructures, macro-speech acts, the active voice and lexical resources, among others, to do positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation. The paper contends that the two sides deployed the strategies because the North wants to continue dominating and exploiting the South and the South wants to liberate itself from the chain the former placed around its neck centuries ago. About the South’s goal, the paper shows how the South could go it alone, with a bias towards Africa.

A government phonology analysis of assimilation in AnakỤ Igbo expressions: “ǹgịvụ” and “gbaa egbè”

Aghaegbuna Haroldson Uwaezuoke — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Assimilation, no doubt, is a major co-articulatory feature of human language involving two segments in binary asymmetric relation. In the Igbo language, there are vowel-vowel assimilation, vowel-syllable assimilation, syllabic nasal-consonant assimilation, vowel-consonant assimilation, and consonant-vowel assimilation. Using the Government Phonology framework, this paper analyses assimilation in Anakụ Igbo expressions, ǹgịvụ ‘you’ and gbaa egbè ‘shot gun’, which are examples of syllabic nasal-consonant assimilation and vowel-vowel assimilation respectively. The results reveal a relation of government existing between the sounds in the context of assimilation in the two words, whereby one of the sounds is the governor that has charmed the other sound as its governee. It is confirmed that assimilation in Anakụ Igbo variety adheres to the tenets of the Government Phonology.

Reminiscences of a legendary Nigerian art music composer and scholar, Dan Agu

Oghenemudiakevwe Igbi — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Many individuals have made remarkable contributions to the study of music in Nigeria, with their efforts, resulting in the formulation of theories, studies on African music, manpower production, and music compositions. The role of the music scholar is fraught with challenges which include reporting research findings, that can be very tricky without an in-depth knowledge of the subject; and teaching, which can also be misleading to learners without systematically applying suitable methods. In music, combining research with composition/performance further makes itintricate, since the system in Nigeria, makes it difficult to efficiently fuse scholarship with music practice. In most cases, music graduates are left with the option of electing between being a music scholar and music artiste. These concerns notwithstanding, Professor Dan Agu, was able to efficiently combine both areas, as he excelled in African music theory and practice, composition, performance, music education, and university administration. His research findings in these areas coupled with other experiences garnered in the field of music have been of immense benefit to many a people. The paper attempts to examine these contributions with focus on his personality, research, music composition and development of manpower. In eliciting data, the author relied on descriptive method, interviews and personal experiences garnered through observation of Dan Agu. Firstly, as a teacher where the author had a first-hand experience as an undergraduate student, and later, as a postgraduate candidate. The paper found that Agu’s scholarly works are rich in scope and content. It is recommended that his creative and scholarly works be compiled and published in books of different volumes to enable wider circulation in the academic spaces.

The significance of music in African culture: A study of Ogbanigbe Festival in Ukwu-Nzu Aniocha Local Government, Delta State.

Marian Edohan Chukwuma — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Music is a cultural expression interpreted, determined, moulded and coloured by culture and the cultural environment of a people, it plays a vital role in various aspects of celebrations amongst societies in Nigeria. In festivals, for example, music expresses the culture of the people. This study examined the role and significance of music in African culture in Ogbanigbe festival in Ukwu-nzu with emphasis on ideology, belief systems, organizational structures, significance of music practices, and mode of dressing, dialect, and communal activities. Its main objective is to critically study the music of ogbanigbe festival and collate ethnology materials that distinguish, differentiate and separate one community from another. The theory adopted for this paper is functionalism theory; the functionalism theory is used to define culture in relation to the reality of change. It traces the evolution of phenomena, the emphasis of culture on norms, tenets and values. The methodology used for the study is survey method, oral interview and fieldwork to assess the basic principles that are common in the musical culture of ukwu-nzu people during the ogbanigbe festival. In ukwu-nzu town, New Yam festival is associated with Ogbanigbe festival similar to some villages in Aniocha nomenclature. Four songs texts were selected and interpreted, the paper conclude that the significance of music in festival plays a huge role to showcase the cultural practices and beauty. Suggestions were made for the sustenance of cultural music in festivals.

Translocation and migrants’ live-in experiences: A literary discourse on select novels

Abigail Oaikhena, Sandra Egbunike — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

With the huge surge of African migrants in the West, especially in the post Covid-19 era, it becomes important to investigate these migrants’ experiences as portrayed in literary texts by writers. Hence, this research examines the representation of migrant challenges in African literature through a critical discourse on two contemporary novels: Abdulrazak Gurnah's Gravel Heart and Helon Habila's Travelers. Adopting Homi Bhabha’s theory, hybridity, the study focuses on how these literary works depict the struggles of African Migrants as they navigate and interpret both cultures– West/African while in the diaspora in order to survive. The discourse highlights the issues of displacement, dislocation, alignment, cultural identity, and the struggle for survival in a foreign land. By exploring the similarities and differences between the two novels, the paper reveals the complexity and diversity of African migrant experiences as it provides insights into the broader issues of globalization, colonialism, and migration. Ultimately, the research argues that African literature plays a crucial role in shaping our understanding of the migrant experiences and in promoting social justice and human rights.