Memory, Exile and Identity: A Negotiated Post-Apartheid South Africa in John Kani’s nothing But the Truth (Published)
Memory, exile and identity are part of the psychical configurations that embody the experience of man within the spatial location he occupies and that in which he achieves rigmarole of the performances of different activities akin to the idea of the ‘Waiting for Godot’. Exile has precipitated memories which invariably mould and reconstruct identities, rendering them fluid and malleable. This paper examines the invention and reinvention of memory in John Kani’s Nothing But the Truth (2002) as it affects how justice is perceived and how reconciliation and forgiveness are issued. It also investigates how Kani’s characters navigate the murky waters of a conflated experience in dual identities, informed by exile, and how shifts and adjustments are made to accommodate the products of crossed borders to achieve a resounding reconciliation, having blurred, repressed, or better still, obliterated the dictates and vestiges of the wounded past. It is inferred, therefore, that the reconstruction of the unpalatable past will engender concrete cohesion beyond all existing divides in a new South Africa provided remorse is shown for past deeds and individual identity subsumed under the national identity.
Keywords: Identity, Memory., New South Africa, Remorse, Spatial Space
Niaja No Dey Carry Last: Pius Adesanmi and the Complexity of a Nation in Progress (Published)
Over the years Nigerian writers have consistently sustained the relationship between literature and politics. They perceptively engaged this connection since the colonial era, with the stages of the nation’s political development at the centre of the discourse. The reason is not farfetched; literature is a reflection of the environment in which it evolves. A writer’s ideology is shaped by the society and bears witness to its humanity. As imaginative as art is, it is the expression of a larger background: every work of literature signifies a time, place and people. An indication of the importance of art in the society is exposed in the way literature has remained part of the progress of man and his surroundings. Thus, one of the fundamental arguments of literature in exploring this relationship is to establish the fact that Literature and politics are intrinsically tied. Therefore, this paper investigates the concept of national and sustainable development in Pius Adesanmi’s NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST. It explores the use of satire to create political awareness and national memory. Furthermore, this paper scrutinizes the growth of Nigeria’s democracy and the commitment of successive leaders. It arrivals at the conclusion that NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST provides evidence that retention of national memory guarantees hope for a recovered Nigeria of the future and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Keywords: Memory., NAIJA NO DEY CARRY LAST, Nigerian Literature, Politics, Satire, Sustainable Development Goals