Browsing by Author "Akinsete, C. T."

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Active and passive voices/direct and indirect speech forms
(Ibadan University Press, Publishing House, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2019) Akinsete, C. T.
Child character, sexual trauma and postmodern realities in Toni Kan's nights of the creaking bed
(Faculty of Arts, University of Jos, Nigeria, 2023-06) Akinsete, C. T.
This paper critiques the interface between child character and sexual trauma in Toni Kan’s Night of a Creaking Bed. The book, which is a collection of short stories, accentuates sexual realities of child characters in a postmodern African milieu. The depiction of abrasive sexual reactions in these stories defies sex as morally exclusive, as practised in pre-colonial and early modern African societies. The aim of this paper is foregrounded in sexual trauma and its effects on child characters in short stories that appraise postmodern Nigerian society. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis serves as theoretical base for this paper, with pinpoint focus on Jean Laplanche’s theory of general seduction. Using the qualitative research as methodology, this research examines five selected short stories in Toni Kan’s collection, which captures postmodernist version of sexual realities experienced by child characters. This paper therefore pontificates on societal intricacies and consequences of sexually traumatised child characters, within the purview of Nigerian environs, as a result of (direct or indirect) exposure to sex and/or sex related activities at a tender age.
Dissent and denunciation in ebi yeibo's the fourth masquerade
(2016) Akinsete, C. T.
One of the socio-political conditions affecting the African society right from the twilight of the twentieth century is the overwhelming widespread of terrorism. Nigeria too has been on the front page of world news due to the irascible activities of the notorious sect called Boko Haram. This research therefore investigates how Ebi Yeibo, a contemporary Nigerian poet, in his collection The Fourth Masquerade, has portrayed and reacted to the nefarious ordeals of this sect. The theoretical framework intended for the analysis of this collection a sub-tenet of postcolonialism, which is colonial mentality. While the proponents of this critical perspective argue that a homogenous group of people often associate themselves with foreign ways, this paper examines the anti-colonial mentality attributes that the Boko Haram sect claims to promote to the world as one of its key creeds, arguing that the sect exhibits principle of colonialism, such as control, power, and so on. An overview of the different perspectives of the poet's portrayal of the Boko Haram sect will certainly be the thrust of this research. Attention will be paid to the dissent and denunciative voice of the poet expressed in viciously stem tone through which the poet questions, ridicules and eventually castigates the very identity of the sect.
From historical fiction to historiographic metafiction: Lawrence Hill’s the book of negroes as deviant Literature
(2023) Akinsete, C. T.
Scholars have debated the classification of the African American literature as a plain historic text, which further stimulates the controversy between history and literature. It is on this presumption that this paper critically explored Lawrence Hills’ The Book of Negroes, more as a subversive text, which is constructively predisposed to certain postmodern stylistic techniques. While amplifying obtrusive matters that still affect the black race in contemporary American society, it is observed that Hill employs Historiographic Metafiction to creatively reconceptualise the narrative of African American slave history. By implication, the fictional mode in The Book of Negroes deconstructs a fixed categorisation of historical hermeneutics of African American slave narratives, as limited to the issues of slavery, captivity, racism, oppression, and so on. While using qualitative approach as methodology, Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction served as theoretical framework, complemented by Linda Hutcheon’s conception of historiographic metafiction. As a stylistic import, this paper submits that historiographic metafiction is substantiated as a counterdiscourse against the lopsided criticism that deprecates black history and literary artistry as immaterial. With reference to its literary originality, The Book of Negroes is therefore categorised as a deviant form of black writing in contemporary times.
Generic context of prose fiction in literary appreciation
(Ibadan University Press, Publishing House, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2019) Akinsete, C. T.
Metaphor of invisibility as counter-hegemonic discourse in Ralph Ellison’s invisible man
(2017) Akinsete, C. T.
Throughout history, the trope of invisibility has always been ascribed to black Americans, right from period of intense slavery till twentieth century post-emancipation era and beyond. And for centuries, African American literature has always exposed racist inclinations and identity disillusionment that have characterised blacks as the periphery of the American society. Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man encapsulates the postcolonial preoccupations of despotism, racial discrimination, as well as physical and mental subjugation often associated with blacks in American society. Beyond this notion, this paper re-engages invisibility as a metaphor that deconstructs the oppressive stance of racism. It further explores the trope of invisibility not as element of physical and psychological subjugation, but as inherent reconstruction of black assertiveness.
Modern African child and agency for decolonisation in select nigerian novels
(University of Calabar Press Calabar - Nigeria, 2020) Akinsete, C. T.
The paper extends beyond the portrayal of Chukwuemeka Ike’s The Bottle Leopard as the postcolonial text which describes the colonialised African society and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus as feminist text. It interrogates the stronghold of colonial mentality and disillusionment that characterises the Modem African child in the quest for self-assertion and search for identity. Due to the colonial encounter, the indigenous identity of the African child has suffered disapproving retrogression, resulting into lack of confidence in African values. This paper, therefore, argues that the Modem African child today is still a victim of colonialism and remains at a crossroad in the unending search for self- discovery. It submits that the African child has been neglected and foregrounds Ike’s stance that Western education, as well as Adichie’s reflections on effects of Western religion, though part of the development phases of Modem African child, cannot continue to inhibit indigenous African ways of life.
Paranoia, linguistic ambivalence and erotic sexuality as postmodern techniques in K. Sello Duiker’s the quiet violence of dreams
(Department of Linguistics and African Languages, Qbafemi AwoIowo University lle-lfe, Nigeria, 2020-06) Akinsete, C. T.
African literature in the twenty-first century still projects a robust trail of postcolonial discourses, strongly tied with African thematic refrains, and aptly foregrounded by the agency of postcolonialism. However, there has been an insurrection of stylistic changes from African writers as far as back as the twentieth century, among which is K. Sello Duiker. This study engages Duiker’s deviation from the social realist style of writing, given the fact that Duiker’s renowned novel, The Quiet Violence of Dreams, strongly identifies with postmodern literary trends. Therefore, this essay attempts at critical analysis of paranoia, linguistic ambivalence and erotic sexuality in the novel, with the view to foregrounding its symmetrical stance with postmodernism within African context. One argues further that the novel cannot be restricted to a distinct narrative or interpretation, which stems from the overexploitation of postcolonial themes.
The postmodern pulse of postproverbials in African cultural space
(Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2019) Akinsete, C. T.
The last few decades of the twentieth century witnessed influx of Western theories into African scholarship. This is gradually being deconstructed with preponderant discourse of decolonization, as a contemporary theme in postcolonial Africa. The practice of postproverbiality, which resonates during the same historical phase, indicates transgressive subversion of alternate creations that run parallel with postmodern temperance. This study, therefore, examines the postmodern pulse as a significant component of the aesthetics and values of postproverbiality pulse in contemporary African literary cum cultural space. The aim is to foreground the theoretical significance of postmodernism as the compelling forte of postproverbiality and in furtherance, to articulate the postmodern presence in contemporary African literary space. Part of the research objectives is to critically analyse the socio-cultural content and context of postproverbials and explore the postmodern pulse of selected postproverbial forms as the prostheses of conventional African proverbs.
Postproverbial irony in contemporary African cultural expressions
(Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Josip Juraj Strossmayer, University of Osijek, 2024) Akinsete, C. T.
Irony is one of the most common literary techniques applied to the study of world literature, right from Classical times to the present day. Having reflected on proverbial irony as a literary concept, this research argues for the need to construe and critique the phenomenon of postproverbial irony, being featured in contemporary African cultural expressions but yet to be critically engaged. This paper, therefore, attempts to examine the theoretical perception of postproverbial irony as a literary phenomenon, particularly in some African languages such as Yoruba, Shona, Luganda, Kiswahili, and Luo, with applicable tenets of transgression and subversions as postproverbial theoretical model. The aim is to justify the literary presence of postproverbials as a complex but highly advanced cultural expression in postcolonial African societies. Against the backdrop of a lopsided view of only conditioning postproverbials as sheer blasphemous verbal/speech acts, part of the objectives of this paper is to showcase the irrefutable literary strength and depth of postproverbials as a viable literary concept as well as underscore its potential as part of critical research point in contemporary African cultural space.
Reconceptualising home, migratory impulse and disenchantment in Helon Habila’s travellers and Chimamanda Adichie’s americanah
(2021-07) Akinsete, C. T.; Ojo, I.
The problematisation of home in the twenty-first century is relatable to the discourse of migration. Existing studies have conceptualised the notion of home and migration from different socio-political perspectives. This paper, while attempting a contrastive of two salient texts, Helon Habila’s Travellers and Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah, extends on these studies by re-examining the concept, place and essence of home as well as the migratory impulse as the negative force for fuelling the condition of disenchantment. Habila’s Travellers (2019) is a novel that envisions the motifs of home and migration as a double-barrel gun which aggravates immigrants’ traumatic condition. Adichie’s Americanah (2013) strongly foregrounds the subject matter of home, and migratory impulse, while further projecting double disenchantment as a reality of migration. This study adopts Homi Bhabha’s concept of Unhomely and Edward Said’s Orientalism as pivotal postcolonial tenets, while the literary texts are subjected to critical interpretations, with the view to extending the narrative of migration as a key concept in the twenty-first century.
A review of Phil Nwoko’s dancing with the ostrich
(2016) Akinsete, C. T.
Sex, crime and urbanism as motifs of violence in selected thriller fictions of Leye Adenle
(2023-12) Akinsete, C. T.; Etiwe, J. D.
Leye Adenle’s thriller fictions, Easy Motion Tourist and When Trouble Sleeps, complement Nigeria’s creative writing landscape with recourse to distinct issues in contemporary Nigerian society, which serve as setting in the two novels. Against the backdrop of a rising spate of creative writing in Nigeria, attention is therefore paid to these literary specimens in relation to how the issues of sex and crime underscore the motif of violence. This study therefore investigated the tropes of sex, crime and urbanism as motifs of violence in Adenle’s popular fiction. The selected texts foregrounded the writer’s sense of creativity and imaginative prowess in establish-ing the connection between creative writing and society. Having underscored the rising tempo of Nigerian Thriller fiction in relation to critical issues raised in the texts, this research further established the relationship between literature and the society. Using Aspect of Cultural Studies theory, this study through these texts revealed critical reflections of the Nigerian society in contemporary times through critical investigation of salient thematic preoccupations connected to the notions of sex, crime and urbanism as catalyst which led to streams of violence in the novels. Further findings articulate a critical exploration of inherent literary tropes in the selected thriller texts, which pontificates towards popular fiction as a thriving genre in the Nigerian literary space.
War narratives, survivalism and trauma in Uzodinma Iweala's beast of no nation and Ishmael Beah's a long hay gone
(Department of English, Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria, 2022) Akinsete, C. T.; Oke, R. A.
In recent history, African writers and literary scholars have become pre-occupied with the discourse of war, violence and trauma in their creative and critical engagements. The themes of violent deaths, social angst and widespread disillusionment that presently characterize African society remain at the front burner of contemporary African discourse. This study, therefore, examines the socio-historical contexts of war narrative, survivalism and trauma in Uzodinma Iweala's Beast of No Nation and Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone Several critics have largely focused on thematic preoccupations such as death, violence, child soldiering, loss of identity, slaughter of innocence and even trauma, but little attention has been paid to the motif of survivalism and trauma in these war narratives, complemented by the exploration of post-traumatic stress techniques. Cathy Caruth's concept of trauma, complemented by Judith Herman's notion of trauma and recovery\ serves as theoretical framework of this paper Using the qualitative research as methodology, the paper critically explores the motif of survivalism vis-a-vis the experiences of victims of war and the postwar realities that these narratives tell, with the view to redefining human perception of war and its aftermaths
Women’s representation and environmental sustainability in the Niger Delta: a critique of two Nigerian novels
(2022) Akinsete, C. T.
This article examines the discourse of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region with a focus on the representation of women and their roles in environmental renaissance and sustainability in the Niger Delta. Women have traditionally been portrayed as victims of environmental degradation in contemporary Nigerian fiction. The objective of this article is to deconstruct the perception of female victimology by investigating the roles women in environmental sustainability, ecological regeneration and the development of African societies, especially in the Niger Delta. This article therefore attempts to foreground firm resolutions of women characters in May Ifeoma Nwoye’s Oil cemetery and Vincent Egbuson’s Love my planet in relation to human and environmental regeneration. This study employs eco-feminism, an aspect of Eco-criticism, to critique issues of women and environmental sustainability arising in the Niger Delta environment, their awareness of and responses to the ecological damage in the region.