ABSTRACT
This book examines the depiction of the Delta region of Nigeria through literature and other cultural art forms.
The Niger Delta has been thrust into the global limelight due to resource extraction and conflict, but it is also a region with a rich culture, environment, and heritage. The creative imagination of the area’s artists has been fuelled by the area’s pressing concerns of indigenous peoples, minority discourse, environmental degradation, climate change, multinational corporations' greed, dictatorship, and people’s struggle for control of their resources. Taking a holistic approach to the Niger Delta experience, this book showcases artistic responses from literature, visual arts, and performances (such as masquerades, dances, and festivals). Chapters cover authors, artists, and performers such as Ben Okri, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Isidore Okpewho, J.P. Clark, and Bruce Onobrakpeya, as well as topics like the famous Benin bronze figures and Urhobo Udje dance.
Affirming the wealth and diversity of the region which continues to inspire creative artistic productions, The Literature and Arts of the Niger Delta will be of interest to researchers of African literature, arts, and other cultural productions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |22 pages
The background
part |50 pages
Oratures and traditional festivals
part |42 pages
Visual arts
chapter 8|14 pages
Urhobo culture and modernism
part |39 pages
Popular culture
chapter 10|13 pages
Cosmopolitans at one with homeland
chapter 12|11 pages
“Warri no dey carry last”
part |38 pages
Environmentalism
part |48 pages
Conflict literature
chapter 16|11 pages
“The perfection of chaos”
part |36 pages
Of writers and personages