1.1 Introduction
Femi Osofisan’s plays, Morountodun and Women of Owu, expose the historical and sociological experiences of women in war situations. Representing women as heroines, victims, or villains of war, both plays juxtapose their characters’ fate to the fate and status of women in mythico- historical texts on Yoruba historical wars. Whereas Women of Owu explores the detrimental effects of war on women’s bodies and minds as well as the lack of trust and solidarity among women, emphasizing the dehumanization, powerlessness, and economic subordination faced by women in a patriarchal society, Morountodun upholds resilient and strong women characters who, sacrificing themselves for the greater good, become active participants in history, intrepid warriors, and cultural heroes.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The use of history as a robust resource material in the African literary creativity is as old as the advent of modern African literature itself. This trend re-affirms the inevitability of the convergence of history and literature. In the symbiotic relationship, history feeds literature with factual events of the past the same way literature brings fullness to bear on such facts. Be this as it may, it is viewed that the use to which history is put by literature has taken diverse shades under different literary phases and/or canons. While we have writers, predominantly within the foremost African literary coterie, whose employment of history revels in the conventional historiography of “render it and leave it at that”, we also have writers (predominantly in the emergent radical canon) who employ the resource of history basically for the purpose of its dialectical dissection. In this connection, this paper seeks to investigate the radical use to which history is being put by writers of the latter canon. The thrust is to unravel how the text has employed the instrumentality of the historical resource of the war in the ancient Yoruba Kingdom of Owu to vehicle its revolutionary message.
The History of Yoruba, Ajayi and Smith’s Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century, and Justin Labinjoh’s Modernity and Tradition in the Politics of Ibadan: 1900-1975. Even with the bitter lessons of these historical wars, the Yoruba nationality has not enjoyed unity and cooperation in the contemporary time, particularly on the political and ideological fronts. This paper, therefore, has specific interest in how Nigerian playwrights have interpreted/re-interrogated some of these wars with the combination of historical facts and literary imagination in order to raise historical consciousness and create appreciation for a sustainable humane society. In particular, it focuses on the roles and fates of women in some of these wars as interpreted in the dramatic texts of Morountodun (1999) and Women of Owu (2011).
Femi Osofisan is one of the Nigerian playwrights who have shown serious concern in the re-interrogation of some of the Yoruba eighteenth- and nineteenth-century wars. Even though other playwrights, such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wale Ogunyemi, and Ahmed Yerima, have significantly contributed to the historical dramaturgy of these wars, this analysis focuses on Femi Osofisan’s Morountodun and Women of Owu because the two plays revolve around two historical and mythical experiences that have shaped the sociology and politics of the Yoruba nationality. In addition, these two plays reveal the roles and fates of women in war situations. The mythico-historical play, Morountodun, reveals the role and fate of the female-figure, Moremi of Ile-Ife, before, during, and after her stay in Igbo land in an attempt to save the Ife People. The play also presents a fictional character, Titubi, who plays a significant role in bringing the Agbekoya uprising to an end. Women of Owu reveals the fate of Owu women during and after the war between Owu and the allied forces of Ife, Ijebu, and Oyo.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Dramatization of History using Women of Owu and Morountodun.
1.3 Statement of Problems
African literature emerged out of a need to fill a vacuum; that is the gap in African literature is centered on voicelessness. For many years, the discipline of comparative African literature has been overshadowed by the study of literary influences. This is because all African authors belonging to what is commonly called ‘Modern African Literature’ have come under the influence of Western-type schools of broadly two different categories namely; the study of analogy or literary affinities and the study of influences or indebtedness of diversity, language and culture has constituted a myriad of problem to African Literatures.
One of the key issues in modern African literature is language. The multi-cultural character of African language and the emphasis on the protection of individual people’s linguistic identity have emasculated the great dream of the total institutionalization of modern African literatures. The question of identity and dignity in African literature in the writings of regional and national writers persists because of the prevailing socio-economic and political conditions in the continent and among the countries of the continent. Meanwhile, the language of African literature is another area of interests that has raised a lot of devastating issues among scholars and critics.
The major problem encountered in the course of this research was the dearth of critical materials on the focus play. Whereas there are a plethora of critical opinions on Femi Osofisan and his plays generally, Women of Owu, published in 2006, has, comparatively, attracted very little attention from critics. The research had to rely on the general opinions and the few extant ones that are specific on the play to articulate a framework for a critical engagement with the text. The first task here is to examine the structure of the textual relationship between Euripides’ play and Osofisan‟s adaptation of it, for the purpose of determining if there is mutual enhancement between them or if one text is privileged over the other. The next one is to situate both plays within their respective cultural matrices to appraise the extent to which they, individually, reflect the realities of gender value and expectations within those cultures.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to analyze the Dramatization of History using Women of Owu and Morountodun. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To analyze “Women of Owu and Morountodun by Femi Osofisan”
- To assess the Dramatization of History of Morountodun
- To explore the effects of war on women and children to draw more attention to victims of war in Nigerian using the play Women of Owu by Femi Osofisan
- To discuss the need to prevent wars and conflict to investigate possible remedies to the challenges
1.5 Significance of Study
This research shall examine the trauma women and children face during war by looking closely at Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu, and the suffering imposed by war, the empathy and pity for the victims of war especially the women in which to make war less damaging to women and children and to also make it a reference work to other prospective researchers.
This study will be of immense benefit to researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Methodology
This study would be based on Women of Owu by Femi Osofisan which would serve as the primary source. The secondary sources would be information for journal, newspapers other scholars view, internet research and books from the library. It intends to use sociological theory and specifically conflict theory in order to arrive at certain facts in the research.
1.7 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Dramatization of History using Women of Owu and Morountodun.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
