ABSTRACT
Conflict is a disagreement or clash between people, ideas; or in the case of our study, cultures. Therefore, culture becomes a unique and sentimental phenomenon that is not only cherished but also protected dearly by an individual as well. Thus, a literature has become the means through which cultural sentiments are projected and expressed. For a long time, Africans in particular, have been subjected to cultural imposition and displacement of western culture. This report aimed at examining the Eurocentric psyche that considers westernization superior. This study has adopted the sociological theory by focusing on Soyinka’s texts; The Lion and the Jewel and Death and the King’s Horseman because they best suit our study. We discussed these conflicts through societal norms and belief system, psychological conflict and generation gap.
TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGES
Title Page I
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table of Contents vi
Abstract vii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Wole Soyinka’s Autobiography 2
1.2 Statement of Research Problem 3
1.3 Purpose of the Study 3
1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study 4
1.5 Justification 4
1.6 Methodology 4
END NOTES 5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION 6
2.1 Scholars view on culture 7
2.2 The Effect of Colonial Intrusion
2.3 Africa and the Comic and Epic Model
2.4 Synopsis of The Lion and the Jewel
2.5 Synopsis of Death and the King’s Horseman
2.6 Sociological Theory
END NOTES 18
CHAPTER THREE:
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL CONFLICTS IN SOYINKA’S SELECTED PLAYS.
3.0 INTRODUCTION
3.1 Societal Norms and Belief System
3.2 Psychological Conflict
3.3 Generation Gap Difference
END NOTES
CHAPTER FOUR
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
4.0 Summary
4.1 Conclusion
BIBLOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
Culture is a leaned behaviour which each person acquires as a member of a group or society. Therefore, each character is a product of its unique history. Culture is an extensive feature of a group or society, also, it is a mark of identification and something that the individual or groups could easily get sentimental about. Though the Encarta English Dictionary (2009ed) has different definition of culture varying from “arts collectively”, “knowledge and sophistication”, “shared beliefs and practices” and so on, but the definition that best suite our course of study is that which says that culture:
Are the beliefs, customs, practices and social behaviour of a particular nation or people. (Also) it can be a group of people whose shared beliefs and practices identify the particular place, class, or time to which they belong. 1
Culture is a human characteristic in which man expresses the totality of his ways of life in a collective setting. It can also be referred to as the sum total of human activities shared by members of a group. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, culture is defined as: “... broad-based as it is all civilizations, social and material inventions, institutions, and literary achievements of a people”.2
Culture is a sentimental phenomenon which an individual not only cherishes, but also protects dearly. Thus, literature becomes the medium through which cultural sentiments are expressed and projected. Africans in particular; have, for a long time, been subjected to cultural imposition and displacement of foreign culture. This was due to the invasion by the Arabs in the African regions. This is not to say that Africans received these foreign cultures whole-heartedly. There was resistance and there has continued to be resistance through African arts, ethnics and culture. As result of this resistance, the conflict between the western world and Africans began to manifest. Today, plays that protestant in nature are being written to this effect.
On this note, we shall define conflict by adapting the definition of the Encarta 2009 dictionary which states
it is a disagreement or clash between ideas, principles, or people. It can also be a psychological state resulting from the often unconscious opposition between simultaneous but incompatible desires, needs, drives or impulse.3
The key words in the definition are “clash” and “disagreement”. This definition best suit our course of study because it is on this note that Wole Soyinka opposes in the two texts being understudied.
African literary writers are victims of cultural imperialism as a result of European colonial rule, therefore, at one time or the other they try to force themselves from colonial cultural imposition while projecting and glorifying traditional cultures. In the words of Adeyemi (1993) citing Olorunmoye (15)”culture supplies us our habits of life...”4