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International Journal of Arts, Humanities And Social Studies
2022, Volume 4, Issue 1
Research Article
Minority Voices in Nigerian Civil-War Literature
Abstract

There are always divergent viewpoints in the interrogation of historical materials with regards to literary productions. This notion may derive essentially from the Urhobo proverb that „the enjoyment one gets from a great festival is often determined by the homestead one visits‟, not downplaying the purpose and expectation of the person attending the festival. Although war and other conflicts that pitched people against themselves and /or institutions may serve as a leitmotif for creative works, the portraiture of such experiences, both physical and psychological, may differ from the viewpoints of the writers especially those from either side of the war divide. The Nigerian Civil-War of 1967 to 1970, no doubt, has produced more literary works and memoirs than any other socio-political upheavals since Nigerian attainment of political independence from the British in 1960. Many of the literary expressions of the Nigerian Civil War explore various themes and horrors of the war from different perspective, some from the viewpoints of the victims (Biafran, Igbo) and others from the angle of the perceived victors (the Federal Government). Scholars of Nigerian Civil-War narratives have also examined the literary productions that derive from the war from the above perspective even though their position may only establish the universal truth that constitute the aesthetic fulcrum of the Nigerian war literature. Little attention has been paid to the minority voices whose manner of engagement is different from the body of works that derive from the established canon of the war narratives. This essay, therefore, examines the minority voices in the works of writers who, because of their ethnic affiliation in the Nigerian polity, were not active participants in the war but are caught up in the web of the conflagration that defined it. It adopts the postcolonial literary theory to describe the condition of the marginalised minorities within a supercentre of hegemonic forces. It exposes the authors‟ emotions and sympathies on the ideologies of the war and also foregrounds the inherent metaphors, traumatic images and existential appurtenances on which the minority groups in Nigeria sought out their existence in the midst of the war.

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