Fracture and suture: ecological visions of Fágúnwà and Soyinka

ABSTRACT

The imaginative contiguity of Wole Soyinka to D.O. Fágúnwà goes beyond the former being a foremost translator of the latter. They are united by a vision that grants consciousness and agency to the non-human. Using Fágúnwà’s Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmọlẹ̀ and Wole Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests, this paper reflects on the authors’ engagement with the relation between humans and the wild, and the tension created from the encounter. Primarily, Fágúnwà’s Christian conviction creates a tentative hierarchy that assumes humanity’s dominion over the rest of creation. In the quest for personal and communal advancement, Fágúnwà’s protagonists’ breach and violation of the wild are presumed justified in the context of humanity’s pre-eminence. Soyinka challenges the moral basis of this claim to superiority. Relocated away from their comfort zone, humans of Soyinka’s play are made aware of their limitations as extra-human and non-human characters are called forth as witnesses to their guilt. However, Fágúnwà’s humans do occasionally come to a full knowledge of themselves as a limited species. Curiously in a converse manner, Soyinka’s humanist commitment ultimately normalizes speciesist violence as existential hurdles collateral to human creativity and survival.

KEYWORDS:

• Fágúnwà
• Soyinka
• Yoruba
• ecology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The present understanding of ecophobia follows Simon Estok’s (2015) adoption of the term as ‘hatred of the natural world’ and ‘what makes looting and plundering of animal and non-animal resources possible.’ (30)

2. Yoruba food made from parboiled, dried and ground yam.

3. For example, Soyinka wins International Humanist Award in 2014.

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Notes on contributors

Ayo Adeduntan

Ayo Adeduntan teaches Cultural Studies in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.