Papers for Vol. 32(3) 2024
Clay, Culture, and Creativity—the Ceramic Art of Echeta, Onuzulike, and Omeje of the Nsukka School (2000-2010)
Well known for vibrant ideological energy, Nsukka School is home to several renowned artists whose impacts are felt globally. Among them are artists of various specialties including painting, sculpture, graphics, and ceramics. This paper presents a review of the ceramic works of key ceramicists from Nsukka School—Echeta, Ozioma Onuzulike, and Ngozi Omeje. While these ceramicists have, in recent times, continued to soar on the international art scene, the background of their practices, particularly as artists from the Nsukka art school, needs to be reviewed. With a specific focus on the artists' ceramic installations, the works of these artists between 2000 and 2010 are, therefore, presented and analyzed. While the study is anchored in the background of Nsukka School and the persistent ideologies for which the school is known, the uniqueness of the artists' works is also foregrounded. The study relied on extant literature, in-depth interviews with each of the artists, and a personal observation of their works. The data analysis involved the narrative and comparative methods. By presenting a background to the current practices of the Nsukka ceramicists, this study provides a backdrop upon which their work and those of many more artists could be studied and understood. Keywords: Creativity, ceramics, Echeta, Onuzulike, Omeje, Nsukka School
May Okafor
https://doi.org/10. 62250/nsuk.2024.32.3.1-17
Challenges and Opportunities for Non-Profit Organizations in
Alleviating Unemployment in Buffalo City Metropolitan
Municipality, South Africa
Abstract
This study investigated the challenges faced by non-profit organizations in alleviating unemployment in the
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM). Despite the efforts of these organizations, unemployment
remains a persistent issue in the region. This research sought to identify the key challenges that hinder the
effectiveness of non-profit organizations in addressing unemployment, including limited resources, inadequate
infrastructure, poor human development, inhibitive registration process, and insufficient collaboration with
government agencies. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining both qualitative and quantitative
data collection and analysis methods. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the challenges
faced by non-profit organizations and inform the development of strategies to enhance their capacity to
alleviate unemployment. The study recommends that the Department of Social Development should provide
support to the Non-profit organisations with finance, human development, friendly registration process, and
infrastructure development to enable NPOs to create employment in the Buffalo City Metropolitan in the
Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Keywords: Non-profit organisations, unemployment, youth, jobs creation, South Africa
Elliot Thembinkosi Henna; Joyce Mnesi, Mdiniso
https://doi.org/10. 62250/nsuk.2024.32.3.18-35
Philosophical Underpinnings of Ethical Theories: A Critical
Examination of Corruption in Modern Nigeria
Abstract
Corruption in Nigerian society is no longer just a subject of speculation; rather, it is now regarded as a
national embarrassment. It is among the primary issues brought on by the persistent corruption that permeates
contemporary Nigerian society. Throughout the history of this nation, multiple initiatives have been made at
different times to halt the spread of this beast. This article states that, given the lack of success of Nigeria's
multiple attempts to tackle corruption, address the corruption problem, and achieve long-term, sustainable
growth in Nigeria, the behaviour of Nigerians needs to change, and the way they achieve this is by adhering to
ethical theories. These theories provide certain moral convictions and perspectives, which then lead people's
behaviour in particular ways. The bases of ethical theories are used to develop moral responses to the various
issues that leaders and common people face daily. It is possible to analyse hypothetical ethical difficulties as
well as real-world scenarios using these theories. As per the principles included in the ethical theory itself, they
also highlight several facets of a morally sound resolution.
Keywords: Ethical theories, philosophy, corruption, sustainable growth, Nigeria
Egberongbe Tijani Taiwo, Chidi Paul Orji
https://doi.org/10. 62250/nsuk.2024.32.3.36-54
Chinua Achebe's The Flute: Unpacking the Dynamics of Language
Acquisition and Communication in Children through Translation
Abstract
Acquiring new languages is crucial in today's globalized world. It enhances personal relationships, and
promotes professional growth while broadening perspectives. It also fosters empathy and cultural sensitivity as
we are currently in an era of inter-cultural communication. The objective of this study is to explore the role of
translation in acquiring new languages as a contemporary necessity in this era when mankind is faced with the
need to reach out to one another. Emphasis specifically, is on how it aids the acquisition of a second or multiple
languages. Emphasis on situational/contextual teaching/learning of a second language (communicative
approach), makes contextual translation suitable for this purpose. The core of the article is to establish the
nexus between the trio: translation, communication, and language acquisition. A detailed review of the
available literature on the above concepts is presented. This role is examined through the use of one of Achebe's
literary works for children, The Flute. The analytical frame work is grounded in the interpretative theory of
translation and it elucidates the effectiveness of translation in the acquisition of a second language, especially
in young children. The conclusion attests to how children can easily acquire a second language and also
communicate appropriately through the use of pedagogical translation.
Keywords: Communication, language acquisition, children, translation, interpretative approach
Florence Ogochukwu Elomba, Samuel Awa
https://doi.org/10. 62250/nsuk.2024.32.3.55-72
Epistemic Politics and Pluriversality in Ola Rotimi's Our Husband Has
Gone Mad Again and Emeka Nwabueze's A Parliament of Vultures
Abstract
Culture is formed by knowledge, so that, the episteme defines ontology. The universality of modernity defines
the existence of the colonized with promises of development and salvation. This is with an imperial undertone
to foster the cultural violence of coloniality in the postcolonies. This paper is an evaluation of epistemic politics
and the emergence of the pluriverse in Ola Rotimi's Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again and Emeka
Nwabueze's A Parliament of Vultures. These plays from our review of related literature are dominated by
studies on satire, gender relations, and political imaging of present-day Nigeria. From a decolonial perspective,
our study engages modernity as an agent of coloniality in these selected plays. The paper argues that
coloniality employs the rhetoric of modernity in transforming knowledge, power, and being as its strategy of
encroachment. Therefore, delinking knowledge, power, and being are examined as decolonial motifs for a
pluriversal ontology. Pluriversality however, emerges in place of universality as an ontological order marked
with alternatives to modernity.
Keywords: Coloniality, decoloniality, modernity, universality, pluriversality
Onyekachi Obayi, Chinasa Abonyi
https://doi.org/10. 62250/nsuk.2024.32.3.73-84
The Power of Song: New Historicism and the Representation of
History in African Traditional Song Texts
Abstract
The paper is a review of literature on the historical relevance of African traditional song texts from the
perspective of new historicism. It sides with the argument that the traditional history-making criterion,
historiography, is not as factual or faithful in history-making as historians often suggest. It further supports
the views that history is an imaginative text and literature (imaginative literature) a text of history; African
traditional song texts, though literary texts, are reliable sources of history; and that oral tradition is a good
source of history and complements written sources of history. In the paper, copious literature on these
arguments is reviewed. It is found that literature opining that traditional song texts are reliable sources of
history and are at once literary and historical texts abound in scholarship. It is also found that scholarship is
replete with literature contesting historiography's claim to faithful and factual recording of history. It
concludes that as literary texts, African traditional song texts are weaved with materials drawn from society
and, therefore, reflect the yearnings, experiences, and outlook of the society at the various historical moments
and trajectories, making them not only historical texts but also good sources of history.
Keywords: African traditional song text, Historicism, literature, new historicism
Chioma Chinwokwu-Njemanze, Anya Ude Egwu
https://doi.org/10. 62250/nsuk.2024.32.3.85-102
The Nigerian Political Bureau of 1986: A Historical Review
Abstract
This paper undertakes a comprehensive historical review of the Nigerian Political Bureau of1986, a pivotal
institution established by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida to facilitate a transition to
democratic governance. The Bureau, comprising17 members, was mandated to examine the country's political
landscape, identify the causes of its democratic deficits, and recommend a framework for a more inclusive and
participatory political system. The study leveraged the qualitative method of historical research, which involved
the use, mainly, of secondary sources of data. Through a critical analysis of primary and secondary sources,
including archival documents, newspaper reports, and scholarly literature, this study examines the Bureau's
composition, mandate, and recommendations. The paper argues that the Bureau's report, which advocated for a
mixed presidential-parliamentary system, a decentralized federal structure, and a robust system of checks and
balances, represented a significant departure from Nigeria's post-colonial political trajectory. We argue that
the recommendations of the Bureau are congruent with the country's multiethnic and multicultural nature.
There is, therefore, the need for the current and subsequent political leadership of the country to revisit the
work of the Bureau and consider implementing most, if not all, of its recommendations.
Keywords: Nigerian Political Bureau,1986, democratic transition, military regime, General Ibrahim
Babangida, democratization, authoritarianism.
Nnamdi Ajaebili, Okoro Onu Ewa, Odoh Samuel Onyenaezichi, Chinyere Isaac Madukwe