Playing Earth: Eco-Pedagogy in Nigerian Drama

Abstract

The crisis of the earth is beginning to take centre stage in world affairs. The concern globally hinges on the need to rescue the environment from an impending ecological crisis. Over the years, changes in climate conditions have intensified a near desperate quest to salvage humanity from eco-degradation. The irony however, is that these changes are largely orchestrated by human activities. This study investigates the preoccupation of drama and the dramatic text in Nigeria with a view to seeking out its relevance to the eco-challenges of sub – Saharan Africa. It further makes a case for the engagement of Nigerian drama in the global quest for peace in which sustainable development thrives. It also investigates the eco-engagement of plays written by Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Tess Onwueme and a host of others. Three eco-related theories form the bedrock of this study. They are; Eco-pedagogy, the Ecocritical theory, and Eco-idealism. These theories concern themselves with ideas and practices of environmental preservation and conservation especially those that stir up the consciousness of the human race to the role it plays in eco-degradation and what it can do to create a more eco-friendly and sustainable world. Eco-idealism seeks for plain truths, worthy ideals and sound plans to arrest the global eco-crisis the world now faces. The focus of this study is to interrogate the discourse in the field of ecology for which a dramatist can engage and reinvigorate the needed awareness on the plight of humanity in the face of a fast eroding environment. Drama has a lot of significance in educating humanity and creating the needed awareness on how humans should relate with their environment. This study engages the problem of conflicts and its relationship with the dwindling natural resources in Nigeria. The hatred and seeming genocide that is being experienced in the country is perceived as having an ecological twist. The objectives for this study are: to find out the ways in which literary drama has interrogated or is interrogating the eco-crisis and environmental degradation in Nigeria. Secondly, the study seeks to establish areas of critical engagement and the intersection between drama and ecology and to further engender academic discourse for Nigeria‘s participation in sustainable development using drama as a tool. This research work adopts the methodology of qualitative research. It is a textual analysis of selected plays by Nigerian playwrights in the past fifty years and the purpose is to seek out their relevance to the eco-discourse that has taken centre stage in contemporary literary criticism. Other works such as essays and articles that revolve around eco-issues especially as they affect the Nigerian environment have also been analysed. The focus has also been to further establish areas of critical engagement in the field of eco-drama for Nigeria and also to explore opportunities for academic discourse in Nigeria‘s participation in the Green Revolution using drama as a pedagogic tool. The study concludes that the planetary crisis calls for not only concerted effort but also a radical paradigm shift in re-interrogating the sustainability of the global life world. It recommends that for Nigerian drama to remain relevant in the years to come, the subject of human ecology, climate change and the planetary crisis as it affects the nation must be of immense thematic concern.