Poetic Protest and Testimony in Endsars Rhythms

Jayne I. Owan; Onyekachi Peter Onuoha

doi:10.33096/tamaddun.v21i1.161

Jayne I. Owan Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar https://orcid:org/0000-0001-5383-9123
Onyekachi Peter Onuoha Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar https://orcid:org/0000-0002-2145-8139

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33096/tamaddun.v21i1.161

Keywords: History, Poetics of Witnessing, Memorial, EndSARS, Remediation

Abstract

Art participates in social movements and resistance to police brutality by virtue of poetic protest & testimony. Political corruption and police brutality is a vector for resistance and poetic testimony in African society. I conduct a textual analysis of a digital memorial to understand the ways Poetic Protest and Testimony in Endsars Rhythms. This study through the application of the concepts of protest and testimony observes that EndSARS Rhythms through poetic frame participates in preserving memory within the structure of art and documenting the exploitation and brutality of the youth by the Nigeria Police Force. It submits that EndSARS Rhythms is poetic protest and testimony to police brutality. This paper claims that EndsSARS Rhythm is a literary testimony for victims of police brutality and survivals in Nigeria.

References

Achebe, C. (1975). Morning yet on Creation Day. Heinemann.

Bassey, O. C. (2011). “Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ethnic Minorities and the politics of dispossession in Nigeria. From Boom to Doom: Protest and Conflict Resolution in the Literature of the Niger Delta. Ed. Nwahunanya, Chinyere. Springfield publishers.

Brutus, D. (1968). Letters to Martha & other Poems from a South African prison. Heinemann Educational.

Darah, G. G. (2011). “Revolution Pressures In Niger Delta Literatures.” From Boom to Doom: Protest and Conflict Resolution in the Literature of the Niger Delta. Ed. Nwahunanya, Chinyere. Springfield publishers.

ENDSARS RHYTHMS (2021). Society of Young Nigerian Writers (SYNW) & International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRAF). SYNW Publishers.

Falman, S & Laus, D. (1992). Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, psychoanalysis and history. Routledge.

Nwahunanya, C. (2011). “Introduction From Doom to Doom-ye Niger Delta in Contemporary Nigerian Literature.” From Boom to Doom: Protest and Conflict Resolution in the Literature of the Niger Delta. Springfield publishers.

Onuoha, O. P. (2018). “The interface between self, history and literature in Chris Anyokwu’s naked truth.” Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS), 8, 17- 28.

Onuoha, O. P. (2019). “Eclipse in Rwanda as Remembering in Psychosocial Poetics of Trauma.” English Linguistic Research, 8(3), 25-34.

Owan, J. I. (2021). “Expressions of Motherhood in Eno Nta’s Prayers For My Children and Other Poems.” Language and Literary Studies in Society. Ed. Ushie, I. Godwin, Inyabri, T. I do & Ebim, Abua Matthew. Unilag Press & Bookshop Ltd.

Owan, J. I. (2021). “The Playwright as Child Advocate: An Analysis of Chris Nwamuo's The Last Song.” International Journal of English Research, 2019.

Sarawade, A. M. (2021). “Protesting the Apartheid: A reading of Dennis Brutus’ Poems.” Literary Endeavor, 2(8).

Sene, A. (2022). The Intellectual in Gorgui Dieng’s A Leap Out of the Dark (2002). Alkebulan: A Journal of West and East African Studies, 2(1), 28-41.