Prof. Louis OBOU
July 15th/ 2021
Presentation topic:
The Ogoni of Nigeria, an agonizing choice of a revolution
The Ogoni people knew that crises due to the environment management at Cross-river always surface unconsciously as a profound sense of restlessness. In fact, Cross-river is a place where ethnic groups live in what might be called Polytopia, or a “place of many places” to use the expression of Walter Jost. For the Ogoni, there is no dignity that could not be at the same time liberty to think otherwise, and even to be opponent to a type of exploitation of the natural resources crucial to creating the wealth needed to fight poverty in the Ogoniland. Pollution of their land and rivers has been equally problematic. Thus, public awareness of their cultural heritage and the environmental problems backed up by the MOSOP (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People) have been caught between a rock and a hard place. The Ogoni cross the Rubicon but their resilience in a quest for promoting collective interests, social and economic justice became a shattered dream. The general atmosphere was one of fear, of being monitored, arbitrary detention, and politically motivated killings and torture. As a result, the revolution was stifled by the oppression of the regime. Now that the period of officially imposed silence has ended, the Ogoni people still maintain a stubborn hope for their survival. They seem to be a phenotype of the minorities’ struggle in Africa, South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. One thing is worth noting, managing conflict does not mean ending forever. As Kofi ANYIDOHO puts it: “But we must hasten to remind ourselves that just to survive simply to survive merely to survive barely to survive is not & can never be enough”
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Louis OBOU is Professor of African Literature in English and civilizations, and Head of the department of English at Félix Houphouët-Boigny University, Côte d’Ivoire. Member of the Scientific Committee of LLITEC (Laboratory of Literatures and Civilizations), he has authored papers on African Literature in English and civilizations in a number of collections and journals. His main research interests lie in the areas of literary semiotics and representation.