SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Theatre And Film Studies

CONTRIBUTORS:

Mohammed-Kabir Jibril
Nwosu C. Canice
Nwadigwe E. Charles

ABSTRACT:

It has been observed that people especially African/Nigerian young readers and interpreters often misread/misinterpret and misjudge language and character construct in Nigerian playtexts. This is because African semiotics and aesthetics have been dominated and influenced by Western theorists and critics who often misconceive African semio-aesthetics in African playtexts. Thus the problem of this study centres on the Euro-American perceptions of the aesthetic and semiotic sensibilities of African cultures as “primitive” and inferior. Hence, the study aims at evolving African semio-aesthetic approach that will evaluate, judge, and interpret artistic components and compositions from the point of view of the African and his cultural heritage. Objectives of the study include: to examine the object of language, by extension character as foundations of semiotic and aesthetic analyses and interpretation. To deconstruct the selected plays through analyses and appraisal of language and character. The study is hinged on the theoretical premise of Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation and Langer’s theory of symbols that made the researcher’s merger of semiotics and aesthetics necessary. The study adopts random sampling, case study and content analysis approaches of the qualitative research method. The findings reveal that from the African semio-aesthetic standpoint, language and character in Nigerian drama are aimed at effective generation and communication of meaning. The study recommends that African semio-aesthetics should be key anchor for the deconstruction of language and character in contemporary Nigerian playtexts. The study concludes that cultural elements add to the construct and impart of the dramatic products. Hence, African semio-aesthetics should be applied as analytical tool for language and character deconstruction in contemporary Nigerian drama