A Postcolonial Analysis of the Literary and Cultural Consequences of the Abolition of the 18th Century Transatlantic Slave Trade on the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria

Arinpe  Adejumo,

A Postcolonial Analysis of the Literary and Cultural Consequences of the Abolition of the 18th Century Transatlantic Slave Trade on the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria

Discipline: Literature, History, Culture

Abstract:

Discourses on the 18th century Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade have always been from the historical and political perspectives, rarely from the literary point of view. Hence, this paper focuses on the effects of its abolition on the culture and literature of the Yorùbá of Southwestern Nigeria. Data for the study were drawn from documentary works. Oral interviews on the subject were conducted with 12 purposively selected respondents comprising Yoruba elders, writers, artists, and historians. In addition, some Yoruba literary genres were diachronically selected and analyzed from the postcolonial point of view.