Revisioning Classical Mythology in African Dramaturgy: A Study of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not to Blame

Africa is rather less traditionally associated with classical culture. Despite the weaker connection between the classical past and Africa, myth is far from non-existent, and Daniel A. Nkemleke and Divine Che Neba make a plea for the use classical mythology as a tool within the African classroom. Arguing that the tussle between world mythologies has pushed writers, particularly within the African continent, to come to terms with what pertains to them, what they have borrowed, what they offer to the world, and what they share with others, they explain that African scholars may use classical mythology as templates for their own writings, or as a means of celebrating their individual cultures. Demonstrating this, they provide an analysis of a modern African adaptation of the Oedipus myth, Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame, emphasizing how his writing is rooted in rituals and other accompanying elements, like dance, songs, and chants. The introduction of these cultural elements in writing (and eventually in performance) by Rotimi and Sophocles, therefore, they argue, has the potential to contribute to identity formation of young adults, linking their cultural past and projecting to the future. In particular, they claim that the adaptation of such cross-cultural literary models in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom in Africa can serve as a catalyst for improving cross-cultural competence and igniting the imagination of learners.

The complete volume "Our Mythical Education: The Reception of Classical Myth Worldwide in Formal Education, 1900–2020",   edited by Lisa Maurice, focuses on school education including a wide geographical and chronological range.  The volume covers Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas (including Canada, the USA, and South America), Australia and New Zealand.

Published in the series “Our Mythical Childhood”, edited by Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Open Access of the complete volume is available at https://www.wuw.pl/product-eng-14887-Our-Mythical-Education-The-Reception-of-Classical-Myth-Worldwide-in-Formal-Education-1900-2020-PDF.html