Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

originals were charged with ideological meaning s in the ways they were taught to the
Africans , so these adaptations, when re-interpreted within the African cul ture, are re­
vitalized and given new meaning . The study is cons tructed on the proposition that
languag e and power are inseparable and that literature provides an open site for an
examination of this relationship. The dramatic texts of Rotimi and Soyinka are based
on the reality that ideology is produced throug b language and by changing language
ideology can in tum be forced into new directions . Although both plays are written
and performed in English. the playwrigh ts have deliberately transformed and re­
interpreted the plot to lend authenticity and legitimac y to their African history and
culture . By incorporating pre-co lonial African myths and rituals, the dramatists
provi de an ethnocentric fram ework: for their plays. A discourse 00 the existence of an
indigenous African culture prior to colonization is vi tal to an understan ding and
appreciation of significant aspects of modem African drama. Such a study is relevant
to the ever-increasin g scholarty attempts to define African literature within the context
of current tnn.sfonnarions in colonialist literary forms.
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