You are entitled to your opinion about the meaning of Soyinka's work to a monarchist like you. However, there is nothing in the opus of Baba Sho to support the burial of a living man as human sacrifice to a dead king. Such human sacrifice remains part of what he called the Open Sores of a Continent.
It was not the meddlesome colonizers that wrote the script with which Elesin renounced the tyranny of ritual suicide. Everything that Soyinka wrote was a challenge to arbitrary rule and monarchism and a plea for equality.
Agreeing to meet with the young Ooni is no endorsement of monarchism for it is doubtful that Soyinka will lie down on the floor as a mark of respect to the young man.
I would prefer to see all traditional rulers deposed and replaced with elected town mayors and town councils with term limits. This is not just the preference of the Igbo who proudly declare that they know no king and that all heads are equal, it is the expectation of the republican federalist constitution with no room for natural rulers who fight and kill brothers to ascend the throne, as in Black Panther, instead of seeking the electoral mandate of the people.
I also admire the Cultural Studies contributions of BJ but I was surprised that he did not highlight the most radical thrusts of the play - resolute opposition to human sacrifice and to monarchism as Williams and Hall would have done.
Biko
-- On Sun, May 27, 2018 at 6:14 PM, Windows Live 2018<yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:--Biko.I am lost in your connection between killmonger in Black Panther and the death of monarchies which has not delivered on the provocation in the title and the little excerpt shared with non members of Facebook on this forum. I'm guessing I'm one of the implied targets of the piece ( The Yoruba say ' Bija ba jo teni ta o le fohun... )
Many people quote Soyinka out of context but it may interest you that only a few months ago he let it be known that he was due for an urgent summit with the much younger Ooni of Ife. That was not the action of a person dismissive of monarchies. I will align myself with the summation of Biodun Jeyifo with whose highly perceptive critical judgement I have been privileged to be associated for more than 40 years.
Death and the Kings Horseman appears to be Soyinkas seminal statement about the meddlesomeness of colonial officials in matters they did not even begin to comprehend. That he strove to stage it in America means he wanted the American world to know that there are other effective modes of governance in Africa other than than the presidential system.
Iranse ni mo je. (I'm only a lowly prince, the messenger of such Principals as the Alaafin, the Ooni and the Council of Obas). When I left Nigeria more than 30 yrs ago my fathers only injunction was: 'Remember whose child you are.' Like the college pastor of the college where I taught in the US puts iit in another matter. It was like a young maidens apparel : long enough to cover the essentials brief enough to leave out the irrelevancies.
HRH OAA.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>Date: 27/05/2018 19:05 (GMT+00:00)To: Usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Death of Monarchism
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