THE
ROLE OF LITERATURE IN HUMAN RIGHTS BY ONYEKACHI PETER ONUOHA
Being a paper presented at the
first Webinar of the International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRAF) African
Chapter by Onyekachi Peter Onuoha, Lecturer at the University of Calabar
As a matter of interpretative
convenience this talk reframes the theme of today’s discourse in a rhetorical
manner by asking, “What is the role of literature in human rights?
Human rights literature is the
appropriation of creative literature as a tool for social change. It is the use
of literature to amplify the voices of the oppressed and in the seeking for
social justice and equality in the society.
Human rights literature re-enacts and reflects society through highlighting
of social interactions and actions, which sometimes leads to subjugate of the
subalterns within their social space. This social depiction provides a moral
focus for those who still have conscience to act in an attempt to correct
social ills. Human rights literature is a form of creative testimony that
provides a balance of narrative for all parties involved in social
controversies to make a case for their own existence through balance of
characters depiction and engagement within the framework of art.
African Literature from the time
of Achebe until now has played a functional role in social justice and equality
in the society. The foregoing foregrounding Achebe’s postulation when he
submit, that art for art seek is a deodorised dog shit. Achebe believes in the
functionality of literature in the society and that is why he clearly state in
Morning Yet on Creation Day that; “I will be quite satisfied if my earliest
novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers
that their past- with all its imperfections- was not one long night of savagery
from which the first European acting on God’s behalf delivered them (45). From
the foregoing, Achebe’s earliest novels were seeking for the dignity and the
rights of Africans within the framework of art. An attempt to reject the human
rights violations and exploitation of the colonialist government as depicted in
Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, through literature Achebe makes a case for
the pre-literate African society before the coming of colonialism.
Literature as depicted by Achebe
frames social justice within alternate spaces and allows us to reimagined
situations through the framework of reflection as represented by art. Achebe’s
depiction of human interactions in Umuofia in Things Fall Apart implicates the
role of literature and human rights when he affirms; “Perhaps what I write is
applied art as distinct from pure. (…)
art is important but so is education of the kind I have in mind”. This in brief shows that literature assist in
the depiction of human rights. The role of human rights literature educates the
masses on the abuse of their human rights as foregrounded in Achebe’s Things
Fall Apart and Arrow of God etc. Literature in human rights is an applied form
of literature as clearly illustrated by Achebe.
It is a form of literature that makes a case for the masses on their
rights and the abuse of their rights in the society.
Sometimes, the role of literature
in human rights takes the form of propaganda to draw the attention of the world
to the subjugation of the masses. W.E. B. Du Bois in “Criteria for Negro Art”
note that; “…all art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the
purists. I stand in utter shamelessness and say that what ever art I have for
writing has been used always for propaganda for gaining the right of black folk
to love and enjoy. I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for
propaganda. But I do care when propaganda is confined to one side while the
others is stripped and silent” (103). Oppression and injustice is backed by a
form of propaganda that emphasizes the superiority of one above the other. And
W.E.B Du bois thus re-domesticates the operation of the propaganda to seek for
the existences of his people through the framework of literature. Feminist
literature foregrounds the function of literature in human rights, literature
and propaganda in the advancement of equality of gender within the African
traditional society as portray by feminist writers in the depiction of
subjugated and liberated woman within the framework of art and the African
Novel. Feminism is t a clear illustration of the functionality of the role of
literature and human rights in the human society. Feminist literature advocates
for gender complementarity and gender equality in literature and by extension
in the society. Human rights literature through representation re-engages
social norms and belief in the society in a form of interactions that reflects
various advantages and disadvantages as criteria for change and social
justice.
Denis Brutus’ Letter to Martha
did a poetic witnessing to pain and trauma in South African prison as a
depiction of the functionality of the role of literature and human rights
abuse. Poetic witnessing is used to illustrate the climate of uncertainties and
a bearer or witness to pain. Brutus’
Letter to Martha is the poetic narrative of the oppressed through an
autobiographical presentation of his plights and suffering in the hands of
Apartheid administration. Writers over the years have used art as testimony as
witnessing against the nation state and its exploitation of the masses within
such political discourse. Achebe in witnessing and resistance through poetic
composition captures the pain and alienation during the Nigerian Biafran in his
Girls at War captures the pain and annihilation of the people of the former
eastern region during the Nigerian Biafran Civil war. In recent times, the
poetic composition and video recordings on social media captures the not too long
python dance in the Eastern states is the to the brutality of the people of the
Eastern region and the function of literature as witness to human rights abuses
and advocacy in Nigeria. Creative
literature aids the dislodgement of the fierce python dancing in Eastern region
in the sense that literary and (auto) biographical representations of the
actions of the military in that part of Nigeria raises questions on the motives
of their actions in the region.
Kan Saro Wiwa through his
literary writings and activism seek for social and environment justice for his
people within the Nigerian society and the concept of resource control. Saro
Wiwa employs literature as a tool for enlightenment and to highlight the effect
of oil exploration in the Niger Delta. Many writers after him have used
literature to x-ray the effect of oil spillage and the exploitation of the
people of the Niger Delta and thereby demanding for social justice. The
foregoing illustrate how literature functions within the framework of human rights
or how human rights function within the framework of literature as literary
materials for the advocacy and the survival of the subalterns in the
society.
End SARS poets as depicted in End
SARS Rhythms continue in this form of poetic tradition of witnessing and
resistance to injustice in Nigeria as an illustration of the role of literature
in human rights. The poets through poetic remediation of memory engages in
poetic activism and resistances to police brutality in Nigeria. Human rights
poetics in literature is a form of literary mediation of resistance and the
erecting of memorial in art as confrontation to totalitarian system of
governance. The poetics of End SARS Rhythms highlights how poetry participates
in movements and fashions its content based on the agitation and redefines the
memory of such movement as freezing the memory in poetic frame. The role of
literature in human rights is framed in poetic resistance and is founded on the
ideological concept of Marxism which is geared toward emancipation of the
oppressed in the society. This is also the temperament and the function of
literature in human rights. The Editor’s Note in in End SARS Rhythms indicates
the functionality of poetic witnessing in literature and by extension the role
of human rights thus; “Literature and arts owe society the duty not just to
entertain and educate but also to document the history of the people as well as
mirror and x-ray the society” (5). End SARS Rhythms does three things which
are: to entertain the people within the site of their trauma and brutalisation,
document in poetic form various instances of their brutalisation and through
this medium question the moral fabric of the society. Through such questioning the poetic rendition
of End SARS Rhythms highlight human rights violations and implicates the role
of literature as a tool for confrontation of social injustice.
In accounting for Marxism and how
it functions in human right literature, Charles Bressler note that;“…society
shapes our consciousness; that social… conditions directly influences how what
we believe and value…Marxism offers us an opportunity and a plan for changing
the world from a play of bigotry, hatred and conflict resulting in class
struggle…” (115). Marxist poetic which is steeped in the use of poetry as
resistance to oppression in the society highlights such oppression as witnesses
against the Nigerian Police force and by extension bad governance in Nigeria.
This is an indication of how literature function in human rights. Human rights literature does not only portray
abuse of human rights but suggest methods and medium to change such social
abnormities and make the world a better place for humans.
Furthermore, Endsars.com is a
Digital Storytelling site that hosts testimonial which became part and collect
cause for resistance to police brutality and activism during the End SARS in
Nigeria. The narratives in Endsars.com are a form of (auto) biographical
narrative in blog clearly depicts how police brutalities have destroyed many
Nigerian youths. Digital Storytelling becomes testimonies and memorials as a
form of activism and resistance to police brutality in Nigeria. #Endsars
narratives in #Endsars.com portrayals the damage police brutality has done to
many Nigerians and through such narratives keep protesters of #Endsars across
Nigeria in the streets during the protest.
In the human rights literature,
memory plays an active role in the composition of art. The human memory powers
the human creative imagination and leads to literary output. The authorial
vision within the framework of art is the principle that aids the gleaning from
memory amidst the interfacing influence of the imagination. Onuoha writes about
memory that; “Memories are a defining characteristics of man; they are a form
of socialisation of self-worth and they are the promise of the definition of
what is good and bad in the African traditional environment” (84). Raji’s work
strives on memory and poetic justice is one of the cardinal principles of Remi
Rjai’s Webs of Remembrance. In the attempt of the poet persona to remember the
injustice done to his people by those in the corridor of power the poet persona
proclaims hailstone judgement against them amidst the memorials of the
afflicted. Michael A. Quinlam writes in regards to poetic justice that; “The
study of poetic justice necessarily involves a study of ethical principles in
literary art; for the very idea of poetic justice implies a judgement regarding
the morality of action. As a result, then, of studying criticism it is possible
to come to a partial knowledge of the principles of by which a given races of
people was governed at same given time” (ii). What the foregoing highlight is
that poetic justice is an act of literary retribution within the work of art
and it reflects the morality of the society.
Memory and history is an enabler to the poetic
composition of Web of Remembrance. Raji reimagines the past under the same sign
of the past even in the present; memory recall makes him to locate the search
for justice within the sight of historical crime. Paul Ricoeur corroborates the
foregoing that; “Under the sign of the same: “Re-Enacting” the past in the
present under the sign of the same. I place the conception of as a re-enactment
of the past…(13). Web of Remembrance is a re-enactment of the past and the
coming back of traumatic memory of the poet person is a product of history
which is powered by memory of such history. Raji’s Web of Remembrance is a
re-enactment of memory in fierce remembrance of the evil of military
dictatorship and by extension an enactment of memorial for the plight of the
masses using poetry as the memorial tomb as an evidence for seeking of justice.
Finally,
literature in human rights provides realist evidence on the actions and
inactions of man within his immediate environment. it educate man and provides
a medium and a second handle in the assessment of man in an alternate space as
a representation of his environment. Human rights literature gives man a sort
of objective representation to see his actions and relationship with others in
his environment. Literature plays a functional role in the liberation of the
people and enables the people to change their ways and to be involves in issues
that affect them and the society. Human rights seek for the equality of all
including the environment in the society.
ENDNOTE
Achebe, Chinua. Morning Yet on
Creation Day. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd,
1981
Bressler, Charles. Literary
Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice.
Paramount Communication Company
Publishers Ltd, 2011
Du Bois, W.E. B. “Criteria of
Negro Art” in The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader.
Penguin
Book, 1929.
Ricoeur, Paul. The Aquinas
Lecture: The Reality of The Historical Past. Marquette
University Press, 1984
Quinlan, A. Michael. Poetic
Justice : The History of an Ethnical
Principle in Literary
Activism. Forgotten Books, 1912
Raji, Remi. Webs of Remembrance.
Kraftgriots, 2021
© International
Human Rights Art Festival (IHRAF) African Chapter – June, 2022.
