Animist materialism in Femi Osofisan’s No More the Wasted Breed (1983) and Once Upon Four Robbers (1991)

Abstract

In his oeuvre, Femi Osofisan challenges class inequalities by upbraiding the materialistic predilections of the upper class. Therefore, critics view his plays as revolutionary manuscripts designed for social awakening and interpret them from a Marxist perspective. Marxist interpretation has, to a good degree, undermined other ideological potential and evident discursive engagements which abound in multiple hierarchies in his plays. This study advances the frontiers of interpretations in Osofisan’s plays by providing alternative meanings in them besides Marxism. Through the theoretical praxis of Material Culture, I argue that beyond Marxist, class proclivities, Osofisan in No More the Wasted Breed (1983) and Once Upon Four Robbers (1980) commits to cultural rebirth in Africa through animist materialism, a spiritual, sociocultural appropriation process which inputs lifeforce to natural objects like rivers, plants, and animals. In addition to their material, totemic, sublunary significance, these natural objects acquire mystical and magical essence, thus contributing to the reification of African spiritual practices found in the plays. The spiritual practices rehabilitate African culture, promoting and re-enchanting its symbolic orthodoxy in the modern world. The study demonstrates that, instead of rejecting modernity, animist materialism as an African spiritual practice accommodates aspects of modernity, incorporating them as part of Africa’s cultural heritage.