The author
By Abubakar Aliyu Liman (PhD)
The author, a Professor in the Department of English and Literary Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Arts @ the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria made this Keynote Presentation at the 2nd National Conference, Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State on the Theme: Language, Literature and Democratisation Process in the 21st Century” which took place November 5 the – 8th, 2023. He is reachable via GSM (2348034515966) and Email: abualiliman@gmail.com
The Interface of Language and Literature in a Postmodern Society
Language and literature are the cornerstone of any meaningful project for social development and nation building. The two disciplinary enclaves are objectively playing indispensable role as conveyors of culture in the generation of national consciousness and sense of patriotism amongst the citizens of modern nations. In a more progressive parlance, the two concepts are organically linked. They are part of the ideological apparatuses that play themselves out in the definition of the activities that shaped our lived experience. The two disciplines are the most important ingredients in constituting social formations, nation building and the negotiation of complex relationships engaged by plural identities and communities within the boundaries of postcolonial Nigeria. Language and literature are indeed inextricably linked in the production of knowledge, and the production of cultural values that create bond amongst individuals and groups through communicative functions. They also play a vital role of cohering society. There is thus a binary relationship between language and literature in theory and praxis. In other words, literature is decidedly a reflection on language. Ontologically, the being of literature cannot generically materialize its forms without the being of language in literary endeavors. That is the extent of the interconnectivity of the two disciplines. That is to say, there cannot be literary expression whatsoever without the mediation of linguistic properties. The most important point to note is the argument made by socio-linguists in which they view language as the vehicle of culture, and as the quintessential means of literary representation. In its imaginative preoccupation, literature embodies the totality of our lived experience, existential struggles, social cohesion or lack of it; conflicts and identity construction. Herein lies the interplay of language and literature in constitutive human processes, as Raymond Williams would say.
“In each epoch of human history, literature has proved itself as a symbolic site of meaning making that represents the totality of human experience. Literature assembles linguistic, physical, metaphysical, spiritual and psychical materials to construct its form and content, and to invariably project myth and reality as conditioned by social, political, scientific, technological and cultural nuances of social settings in any given historical phase. Thus, in the premodern period, literature is expressive art, it is seen as the folklore which is performed orally in traditional, communal and rural nexuses. But in the modern epoch, literary representation is realized through the technology of writing (the deployment of linguistic signs if you like). The culture of writing has indeed evolved from different parts of the world at different historical periods. Based on European cultural development and progress, literature has remarkably evolved from the successive history of medieval scholasticism, renaissance culture, enlightenment narrative and European modernity (Chaudhary, 2013). Other world civilizations also have their own historical trajectories in the development of their own literatures”
Literary scholars also consider literature as a discursive entity that projects the uniqueness of language through its aesthetic construction and various modes of representation, especially through the use of those creative and imaginative aspects of language that are usually taken for granted in everyday usage. But in other systems of human communication language has developed special registers that are mutually intelligible only to members of specific professional groups. As stated earlier, literary language is a different kettle of fish altogether. Language is uniquely deployed in literary production based on what the formalist theorists like Victor Shklovsky described as “defamiliarization” of the familiar, that is, a special rendition of language for literary purposes. In this sense, literature can be understood as a special way of calling attention to the possibilities and limits of language. As aesthetic mode of cognition, literature can also be considered as a creative application of language in the processes of knowledge production and dissemination in its discursive canvas. Language is the most significant catalyst with which to make sense of all knowledge systems and intellectual productions in the humanities and the sciences, including in recent times the manner in which we make sense of computer algorithms. Computational linguistics have, for instance, opened up new knowledge vistas, and have also significantly accelerated breakthroughs in the newly discovered frontiers of knowledge in the digital age. Of course, for textual analysis computer algorithms have increased the chances of objective textual evaluation through algorithmic modelling of poetic and prosaic imaginative renditions.
But as students and scholars of language and literature, we are entangled in such extra-linguistic items. It is therefore not out of place for students of language and literature to interrogate and analyze texts concerning politics, governance, citizenship, migration, public discourse, citizenship, civil unrest, farmers-herders’ conflicts, conflict resolution from their disciplinary perspectives. In a postmodern context, however, disciplinary boundaries of specialized fields of studies in the humanities and sciences are everywhere blurring. Therefore, one should not be surprised to encounter the different ways in which disciplinary boundaries are fast giving way to more interesting interdisciplinary studies.
Even before now, research in language and literature was wholly or partially intertwined with anthropology and ethnography from the myriad perspectives and approaches of semiotics, structuralism and functionalism. Such interdisciplinary connections have been established since the early 20th century. The interconnectedness of anthropology, ethnography, language and literary studies have also clearly established the interplay of language, literature, social sciences and philosophy. The linguistic turn in philosophy is obviously about this interface. It can then be argued as well that the prospect of acquiring creative insights, achieving breakthroughs or making new discoveries, lies more with interdisciplinary research collaboration. From the closing decades of the 20th century, the tempo of interdisciplinary research has remarkably improved in western universities with the introduction of multidisciplinary fields of studies like area studies, cultural studies, popular culture, ethnic studies, gender studies, media studies and film studies. Closer home in Nigeria, such collaborations are now taking shape, first, in the sciences and then in the humanities; and also in the humanities and sciences combined.
So, did former minister, Isa Pantami. choose the title of his book out of genuine lack of awareness of the falsity of his distinction or just out of recklessness?
Linguistics and Literary Studies at the Intersection of Digital Technology
As the momentum of globalization processes accelerates, and as the frequency of people travelling from one end of the world to another increases, effective communication, translation and meaningful intercultural encounters are quite indispensable. In tackling this development, smart technologies, digital devices and special translation applications are making it easy for instant communication – physically and online – between individuals, different linguistic communities and people coming from diverse cultural backgrounds. In another context, social media is one such arena in which a new field of digital humanities is burgeoning. The print media technology and book culture are waning in the face of soft copies. But the social media have created a situation that transformed some platforms into a hub for the promotion of reading culture and literary appreciation. Excerpts, synopsis, blurbs and colorful book covers are all finding their way into the cyber space. Healthy conversation and critical evaluation on both mainstream canonical texts, popular literature and cultural texts in general are waged in the social media. This development is gradually attracting public interest in reading culture and creative writing. Lots of young people who have no interest whatsoever in creative and imaginative literature are now developing interest in literature because of the robust literary activities that go on in the social media. Other netizens of cyber spaces also develop interest in the literary projects of creative writers’ groups. These activities are nowadays very visible on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
Our reliance on electronic media and multimedia devices for personal communication and entertainment value has reinforced Baudrillard’s culture of the spectacle, simulation and simulacra that permeate our postmodern cultural environment. Paradoxically, due to our overindulgence with images through the spectacles of the silver screen and social media inanities, reading culture is however bearing the brunt of its gross neglect as a result of the allurement of social media gossips and banters. The distraction of social media is even affecting the mandatory reading of books and manuscripts in different subject areas in our academic institutions. However, despite the negative impact of such distractions the tide is gradually changing course with effective appropriation of multimedia applications and social media platforms to advance the cause of literature, literary criticism and reading culture. A negligible number of social media influencers are also setting the tone of literary issues that usually go viral in the comments they attract from interested followers. In the age of social media, many adventurous lecturers and instructors have been encouraging how to make the best use of social media resources for pedagogy and content delivery. In northern Nigeria, Professor Ibrahim Malumfashi of Kaduna State university is one of the few pioneers and trailblazers that have initiated the deployment of social media platforms for instructional purposes. For sometimes now he has been using Facebook to post classroom activities and content delivery, as well as to engage in on-the-spot instructional activities and other academic interactions. Even before Malumfashi, another Nigerian Professor of African literature in the University of Texas at Huston is making good use of social media and new media devices for pedagogical activities, and for online instant interaction with students.
Similarly, there is the opening of research vistas on unique and fascinating language use in the social media. Postgraduate students at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, for instance, are developing interest in studies and research on social media language usage, specifically the interesting ways in which language is deployed in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok modes of communication. In other instances, social media is attracting interdisciplinary approaches as it conflates disciplines like languages, literatures, popular culture and history with computing, data science and machine learning techniques. Business administration and marketing are overlapping for the purpose of modelling various strategies for market expansion, customer care service and product advertisement. With these highly interactive developments and happenings, language is still retaining its essence as a veritable means of human communication. Breathtaking achievements in communication technology are not in any way undermining the centrality of verbal or written communication. Rather, these interdisciplinary and interactive approaches are creating fresh challenges, insights and opportunities for further research in different aspects of language studies. In this regard, language as the conveyor belt of culture cannot escape cross-disciplinary engagement with other disciplines. Social science contents, including politics, governance, citizenship, democracy, national development, migration, religion, farmers-herders’ conflicts, conflict resolution mechanism, social media, and digital humanities, interact with language to achieve effective communication in the processes of knowledge production. Without rigorous linguistic analysis of nuances and shades of meanings in the discourses of other disciplines it would have been difficult to establish a coherent understanding of other disciplinary endeavors in the humanities, social, managerial and physical sciences.
In language sciences, we have been forced to come to grips with the phenomenon of intersectionality, that is, the discursive overlaps of multi-disciplinarity in research of the until now different fields of study. This is happening through active professional collaboration of experts from different disciplinary backgrounds and specializations. A typical area of language that eye every form of human endeavor is Discourse Analysis. Discourse is defined as “actual instances of communicative action in the medium of language” (Johnson 2008: 2). Discourse Analysis is appropriating other fields of the humanities, cultural studies, anthropology, ethnography, applied sciences, social sciences, administration, management studies, physical and life sciences, as its object of textual investigation. In particular, discourse analysis concerns itself with the analysis of language and communication behaviors observable in different human circumstances:
Anyone who wants to understand human beings has to understand discourse, so the potential uses of discourse analysis are almost innumerable. Discourse analysis help answer questions about social relations, such as dominance and oppression or solidarity. Discourse analysis is useful in the study of personal identity and social identification, as illustrated by work on discourse and gender or discourse and ethnicity. Discourse analysis has been used in the study of how people define and create lifespan processes such as ageing and disability as they talk, how decisions are made, resources allocated, and social adaptation or conflict accomplished in public and private life (Johnstone, 2008: 7).
Forensic linguistics is also intersecting with criminology and crime investigation processes. Experts in forensic linguistics are being employed in crime investigation departments of most advance nations of the world. Until recently, security agencies in Nigeria have to recognize the value of forensic linguistics. They are now forced to engage specialists in crime investigation. Forensic linguists are equipped with necessary competence to evaluate the complicity or otherwise of crime suspects. It is now accepted that forensic linguists can dissect confessions of crime suspects to arrive at the truth of crime committed. Forensic analysts can easily get to the bottom of crime by conducting a thorough evaluation of recorded testimonies. Forensic linguists can easily prove their mettle through the analysis of the nuances of utterances and subtexts of written statements. Cognitive linguistics is another area of linguistics providing newer opportunities and ideational challenges in its interface with psychoanalysis. Phonology and medicine are coming together to tackle speech impairment through speech therapy (Duffy, 1995). Computational linguistics is now applied to solve problems in language learning through Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). I have indeed witnessed the coming into being of cutting-edge research collaboration between academics and students working in the area of neurolinguistics in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, and the Department of Neurology, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika.
Modern African literature is similarly coalescing with social issues characteristic of modern
conditions in its representational role. Creative-cum-imaginative literary products, together with meta-critical discourses that have been generated around literary texts, tend to ambitiously project the contradictions associated with human condition. This is simply the sense in which literature is categorized as mimesis, as specific mode of representing lived experience. Realistically, the representational quality of literature has made it possible for its historicization and mediation of human conditions via its established generic classification in a manner that no other aesthetically symbolic form does. Therefore, no issue in the social world escapes the radar of literature. Literature is a mosaic of every conceivable human action. Its searchlight can direct its beam to both the past and the present depending on the issues that compel the attention of writers. It projects historical contexts as well as topical issues of the day. Again, depending on where the creative muse directs the mind of the imaginative writer, African literature has all alone been socially determined. From the perspective of its mediatory role, it seeks to establish a correspondence between its object of representation and mythic, psychic, mnemonic and causal reality. Literature has here served as a repository of history. In the process, it graphically encapsulates the sequences of change, progress or even the social atrophy that freezes the transformation of society through the prism of collective and individual experience. The form and content of literature are therefore determined by social, political, cultural and technological development of any given phase of human history the literary text decides to highlight. While in the past, oral literature only concerns itself with mytho-poetic realities of pristine communities, in recent times however literature is quite different in its thematic and stylistic preoccupation. Contemporary literature interrogates our common global problems, shared interests, complex social and personal relationships, which aggregate heterogenous cultures, diverse communities and identities within negotiated plural identities of the sprawling urban spaces of mega postcolonial nation-states like Nigeria. It also extends its generic tentacles to capture the experiences of the African diaspora.
Despite all that has been observed by literary scholars on the distinctive qualities of modern African literature, which they summed up in terms of colonial parentage, social determinism and hybridization, in the 21st century African literature gravitates towards common global motifs as a result of hegemonic structures that cause suffocating dominance, social dislocation, psychological disorientation, cultural fragmentation through fresh waves of human migratory flows that impact economics, politics and cultures. However, under globalisation the postcolonial nation-states have lost their national sovereignty as they get entangled in the structures of dominance unleashed by global neoliberal order, directed from its powerful metropolitan centers of America, Britain and European Union. Literary culture is also promoted by the masters of the universe for no altruistic reasons other than hegemonic propaganda drive. As Marxist cultural theorists opine, the novel tradition has the potential of sustaining liberal ethos, nourishing and promoting the spirit of capitalism due to the individuation of isolated reading conditions. The being of the novel form is characteristically manifest in the way its form promotes the spirit of individualism, freedom, liberal ethos and the logic of global system of capitalism – free enterprise, freedom and democracy on a global scale. In any case, I have also argued elsewhere that the 21st century African writers have tended to focus their writings on issues of common global interests in addition to concerns associated with specifically festering existential malady afflicting African historical contexts:
Prof Tahir Mamman, Nigeria’s education minister
The issues of common global concern include environmental degradation, climate change, emission of greenhouse gases, autonomous individual, personal freedom, sexual choices, multiculturalism, poverty, the plight of the migrants and displaced minority groups all over the place. But even with the seeming change of the subject of attention under globalization, the commonalities of global concerns have not changed the fact that African writers have always been responding to the vicissitudes of their local environment, whether those problems are social, political, cultural or natural in essence. In fact, due to its underdevelopment the point of entry into the global arena for Africa is minimal, peripheral and marginal (Liman, 2022).
Again, in the above quoted paper I have provided an overview of selected writings within the first and second decades of the 21st century from writers like Wole Soyinka, Idris Opanachi, Tony Nwaka, Bolaji Olatunde, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Seffi Atta, Deola Bello, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, Jude Dibia, Aliyu Kamal, Yusuf Adamu, Ogaga Ifowodo, Kaine Agary, Nnimmo Bassey, Adamu Kyuka Usman and Bisi Daniel. I am particular about the works they have published between 2000 and 2020. The diverse concerns of the writers have proved that there are no coherent pieces of evidence of thematic and stylistic discontinuities in the progressive evolution of modern African literature. There are indeed clear overlaps of the 20th and the 21st centuries in terms of thematic and stylistic preoccupations. The overlaps are mainly because of the characteristic social rootedness of modern African literature. The old concerns with problems of colonialism, neocolonialism, cultural nationalism, modernity and development are still featuring in their works albeit differently with postmodern flavors:
(U)nlike the cultural nationalist and nativist flavoring of earlier imaginative writings, which spanned the middle and the closing years of the 20th century, the 21st century African literature has somewhat defied a clear-cut pigeonholing due to the spirited efforts of capitalism to streamline different nations, diverse cultures, experiences, values and institutions in the orbit of globalization. The African literature of the day has clearly attempted to capture the new realities in their diverse contexts, nuances and styles. The leitmotifs of the 21st century African literature are drawn from the increasing tendency to detach the individual from the old-fashioned concern with collective interests and social identity (Liman, 2022).
Digital technology is perhaps the new normative that has accelerated qualitative changes in literary production processes and reading habits. Indeed, the advocates of “skills and not just degrees” would never see the relevance of disciplines in the humanities because they could not understand their tangible materiality or utility value in a world in which technology is the most crucial component of social life. Every conceivable engagement in life has one form of technology or another to back it up or to facilitate its functionality. As a result, writing and reading culture have also been transformed or rejuvenated in a context in which people have lost the patience and discipline to sit down to read books. And because of the characteristic anxiety of the postmodern age, social media netizens have irredeemably lost the patience to concentrate on a single item at a time. Instead, they engage in multitasking. The medium of smartphone is the facilitator of their multitasking distractions. An individual can engage several multimedia outlets on smartphone or computer set all at once. Technological mediation has also revolutionized the print media and reading culture as well:
The computer has not merely stopped at just transforming systems of writing, it also affects our reading habits. As digital technology becomes more refined the idea of audiobook, kindle, digital storytelling, electronic media adaptations, e-learning technologies and smart learning classrooms has since started revolutionizing the traditions of book learning in which literary studies is hinged. Smart classrooms are everywhere springing up for all sorts of disciplines in the humanities and sciences, including literature, a tradition-bound disciplinary enclave in its textual and practical qualities. This is to the extent that some scholars have even started predicting the death of both literature and criticism (Liman, 2022).
Modern African literature can aspire to rescue itself from the threats of extinction due to the ever-changing technology of cultural production and consumption patterns. Literature is indeed one field of studies that is methodically conservative and unwilling to readily submit itself to the whirlwind of technological change, despite the increasing tendency of well-established texts to submit themselves to cinematic adaptation. Literature has fastidiously attached itself to the old habits of isolated reading conditions for the singular purpose of spiritual elevation and mental development in its task of refining the mind. But this form of cultural orientation, which is always associated with reading culture, is everywhere changing. Entertainment value is favored more than enlightenment or spiritual value. Similarly, the level of anxiety, angst and upheaval induced by the realities of the postmodern society alone would not have provided individuals the opportunity or even the luxury to engage in time consuming exercises like extensive reading of the whole text. Instead, the inhabitants of our postmodern society have to force themselves to hop from one location to another in an unending search for material means of livelihoods to assuage their difficult existence in an amoral world of cutthroat competition and the survival of the fittest. Reading culture, knowledge production and any form of enlightenment project cannot prosper in an atmosphere in which people have been gripped by social insecurity and structural violence. But the soul must constantly nourish itself on some cultural or spiritual diet for it to be able to humanize individuals and communities. Hence the indispensable role of the entertainment industry, which is strategically deployed in order to soothe the frail nerves of postmodern subjects. Elsewhere, I have graphically highlighted how popular culture and African oral arts are productively interfacing with digital technology in Nigeria:
While literary vocation is still stuck in the past, ironically African oral art forms and popular culture texts are opening themselves to the limitless possibilities of creative and innovative experimentation via electronic media devices and other means of technological mediation. All one needs to do to understand this development is to look at the interesting developments in the Nollywood film industry and the Music Studios across towns and cities in Nigeria. Robust and fascinating cultural experiments are going on in those spaces with African folklore, oral narratives and folk songs without corresponding desired attention of scholars from the disciplinary enclaves of literary and cultural studies. In fact, with all the wealth of written narratives and poetry at the disposal of literary writers and scholars in Nigeria the idea of collaboration with stakeholders in the culture industry is not being pursued with vigour (Liman, 2022).
Technology is invariably the most valuable companion that directly mediates the way we live in the postmodern world. Ironically, the rich repertoire of literary culture in Nigeria and Africa is still waiting to be tapped to improve standards and the quality of delivery of cultural entertainment, especially the type that appeals to the sophisticated tastes of technologically savvy individuals. From the wealth of written narratives, poetry collections and dramatic texts, the culture industry needs to look no further than the shores of Nigeria or Africa to source its raw materials for film production, and for the avaricious cultural appetite of the netizens of our digital culture. In this, the titillating culture of the spectacle characteristic of postmodern information society, according to Jean Baudrillard, has now forced its way to occupy center-stage. Digital communication technology has significantly impacted cultural production and consumption habits:
(T)ere are palpably significant increases in the interface of arts, culture and digital technology. Not least in the sense of our cultural normative that has rapidly changed in conformity with technologically induced changes in modern society. Reading culture is compromised at the alter of electronic media devices – television, cinema, computer, iPad, smartphone – and their multimedia applications and functions. In short, viewing culture is taking a greater percentage of attention than reading culture. Electronic media devices have effectively replaced the book medium in an era in which the memory or storage capacity of a laptop computer is counting in multiple gigabytes and terabytes, which in comparison translates to a combined space of several world-class libraries. The possibilities of computer technology and its applications are however inestimable.
Indeed, it was the availability and affordability of the computer and other digital communication technology that have created enormous opportunities for contemporary African artists and cultural practitioners (writers, poets, singers, dramatists, standup comedians, dancers, painters, etc.) to begin to experiment with technology. This can be glimpsed in the surge in Nollywood film production (visual narrative) and popularity on global scale. This development is also be seen in the technicalities and mechanics of studio-based composition (musical songs) and other technologically mediated cultural performances (dances, carnivals and festivals). One thing is certain, we are living in a moment of transition from tradition bound cultural and artistic production and consumption patterns to an era in which cultural hybridity (a synthesis of tradition and modernity) is upon us via technological mediation. Where all these developments lead us, your guess is as good as mine?
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