The Nigerian playwright, Wole Soyinka, was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta. A Dance of the Forests being one of the most renowned of Wole Soyinka's plays was presented for the first time at the Nigerian Independence celebrations in 1960.
This year on October 1, 2016, the Nigerian Independence Day, once again the play was staged before a huge audience comprising people from all walks of life.
A Dance of the Forests, by the literal implications of the name, hints upon “dance” as the sense of celebrating the spirit of life, and carries out an exegesis into the native African culture and tradition by employing the word “forests” within the title. In the play, through the example of a small village in Togo, one finds how a small community resists foreign aid and instead discovers its own potential to alleviate the poverty and ruin that afflicts it— with hand tools its proud men and women endeavor to structure their own destiny. Also, in the play, through the profound testimony of the people of Baga, the audiences were educated how beyond the days of pain and struggle lie the days of unrelenting glory, freedom and hope.
Through the play, Soyinka asserted the political choice of goading the African audiences into not repeating their past mistakes. The Dark Continent, Africa; long-held under the crippling yoke of imperialism; its people were forced to be imprisoned within their mental recesses by the imperialists, who instilled within them not only a sense of inferiority but also derived their social-mandated subject positions by subjugating the natives of Africa. The imperialists defined themselves as small islands of civilization in an ocean swathed with savagery and hooliganism. They labelled culture, art, and traditions with tags that solely befitted their own definitions about these — to them, the African culture and traditions were nothing but modified versions of savagery. Keeping in consideration the veritable idea that the imperialists thought of Africa as the land of a people unqualified to speak for themselves, they assumed that it was incumbent upon them to come and civilize these ‘savage beings’.
The reason for showcasing the play in 1960 while celebrating independence, lied in the fact that it materialized the importance given to highlighting how freedom as a notion is linked to the idea of rectifying past mistakes, and build a better future for the generations to come. Soyinka’s play made it clear to the freshly independent African audiences that the reason the imperialist powers were able to colonize Africa as a whole was because of the incongruities that laid within the systems of Africa itself which provided the external agencies with a bastion to barge in and exploit it. Soyinka endeavored, through his play, to show a mirror to the African society. He tried highlighting the fractures within the African systems of government— the corruption of the politicians, the abysmal management of institutions; maligned the well-celebrated African past in an effort to warn the Nigerians and all Africans to avoid repeating the mistakes that had already been made; and gave a rejuvenating vision to the freshly independent Africa of 1960, to reinvigorate its system by strengthening itself from within.
By staging the play on Independence Day, Soyinka succeeded in addressing the Africans regarding two imperative notions; one, the sense of celebrating the spirit of life was as important as the will to live with freedom, which is why the abstraction of freedom needed to be understood in tandem with rectifying past mistakes; and two, the decipherment of the actual African identity by highlighting the significance of proudly embracing and owning one’s native culture and traditions. In the context, the significance of staging A Dance of the Forests on Independence Day, lied in the essence of Soyinka gifting his audiences a realistic and pragmatic approach to life by looking in the mirror and identifying the cracks within themselves that could prove to be detrimental for the systems running Nigeria or the whole of Africa for that matter; and gifting the African audiences a path to self-discovery, which not only could help them gain a sense of plenitude, but also make them proud of their epistemological and ontological self— as Nigerians, as Africans.
It is but important to understand that any work of literature goes beyond the realms of geographical boundaries and transcends its creator in terms of its complexities and concerns. Coming from a country with a similar colonization experience, we share a sense of kinship with the Nigerian nation. Soyinka’s play should not be seen as work that can solely be restricted to Nigerians to reflect upon themselves, but should be used as a piece of literature that surpasses its contemporaneity.
Propping flags on the rooftops, singing national songs and paying visit to national monuments are all important aspects on 14th August, but what do we imbibe for self-reflection— on perhaps the most important day of the year?
Rarely do we witness works of art from other countries being performed at public forums— that is, works of art based on colonial experiences from far-off cultures such as that of the African countries.
Our ancestors experienced the same white gaze under the control of the colonial masters as that of the Nigerians, faced issues like that of theirs when as subalterns they endeavored to speak, and sensed the spirit of independence just the way they did.
As a nation today, we face problems that resemble the problems being faced by them: poverty, corruption, abysmal management and institutional discrepancies— we of course have a lot to share with other previously colonized nations, and therefore their literature is what ought to be promoted and revered in Pakistani circles as well.
Instead of repeating the same tableaus over and over again each year, why not stage plays like that of A Dance of Forests— an idea that would not only promote and propagate literature inlaid with colors from a very different culture, but also would help people understand the predicaments that various other nations faced while they underwent the same experience.
Similarly researchers from Pakistan must travel to Nigeria and other countries in Africa to share with them our works based on post-colonial literature so that they may benefit from literature being produced at this side of the world.
In getting to observe, imbibe, and disseminate knowledge based on similar experiences in history, we would ensure fostering a communal taste for all those with a love for literature and with a resolve to learn from the past— aiming to enlighten the minds of the upcoming generations for a better tomorrow.