Papers by Mustapha Bala Ruma
JOLLS, 2025
This paper explores the intersection of identity, history, and memory in Salman Rushdie's 1981 no... more This paper explores the intersection of identity, history, and memory in Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel Midnight's Children. The paper explores how Rushdie created a central character that uses the complementary roles of history and memory to forge an identity that is at once personal and communal. In order to achieve this objective, the paper uses postmodern historiography as its theoretical framework to examine how Rushdie fuses the history of Indian independence with that of the central character, Saleem Sinai through the deployment of an ingenious narrative technique of parallelism. In this regard, we see how memory is used to narrate the stories of the life of Saleem in tandem with that of the emergence of an independent Indian nation. The two histories are simultaneously narrated based on fragmented recollections from memory. Consequently, it becomes difficult to separate the personal from the public, and fact from fiction in the narrative. In the end, the identity of Saleem Sinai is fused with that of the postcolonial Indian nation.
This thesis examines how autobiography and its variants such as the memoir transforms from being ... more This thesis examines how autobiography and its variants such as the memoir transforms from being the story of the writing-‘I’ to that of its other. In this regard, the thesis specifically looks at how the texts under study turn their narratives into a process of objectification of the non-self “other” by framing their narratives through the trajectory of overarching social hierarchies such as us/them, clean/dirty, native/stranger, visible/invisible, peaceful/violent, etc. This strategy enables the writers to turn the autobiographical act into a space for accentuating differences between themselves and others. Consequently, they turn the non-self into an object and subject of difference through ridicule, disdain, mockery, and demonisation. The main aim of this strategy is to objectify the non-self by ascribing some negative qualities to it. It is the contention of this thesis that objectification as it occurs in these texts is in the main a process of identity formation based on the ...
JOLLS, 2023
This paper explores the intersection of landscape, architectural design, political violence and L... more This paper explores the intersection of landscape, architectural design, political violence and Literature. It specifically focuses on the stimulating influence of landscape and architectural designs on the imaginative faculty of Ngugi in his 2007 novel Wizard of the Crow. The paper critically examines his employment of architectural tropes to shape a gripping narrative about corruption, greed, violence and wastefulness in the fictional African nation of Aburiria; a prototype of most African nations. The paper also examines how Ngugi explores the dysfunctional nature of most African cities especially in matters of hygiene, waste management, and environmental conservation/destruction. The paper concludes that there is a very close connection between building / construction business, environmental destruction, political violence and corruption in the Aburῑrian nation, as complexly depicted in the novel. This is very disturbing because it reminds us of the painful fact that whereas elsewhere in the world buildings and other architectural masterpieces are signs of progress and development, in Africa they are conduits for siphoning funds often sourced through dubious loans by those in positions of leadership as demonstrated in Wizard of the Crow.
Book Chapter, 2020
This paper explores how Hannatu T. Abdullahi treats gender relations in her collection of poems S... more This paper explores how Hannatu T. Abdullahi treats gender relations in her collection of poems SHE TALKS, HE TALKS. The paper looks at how Hannatu exploits and employs the interplay of duality, opposition and symmetry as a poetic technique to interrogate and undermine traditional assumptions about the position of women in Hausa society. In this regard, the paper looks at how she imbues the female persona with an authoritative voice to question the relegation of women to a second-class position by the male interlocutor in a healthy dialogue in poem after poem in the collection. The paper further argues that by so doing, Hannatu was able to show the changing contours of gender relations in modern Hausa society. The paper contends that the poems in the collection signal the need for a cultural revision of gender relations in Hausa society. The paper concludes that by challenging the age-long historico-cultural perception of gender relations in this way, Hannatu has opened a new vista for understanding its changing contours in modern Hausa society. In view of this, the feminist literary theory is used as the window through which we can appreciate Hannatu's presentation of gender role and reversal.
This paper explores how Hannatu T. Abdullahi treats gender relations in her collection of poems S... more This paper explores how Hannatu T. Abdullahi treats gender relations in her collection of poems SHE TALKS, HE TALKS. The paper looks at how Hannatu exploits and employs the interplay of duality, opposition and symmetry as a poetic technique to interrogate and undermine traditional assumptions about the position of women in Hausa society. In this regard, the paper looks at how she imbues the female persona with an authoritative voice to question the relegation of women to a second-class position by the male interlocutor in a healthy dialogue in poem after poem in the collection. The paper further argues that by so doing, Hannatu was able to show the changing contours of gender relations in modern Hausa society. The paper contends that the poems in the collection signal the need for a cultural revision of gender relations in Hausa society. The paper concludes that by challenging the age-long historico-cultural perception of gender relations in this way, Hannatu has opened a new vista for understanding its changing contours in modern Hausa society. In view of this, the feminist literary theory is used as the window through which we can appreciate Hannatu's presentation of gender role and reversal.
From the vantage positions of the blacks, the South African Apartheid State was created on the pr... more From the vantage positions of the blacks, the South African Apartheid State was created on the principle of violence towards them. In fact, the system of apartheid was sustained and nourished through a brutal use of force against this majority by perniciously suppressing and negating their humanity. In addition to this state sanctioned violence, there is also the black-on-black violence that had resulted to numerous loss of lives. In fact the story of this black-on-black violence occupies a central space in Nelson Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. This paper, therefore, looks at how violence is used as a narrative trope in Nelson Mandela's autobiography. The paper focuses on how Mandela uses the trajectory of violence to construct his identity on the one hand and the identity of his opponents especially members of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on the other.
Southeast Asian Review of English
Wizard of the Crow (2007) is important in Ngugi's oeuvre because it signifies a departure from hi... more Wizard of the Crow (2007) is important in Ngugi's oeuvre because it signifies a departure from his earlier political positions. Not only did the novel come out after about two decades of inactivity in his novelistic production since Matigari (1988), it was also initially composed in Gikuyu as Murogi wa Kagogo twenty years after Ngugi said his famed "farewell to English." This sprawling 776-page magnum opus (published in Gikuyu in three installments totaling 892 pages) is probably the longest piece of prose in sub-Saharan Africa to be composed and published in an indigenous language.
This paper looks at the intersection of religious discourse and figurative expressions. Religious... more This paper looks at the intersection of religious discourse and figurative expressions. Religious texts being discourses that are intended to appeal to the people's sense of reasoning rather than their emotions tend to be couched in abstractions. These abstractions however can be concretized through the use of figures of expressions such as Metaphor, Simile, Synecdoche, and Metonymy, to mention a few examples. In this respect, the present paper focuses on how Metaphors are used to explain otherwise difficult eschatological concepts such as the Hereafter, Life after death, Day of judgement, Paradise, Hell, The Scale, etc.in the Qur'an. The paper reveals that Metaphor is widely employed as a rhetorical device in the Qur'an for the purpose of drawing similitude between such concepts and activities happening in the physical world. The paper concludes that the language of the Qur'an is highly rhetorical because of its appropriation of such figures of expression as the Metaphor.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2014
This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare's Othello. It attempts to show that race is ... more This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare's Othello. It attempts to show that race is a very important issue raised by Shakespeare in the play in his eagerness to highlight the racial problems confronting Europe in the seventeenth century. In this play he attempts to expose the racial prejudice that exists in the Venetian society in particular and Europe in general. He also attempts to subvert the European feelings of racial superiority against the blacks in particular and people of other races in general. He sets out to do this by making a black man (Othello) marry a white woman (Desdemona) of an aristocratic extraction against the will and wish of her father. This inter-racial marriage may not in reality be possible in the seventeenth century, but all the same Shakespeare contrived it to be so, possibly as a way of foregrounding future change in European attitudes toward other races. The paper also looks at how individual citizens of a city-state like Venice can constitute themselves as threats to its social well being, by allowing their personal interests to override the national ethos. In this regard the activities of Othello, Iago and Roderigo are examined.
This paper examines the rhetorical strategies employed in Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My... more This paper examines the rhetorical strategies employed in Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1927). Specifically, the paper focuses on how Gandhi constructs his narrative of identity by purporting to represent the interests of subaltern Indians in British India and South Africa. Its central argument is that in the process of framing the narrative of self, Gandhi’s autobiography objectifies the Indian masses by employing negative tropes to describe their attitudes towards cleanliness and sanitation. The paper demonstrates that by projecting them as dirty and unamenable to change, Gandhi indirectly creates a binary opposition between himself and the subalterns. It concludes that, in spite of his claims of solidarity with the oppressed, Gandhi ends up objectifying them as “others.”
Comparative studies as a discipline provides tools for the critical and cross-cultural analysis o... more Comparative studies as a discipline provides tools for the critical and cross-cultural analysis of social phenomena, processes, and experiences. For this reason, it has become an important component of literary studies, especially where the analysis aims to look for parallels and divergences across different countries, cultures, and historical periods. This chapter is an attempt in that direction because it seeks to understand two seemingly dissimilar groups of people and their expressions—Sufism and English Romanticism—with the intention of bringing their commonalities into sharp focus. It looks at how both originated as protest movements against the dominant ideology of their times.
This paper looks at the intersection of religious discourse and figurative expressions. Religious... more This paper looks at the intersection of religious discourse and figurative expressions. Religious texts being discourses that are intended to appeal to the people’s sense of reasoning rather than their emotions tend to be couched in abstractions. These abstractions however can be concretized through the use of figures of expressions such as Metaphor, Simile, Synecdoche, and Metonymy, to mention a few examples. In this respect, the present paper focuses on how Metaphors are used to explain otherwise difficult eschatological concepts such as the Hereafter, Life after death, Day of judgement, Paradise, Hell, The Scale, etc.in the Qur’an. The paper reveals that Metaphor is widely employed as a rhetorical device in the Qur’an for the purpose of drawing similitude between such concepts and activities happening in the physical world. The paper concludes that the language of the Qur’an is highly rhetorical because of its appropriation of such figures of expression as the Metaphor.
This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare’s Othello. It attempts to show that race is ... more This paper examines the issue of race in Shakespeare’s Othello. It attempts to show that race is a very important issue raised by Shakespeare in the play in his eagerness to highlight the racial problems confronting Europe in the seventeenth century. In this play he attempts to expose the racial prejudice that exists in the Venetian society in particular and Europe in general. He also attempts to subvert the European feelings of racial superiority against the blacks in particular and people of other races in general. He sets out to do this by making a black man (Othello) marry a white woman (Desdemona) of an aristocratic extraction against the will and wish of her father. This inter-racial marriage may not in reality be possible in the seventeenth century, but all the same Shakespeare contrived it to be so, possibly as a way of foregrounding future change in European attitudes toward other races. The paper also looks at how individual citizens of a city-state like Venice can constit...
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Papers by Mustapha Bala Ruma