the multicultural' dimensions of nollywood: an exploration

The Multicultural' Dimensions ofNollywood: An Exploration of Cultural

and Linguistic PluralismKofoworola Adedeji &. Duro Oni

Introduction

MULTIPLICITY of cultures and the attendantlinguistic pluralism has often been blamed for the

underdevelopment of African nation states. Sociologicalstudies on multilingual societies emphasize the connectionbetween societal multiculturalism and underdevelopment(Fasold; 1984; Fishman, 1968).As multiple cultures oftenpresuppose multilingualism, the management oflinguistic pluralism presents an overwhelming challengefor the continent. Ineffective management -of thischallenge has made Africa synony~ous with ethnictensions and conflictswhich have often spiraled into war.

Chronic poverty, disease, lack of basic infrastructure andilliteracy are some of the developmental issues that Africaconstantly grapples with. The; developmental challengesposed by issues arising out of multiculturalism have also

I Ibeen exacerbated by colonia~ism and other westernincursions and interferences. ~ue to the clash of culturesoften engendered by these foreign interventions,

Imulticulturalism in Africa has become furthercomplicated. Going beyond domestic contentions betweendiverse ethnic groups, multiculturalism in Africa includesthe struggle against the dominance ofwestern culture and

473

474 Multiculturalism and the Prospects for Africa and African Diaspora ...

western languages, further accentuating the challengesfaced by the African continent. Faced with thesedevelopmental problems, it has become imperative notonly to explore the nature ofAfrica's multiculturalism, butalso to seek ways of management which can forestallendemic ethnic conflicts. This study attempts to achievethese objectives through an examination of issues relatingto culture in two international award-winning Nollywoodmovies - Kunle Afolayan's Irapada and Tunde Kelani'sMagun. The movies provide a rich documentation of theNigerian cultural heritage b*t even more importantly,they demonstrate the tensions which often characterizemulticultural societies, portraying the constant striving oftraditional African customs dnd beliefs against westernculture. Through the resolution of these dissensions,insight is provided into the management of societalconflicts arising from ~ultural differences.

Multiculturalism AsAn Encounter Between'Self' and 'Other'.Some definitions of multiculturalism (Kallen, 1982;Kymlicka, 1995; von Herder, 1969; Parekh, 1994) conveythe core ideas ofdifference, diversity and heterogeneity ofI

cultures. These notions are usually examined within theborders of the nation-state given the reality that mostcountries today are multiethnic and multinationalsocieties. Multicul-turalists therefore explore diverse

'communities within nation-states, investigating whetherthey receive equal and fair treatment in the public and.political arena. They analyse the ideology of liberalismand the practices of liberal nation states to see if theydisadvantage cultures or discriminate against them onaccount of their difference. Kymlicka viewsmulticulturalism within the chronology of world political

The Multicultural Dimensions of Nollywood 475

history as:part of the larger human rights revolution following theSecond World War. Prior to this time, ethnocultural and, .religious diversity in the West was characterized by arange ofilliberal and undemocratic relations (72).

This assumption of human equality has generated a series'ofpolitical movements distinguished by Kymlicka as: (a) thestruggle for decolonization, concentrated in the period 1948to 1965 (b) the struggle against racial segregation anddiscrimination, initiated and exemplified by the African-American civil rights movement from i955 to 1965 and (c)the struggle for multiculturalism and minority rights, whichhas emerged from the late 1960s. All three movementsinvolve Africans and DiaspoJan Africans for whom thestruggle for multiculturalism I entails something unique..While to those in Canada and Australia, the struggle almostexclu~ively refers to the rights Iof immigrant groups and tothe Latin American it is used almost exclusively to refer toindigenous groups, in some other countries, it is used as anumbrella term to cover all forms of ethno-cultural diversity.In Africa however, multiculturalism is often seen as astruggle against the dominance of western culture andlanguages following colonialism,

However, even considering these various perspectivesfrom different parts of the world, there is a common coreto multiculturalism which implies an opposition betweena familiar culture (self) and an unfamiliar one (other).

-This opposition often provides opportunities for self-criticism as it creates encounters with another culture.The self-criticism not only makes us aware of the limits ofour own world-view, it also reveals the existence of otherhuman projects and ways of organizing society therebyexposing us to alternative ways oflife.

.476 Multiculturalism and the Prospects for Africa and African Diaspora ...

lVlulticulturalism and Linguistic Pluralismin Nigeria

,Culture refers to the totality of the way of life of a people,and language represents a significant aspect ofculture as'it is the oldest human institution. Cultures aretransmitted through languages and languages alsoreflect the history of the people who use them. Sapir andWhorf's linguistic relativity hypothesis shows theinterdependence of language and culture, clearlydemonstrating that language is a reflection of culture.Multiplicity of languages therefore presupposes amultiplicity of cultures. With an abundance of languagesin Africa, it is clear that multiplicity of cultures andlinguistic pluralism are common phenomena on thecontinent (www.ethriologue.com). The linguistic and'cultural situation in Nigeria is no different. An estimated505 languages are spoken in Nigeria by an estimatedpopulation of over 100 million people, it is not only themost populous country in Africa, it is also one of the

I

countries with the highest/ rate of linguistic diversity(Awonusi 181, Fasold 1 ard Grimes 118). Based oncertain indices, classifications of Nigeria'S linguisticsituation have been provid~d by: ,Williamson (based onpopulation index) and Aworlusi (based on population andsociolinguistic indices). Williamson identifies five group"as shown below: I I

.(a) three foreign orexoglossic languages (English

French, Arabic)(b)four very large languages (Rausa, Igbo,Yoruba, Pidgir(c) seven large languages(d)twenty medium-sized languages«e) three hundredand fifty small-sized languages.

The Multicultural Dimensions of NolIWJood 477

Awonusi recognizes three or more groups as detailed below:

(a) Decamillionaire languages: These are Hausa, Igboand Yoruba (often referred to as the three majorNigerian languqges).! They are essentiallymultimillion-speaker languages and function as locallingua francas as well as regional or state languages inareas where they are spokfn. It is estimated that over70%Nigerians speak thes1three languages.

(b)Millionaire languages are ~hoselanguages which havea minimum of about a million speakers. They havebecome languages associated with states where theyare predominantly spoken and languages that havebeen promoted by the Federal Government media(radio broadcast or network languages) since theseventies. These are Edo, Efik (lbibio), Fulfude,Idoma, Igala, Ijo, Kanuri, Nupe and Tiv.

(c) Minor languages: This is the group ofnumerous otherlanguages (literally hundreds) that are used inlocalities as mother tongues but hardly as languagesof education. Some of these languages, e.g. Koma, aresaid to be on the verge ofextinction.

Due to this complex linguistic situation, Nigeria has beendescribed as "one of the most linguistically diversecountries in the world" (Fasold 1) and "one of thecountries with the highest linguistic diversity ... amultilingual country" (Awonusi 182). A's a result, manyNigerians are bilingual and multilingual, with acommand of several Nigerian and non-indigenouslanguages. Multilingualism is common in the countryand appears to have given the average Nigerian a broadercultural understanding and enriched him culturally.

478 Multiculturalism and the Prospects f6r Africa and African Diaspora ...

The Nigerian Nollywood: ~ TransnationalCultural ToolThe term Nollywood is adopted in this paper in referringto home video entertainment tradition in contemporaryNigeria. Although the use of this term arouses objectionssuch as -being invented by a foreigner, a mere imitation ofAmerican Hollywood and Indian Bollywood, restrictive inthe sense that it is representative of Nigerian video filmsdone in the English language alone etcetera; the name isadopted here due "to its popularity and internationalappeal. Commendation for this modern artistic genre hasincreased as it has developed from feature celluloid filmsof the seventies and eighties and the Yoruba Travelling

,theatre groups video films which started in 1988 (ani 32)to its current status as the second largest film industry inthe world, coming behind Bollywood and havingovertaken Hollywood.This was as ranked by UNESCO interms ofvalue ofindustry and number ofmovies producedper year. The industry has been described as a 'globalphenomenon' by Okome (6) and a transnational traditionby Jonathan Haynes, a foremost film critic who has mademajor commentaries on Nollywood:

Nigeria video films are the leading form of Nigerianpopular culture. By the mid-1990s, they were appearingat a rate of about 500 a year; by now, there is an annualtorrent of more than 1,000 films which are sold ascassettes or as video compact discs, screened in a varietyof formal and informal Jenues, and broadcast ontelevision all ~ver Africa (onil16 emphasis added). .

That film, video and televisr·on in general are powerfulmedia for the entrenchment of values in their audiencesis without debate as it has be n asserted that:

The MUlticultural Dimensions of Nollywood 479

[F]ilmis' used by institutions 'to provide information orspread ideas...artists and intellectuals send messagesthat are meant to enlighten, convince, entertain orstimulate in somedirection, the audience for which theyare intended. The communications couched in artisticand entertainment formsare often the mosteffectiveandthe most subtle in their influence(Mottram 321).

Most sociological theorists subscribe to the view thatcommunication media perform instrumental roles asmechanisms of conveying societal values, belief systemsand even serve as effective forms of maintaining controland order in the society. A significant value which may becommunicated to the society through the video filmmedium is culture. This role is performed by the artistwho is situated within the same value system find whosecontribution as a portrayer of culture is described byOkome as a process which "becomes a cultural activity,because it is informed by cultural values ...There can beno meaningful communication outside culture; and an artform that is meaningful is that which is both functionaland communal" (cited in Dipio 52-53.)

The richness and diversity of the Nigerian culture and,

African culture in general d6e~not require elaboration asits elements such as myths, folklore, rituals, religion, socialsystems, dressing, music, dange etcetera, provide endlessthemes for video films. These elements pervade Nollywood

.and form the basis of the a~peal to the transnationalfollowership of mainly Africans and Diasporan Africanswhich" the movies currently r.njoy. These films extendbeyond the immediate Niger~an environment, sharingcommon African themes with ¥rican people, appealing toboth historical and contemporary memories. The shared


memories forge a common identity which Africanaudiences can relate to. To the audience on African soil, theshared meaning is easily revealed as Okunoye hasasserted that 'African society share similar problemsdespite the national contexts in which they appear" (228).To the African diasporic dweller, the shared identity existsin a more complex form as a 'cultural aide memoire whichstimula.tes thei.r cultural aw;areness and satisfies their I

nostalgic yearnings' (Oyewo8;2). Haynes also observes theinternational patronage ofNollywoodmovies:

I

[T]hese movies are what is on television in Namibia, andon sale on the streets in Kenya .. In Congo, they arebroadcast with the soundtr,ack turned down while aninterpreter tells the story in Lingala or other languages.In New York, Chinese people are buying them. InHolland, Nollywoodstars are recognized on the streets bypeople from Suriname, and in London they are hailed byJamaicans (Haynes 2).

The effects of the films are multi-dimensional, involvingthe transmission of distinctly Nigerian cultural elementssuch as language, fashion, religions, folklore, myth,music and, dance. For example, interviews conductedwith Ugandan viewers revealed that they 'find the filmsrich grounds to learn about African cultural values' (Dipio52). Influences regarding Nigerian indigenous languageswere also observed among the Ugandans as they imitateNigerian mannerism of speech. Words like: "chineke",

. "igwe", and "oga" are used by Ugandans besides othegestures seen in the movies. Also, the films exhibiNigerian traditional fashion which are enthusiasticallcopied by Ugandans. The interviews conclude thaviewers of Nollywood movies 'experience African culturthrough some ofthese movies' (Dipio 70).

I·The Multicultural Dimensions of Nollywood 481'

The Nigerian movies are also remarkable in the sensethat the transnational interest generated by them is notlimited to the lower status socio-economic group, theusual avid audiences of popular art forms such as this.The films are currently shown on four dedicated channelson the international cable television network (DSTV)which is an elite television viewing form. Besides this,'there are increasing tr ansnat.ional/i nter nat.iona l :collaborations between artistes from countries likeGhana, Kenya, South Africa, Sierra Leone, and theUnited States with Nollywood artistes.

Magun (Thunderbolt) and Irapada (Redemption)as Forms of Encounters with 'Self' and 'Other'.The two Nollywood movies examined in this paper serve,to emphasize one of the core features of multiculturalism

.which is encounters with other (different culture) ratherthan self (one's culture).The ethemes of inter-marriage,folk wisdom and loyal friends ips serve as the platformon which this core idea iL examined in Irapada(Redemption) and Magun (Tb'underbolt), in the form ofcultural encounters. I

The protagonist in Magun is Ngozi. She is a young Igbolady from the eastern part of Nigeria who falls in love andmarries Yinka, a Yoruba man from the southwest, againstthe advice of family and friends. The marriage soon turnssour due to Yinka's jealousy and over-possessiveness.Ngozi's life is threatened as she is laced with 'magun', aspell for chastity control. She is eventually cured, not bywestern orthodox medicine but through traditionalAfrican rites. Three dimensions of the encounter with

. 'other' in the form of different cultures are observed inIrapada inter- marriage, folkwisdom and loyal friendships.


Ngozi's marriage to a man from a different cultureprovides an intimate encounter with divergent culturalpractices beginning from food to fashion, greeting, musicand dance. Ngozi becomes completely immersed in theelements of her husband's Yoruba culture and tradition,demonstrating a cultural affinity that goes beyond meretolerance. She happily pounds and eats pounded yam, astaple food of the Yorubas, wears the traditional iro andbuba (blouse and wrapper), kneels for her husband andeven attempts to learn the different language. Shejoyfully announces that her husband 'met her at home', aYoruba cultural expression which means that a husbandfound his wife chaste and untouched on the weddingnight. Yinka displays the same acceptance of the Igboculture; affirming having met Ngozi at home, a Yorubacultural expression, showing relish at the traditional

. Yo:ruba meals of pounded: yam, amala etcetera (staplefoods in Nigeria) which his/wife regularly prepares. Whatmay be regarded as.Yinka'p gre~test display ofacceptanceof another culture IS that re attempts to demonstrate toanother individual his affinity for his wife's culture. Thisattempt is made when he Jrepares a traditional Igbo meal.of yellow gari (cassava meal) and soup for his mother. Indoing this, his tolerance f6r another culture is shown andhis complete acceptance of the cultural elements ofanother culture is exhibited. He implores his mother toeat the food but she rejects it, saying that "What is this? Iwill not eat what will give me a tummy ache".

The movie shows support for inter-ethnic marriages,reiterating this in several ways. The dialogue betweenNgozi and Yinka in a scene in which he tried to persuadeher "to marry him provides a good illustration of this.Trying to override Ngozi's initial misgivings because of

The Multicultural Dimensions of Noliywood 483

their ethnic differences, Yinka asks: "I'm Yoruba, you'reIgbo, so what? Our differences don't matter". Also, afterfinally accepting Yinka's marriage. proposal, Ngoziattempts to obtain her family's consent to the marriage.She persuades them that love is the most importantconsideration and not ethnic orientation. Ngozi'sgrandmother finally concurs, "I'm not happy about yourmarriage to a Yoruba man but] know that you love him. Ihope that will make it work".

The close relationship which ~xists between Ngozi, theprotagonist and her landladYr Adetutu offers anothersignificant _window into an encounter with an. 'other'culture. An intimate mother/daughter relationship existsbetween these two women; bellying their different ethnicorigins, going far beyond the usual landlady and tenantrelations. Everyone, from Ngozi's friends and family tostrangers refers to Adetutu as Ngozi's mother.Responding to the question of whether she is Ngozi'sbiological mother, she replies that 'I'm like a mother toher and she's like a daughter to me'. Everyone referred toNgozi as Adetutu's mother and Ngozi herself calls out toAdetutu: 'Mama (mother), help me', when she fallsdesperately ill, an acknowledgement of' Adetutu'snurturing role. Adetutu is Ngozi's confidant, oftenproviding counsel on Ngozi's marital problems.Empathizing with the protagonist on the issue of herhusband's refusal to have conjugal relations with her,Adetutu draws from her own wealth of experience: "servehim pounded yam with one big odehu (an alcoholicbeverage), you will see what will happen overnight".Eventually, it is also Adetutu who is the initiator ofNgozi's salvation from magun. She urges Ngozi not tosuccumb to the curse of magun (thunderbolt), insisting


that help must be sought frorn'traditional medicinal rites.Adetutu's motherly intervention in the dilemma despitethe cultural differences provides evidence of a positiveencounter between two cultures.

The protagonist's dilemma (the curse of magun) is anegative encounter with an 'other' culture. This negativeencounter is the climax of the movie whereby resolution ofthe conflict takes place. In an ironic twist, redemption forthe protagonist is found within the same culture whichwas the antecedent of the dilemma. This resolution isprovided in two major ways: first, through Dimeji, acharacter from within the culture which was the cause ofthe protagonist's dilemma; and second, through acommingling of two diverse cultures, one of which is theinitial cause of the protagonist's predicament. Theprotagonist experiences both the positive and the negativesides of a culture. But probably because solution is foundwithin the same culture, the protagonist once moreembraces. an other culture. Eventually, Ngozi's marriageto Yinka fails. It fails because of the general humanfailings of jealousy and over-possessiveness, failingscommon to all men irrespective of ethnicity. The marriagedoes not fail due to ethnic differences. The protagonist'srealization that the bad as well as the good exists in thesame culture causes a willingness to re-embrace theculture which had once causeh a serious predicament, theultimate threat, which is the threat to life.This willingnessis demonstrated through t~e desire to marry Dimeji, .another character from the same culture. The character'sconfesses that "there are only good and bad people, thoseare the two tribes ...you are a good man ... that's all I wantin a man". With the realization that both the goodand thebad, the positive and the negative can co-exist within the

The MulticultJral Dimensions of Nollywood 485

same culture, also comes the realization that intrinsichuman qualities such as kindness and consideration ofothers are more important thaA ethnic affiliations. VP, acharacter in the movieechoes this realization: "an evil mangives a bad name to his race even if that race contains ahost of angels but a race is a race and a 'man, a man." If theprotagonist had not embraced another culture, perhaps asolution to the dilemma may never have been found,suggesting that resolution lies within a multi-culturerather than a mono-culture orientation.

The juxtaposition of western medicine and Africantraditional medicine in the movie provides thebackground for another encounter between cultures. Twooptions, representing two diverse cultural orientationsare available for resolving the protagonist's dilemma. Acharacter in the movie who is a professor of medicinemakes a call for tolerance and even collaboration betweenwestern and African medicine practitioners, emphasizingthe opportunities which could develop from such'commingling of cultures: "the western medicinepractitioner, ifhe can drop his toga of pride, still has a lotto learn from the so-called African traditional medicinepractitioners, and they too should begin to empl?y thetools of scientific research to improve on their trade". Thisobservation achieves two things. First, it strengthens theposition of traditional African medicine within amulticultural society through' the revelation of itspossibilities for resolving med~cal dilemmas. Secondlyand more importantly, it suggests that a mingling of thetraditional and the western is~neCessary for resolvingproblems in multicultural pos -colonial societies, thusfurther emphasizing the usefu ness of a multi-cultureorientation in resolving dilemmas.

486 Multiculturalism and the Prospects for Africa and African Diaspora..

The protagonist in Irapada is Dewunmi. He is a youngand successful Yoruba man from the Southwestern partof Nigeria "and he lives in no~thern Nigeria with his wife,Moji. Both Dewunmi and ~is foster mother begin toexperience nightmarish dreams in which Dewunmi endsup tragically. His foster mother unsuccessfully persuadeshim to undergo a traditional !redemptive rite to avoid anytragedies ..It is not until t~~ rlight~ares beco~e real thatDewunrni seeks tradItIobal int.ervent ion. Threedimensions of 'encounters tith 'other' in the form ofdifferent cultures are observed in Irapada inter-marriage, folk wisdom and loyal friendships.

The protagonist's friendship with Shehu who is fromanother culture provides significant insight into therelations between friends from different culturalbackgrounds. A cultural encounter is enacted whenDewunmi takes Shehu along to the village his rootswhere Yoruba traditional rites are performed forDewunmi, Rather than disparage the Yoruba culturalrites which Dewunmi undergoes, Shehu activelysupports him in the quest for physical and spiritual

, redemption. Furthermore, as Dewunmi strugglesthrough dire circumstances, several instances ofunwavering loyalty are displayed by Shehu. He takes inboth Dewunmi and his wife into his home when the bankseizes Dewunmi's home, supports Dewunmi financiallyon several occasions and also intervenes in the maritalconflicts between Dewunmi and his wife. Shehu eatstraditional Yoruba foods in Dewunmi's home and speaksYoruba language to Dewunmi's foster mother. Dewunmiacknowledges Shehu's support: "thank you for being afriend and a brother".


The final scenes of the movie, the climax also present a"deployment of the elements of two cultures traditionalYoruba rites and western medicine with ChristianPentecostalism for solving a dilemma. The two aresimultaneously enacted, suggesting that the combinationof the two provides Dewunmi's redemption. WhenMojisola, Dewunmi's wife has life threatening medicalcomplications, two different interventions representativeof two cultures are sought by Dewunmi and his familyand friends. Prayers by the members of a Pentecostalchurch in addition to medical surgery "(western culture)and traditional Yoruba cleansing rites (African culture)simultaneously hold in a bid to save her and ultimatelyredeem Dewunmi.

The protagonist's journey to redemption therefore;involves a change in perspective from the principle ofcultural singularity to a more liberal and expansiveorientation of multiple-culture. Dewunmi transits froman individual who totally rejects any African cultural

. interventions to one who finally voluntarily submitshimself to the same cultural ~ediations initially rejectedby him. In the early scenes of rhe movie, he is angry thathis foster mother consulted an Ita oracle on his behalf buthe finally admits that "when all hope is gone, one needs totrust in a higher power". In this new' multiculturalorientation, the protagonist finds redemption, theresolution ofhis dilemma.

Multilingualism in Magun and Irapada

Given the inexorable link between culture and language,it is apparent that the multicultural encounters depictedin these movies also serve as grounds for the display of the


multilingual nature of Nigeria which is the locale of themovies. The characters in the movies displayedproficiency in the use of the three major indigenousNigerian languages. In particular, the features of code-mixing and code-switching which characterizemultilingual communities are evident in the dialogue ofthe characters. The mixing of codes/languages furtherdemonstrates the striving and clashing of cultures whichis sometimes typical of culturally pluralistic societies.The movies aptly demonstrate the present linguistic'situation in Nigeria in which indigenous languages existside by side with English, with English having developedfrom a language used by colonial officers and a feweducated elite to a nationall1ngua franca with expansiveroles in education, government, mass media, religion, etc.In line with this, Awonusi m~kes the observation that:: ... English may be rightly described as the dominant

language right from the colonial era while the indigenouslanguages are dominated languages. Although English,Rausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin perform the role oflingua francas, English is believed to be more widespreadthan others, attracts higher prestige among the elite andmay be .described as super-exoglossic in the face of otherforeign or exoglossic languages.

The use of English is dominant in the movies, with onlyoccasional lapses into Nigerian languages; usually inscenes involving culturally crucial and significant events.Examples include the scene of Dewunmi's head-washing,the scene in which Dimeji's life is saved through theintervention of the Yoruba herbalists, the scene in whichmagun, the chastity spell is removed from Ngozi throughritual means, as well as a variety of scenes set in villages,and therefore involving the village locals as characters.


I Conclusion

The protagonists in the two movies that have beenexamined initially attempt to resolve their dilemmasthrough first, a mono-cultural means and later throughmulti-cultural ones. There are several instances ofencounters with 'other' cult res involving dimensionsincluding inter-cultural marriages, friendships and folkwisdom. But in both movied, the predicaments whichinvolve the ultimate threat, the threat to life, are resolvedusing multicultural rather than mono-cul tu r alapproaches. This suggests that the deployment ofelements of multiple cultures towards the managementof societal problems may be useful in multiculturalstates. Furthermore, this commingling of cultures whichbrings about resolution has imp lic a t.ion s for:multicultural states as it suggests that the adoption ofmulti-ethnic and multicultural orientations may offerviable solutions to societal conflicts.

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Oni, Duro. "Context and Nature of Contemporary Nigerian(Nollywood) Film Industry". Ed. Foluke Ogunleye, AfricaThrough the Eye of the Video Camera. Swaziland: AcademicPublishers (2008)16-25.

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the multicultural' dimensions of nollywood: an exploration

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