DRAMATIZATION OF NORTHERN NIGERIAN HISTORY: [ADAPTATION, TRADITION AND PERSONAGES] OF BEN TOMOLOJU’S AMINATU QUEEN OF ZAZZAU, AHMED YERIMA’S ATTAHIRU, AND UMARU LADAN AND DEXTER LYNDERSAY’S SHAIHU UMAR

DRAMATIZATION OF NORTHERN NIGERIAN HISTORY: [ADAPTATION, TRADITION AND PERSONAGES] OF BEN TOMOLOJU’S AMINATU QUEEN OF ZAZZAU, AHMED YERIMA’S ATTAHIRU, AND UMARU LADAN AND DEXTER LYNDERSAY’S SHAIHU UMAR

Abstract:

This thesis examines the interplay between the adaptation of historical materials for dramatic purpose and the production of what may be referred to as ‘hagiographic personages. The study argues that this interplay underscores the relationship between history and hagiography in the discursive construction of tradition in Northern Nigeria as evident in Hausa literature. This interrelatedness of discourses and discursive formations is complex and requires multiple reading and interpretive strategies. The study demonstrates that there is a great need to revisit the past in order to understand the present. The dramatization of the past in Northern Nigerian literature has been achieved through the technique of adaptation and the hagiographic presentation of historical personages. The strategy of historicity has made possible a better comprehension of ‘tradition’ in contemporary Hausa society. Thus, we see dramatic literature dealing with the past and historical personages contributing in no small measures to the structural understanding of Hausa tradition and culture as seen in Yerima’s Attahiru, Ladan and Lyndersay’s Shaihu Umar and Tomoloju’s Aminatu Queen of Zazzau, that the study used as illustrative texts.

DRAMATIZATION OF NORTHERN NIGERIAN HISTORY: [ADAPTATION, TRADITION AND PERSONAGES] OF BEN TOMOLOJU’S AMINATU QUEEN OF ZAZZAU, AHMED YERIMA’S ATTAHIRU, AND UMARU LADAN AND DEXTER LYNDERSAY’S SHAIHU UMAR

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