Indigenous festival arts and (dis)connect with contemporary socio-cultural realities in Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

Festival is the climax of African indigenous cultural institutions and artistic expressions handed down to a people by their forebears and maintained as such for generations to come. This is exactly the problem of this research. Several indigenous communities in southeastern Nigeria apparently live in dangerous times: environmental degradation, insurgence, exclusion from mainstream politics and resource distribution; moral breakdown and erosion of salient cultural and identity markers such as language. If festivals are maintained to address realities of primordial times, where or how then do emerging and prevailing realities find expression in these festivals? Relying on the Cultural Hybridity theory and deploying participant observation, case study analysis and focused group discussion, this study analyses cultural and artistic shifts in the Onwa-Oru Festival of the Uratta people in Southeastern Nigeria. It aims to examine the extent and impact of the performative detachments on the futures of indigenous peoples. The cultural arts in focus are indigenous dance and masquerade performances, while sociological assessment includes the environment, media, morality and pedagogy. The researchers observe that this disconnect from contemporary realities has given room to negative iconoclasms of the cosmic, cultural and artistic verve of the festival. Conclusively, creative reconnections of the festival and its arts to prevailing realities can help indigenous peoples navigate living in dangerous times. In line with the motto above, the paper suggests novel ways in which indigenous peoples can see their arts in new ways.