Literary Studies in the 21st Century: Practical Implication for Ethnic Conflict and Conflict Resolution Using Cyprian Ekwensi’s Iska

Abstract

Ekwensi preoccupied himself with contemporary issues in the Nigerian Society, probably morethan any other Nigerian writer. His novel Iska, set in the North, captures vividly the ethnicconflict situation in Nigeria. He guides the reader through his characters to the root causes ofethnic conflict or violence in Nigeria and the likely solutions to the conflicts. This paperexamined the causes of ethnic conflict or violence among Nigerian ethnic groups as expressedin the text, Iska, and showed ways in which they could be clarified and possibly resolved. Thepaper tried to find out whether the text or the novel could be relevant in conflict resolution,whether it could capture the conflict incidents that ordinarily a researcher will go to the fieldto investigate, and whether the pieces of information in the text could come in handy in conflictresolution. The major objective of this paper was to prove that fiction can be relevant in conflictresolution in Nigeria. New Historicism and Instrumentalism came in handy in the conceptualframework with regard to theories and critical analysis. The method that was used in theprocess of doing this paper was largely inductive and deductive and references were made toempirical researches that supported the ground for the inductive and deductive methods used.