Vol. 6 No. 2 (2025): Reclaiming African Voices: Identity, Communication, and Social Transformation

The Abuja Journal of Humanities is delighted to present Volume 6, No. 2 (2025), a collection of eighteen articles that converge on the theme Reclaiming African Voices: Identity, Communication, and Social Transformation. The contributions span literature, linguistics, theatre, film, philosophy, religion, and history, but they are bound by a shared concern: how Africans negotiate identity, construct meaning, and transform society amidst colonial legacies, cultural contestations, and global shifts.

This issue affirms that the humanities in Africa are not merely descriptive but transformative. From Igbo naming practices and Yàgbà syntax to ecofeminist struggles in Niger Delta literature and biblical reinterpretations for women’s empowerment, the articles highlight how African voices are both rooted in indigenous epistemologies and responsive to global debates. The unified theme thus captures three central strands: Identity, as scholars reclaim cultural heritage and resist misrepresentation; Communication, as language and discourse shape politics, performance, and law; and Social Transformation, as theology, psychology, and conflict studies point toward healing, resilience, and renewal.

Recovering suppressed voices, reinterpreting cultural heritage, and challenging colonial or patriarchal legacies.

This section foregrounds how African identities are reclaimed through literature, theatre, archives, and film. Articles revisit ecofeminist struggles, solo playwriting, biblical role models, Igbo naming philosophies, Nollywood controversies, and Pan-African integration. Together, they show that African culture is not static but a living resource for decolonization and renewal.

• Art. 27 – Environmental Despoliation and Women’s Strategies of Resistance — Chukwu & Gbenoba
• Art. 32 – Writing Solo Plays in Nigerian Theatre — Agoma
• Art. 33 – Colonial Power and Relational Being: Igbo Women in Colonial Archives — Aniakor
• Art. 34 – Biblical Females as Role Models in Nigerian Governance — Egwuanikwu
• Art. 36 – Cultural Misrepresentation in Gangs of Lagos — Idyo
• Art. 39 – Igbo Naming and the Philosophy of Decolonization — Agozino
• Art. 42 – West African Nationalism and ECOWAS — Aminu & Yacob 

Investigating how language, discourse, and performance shape power, identity, and interpretation.

Language is central to African humanities. This section examines deception in Ponzi narratives, political defections, minimalist poetic style, Soyinka’s dramatic dialogues, presidential rhetoric, translation ethics, and syntactic structures in Yàgbà. Collectively, these studies reveal how communication is both expressive and political—shaping communities, institutions, and identities.

• Art. 25 – Discourse of Deception in Ponzi Narratives — Afegbua
• Art. 26 – Political Defections and Contextual Integrity — Ezenwoali & Osebor
• Art. 28 – One-Clause Sentences in Yeibo’s Poetry — Aihebholoria
• Art. 29 – Verbal Jousting in Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel — Ehimen & Korakpe
• Art. 30 – Pragmatic Functions in Buhari’s Independence Broadcast — Ogundele, Tiamiyu & Dare
• Art. 31 – Ethics of Translation and Interpretation in Nigeria — Iwala & Ashiru-Abdulrahman
• Art. 35 – Syntactic Transformations in Yàgbà Dialect — Umaru & Adegboye

Exploring intersections of faith, psychology, trauma, and socio-political crises in shaping African futures.

The final section brings theology, psychology, and conflict studies into dialogue with Africa’s lived realities. Articles explore trauma and stigma in African literature, prayer and resilience in biblical texts, ethno-religious conflict in Kaduna, and the algorithmic economy of Nigerian skits. They affirm that healing and transformation in Africa must engage both spiritual and socio-cultural resources.

• Art. 37 – Trauma and Memory in Ikpi and Verissimo — Agboola
• Art. 38 – Philippians 4:6–7 and Mental Health — Okoh
• Art. 40 – Ethno-Religious Conflict in Zangon-Kataf — Shuaibu & Tijani
• Art. 41 – Algorithm, Virality, and Nigerian Skit Production — Ilo

Together, these eighteen contributions embody a humanities of reclamation. They recover suppressed voices, restore cultural dignity, and reimagine African futures. By weaving identity, communication, and social transformation into one integrated theme, this issue positions African scholarship not as peripheral but as central to the global humanities conversation.

Prof. Isaiah U. Ilo, Editor AJH