THE IDEOLOGICAL PARADIGMS OF IBRAHIM TAHIR’S THE LAST IMAM AND ABUBAKAR GIMBA’S SACRED APPLES

THE IDEOLOGICAL PARADIGMS OF IBRAHIM TAHIR’S THE LAST IMAM AND ABUBAKAR GIMBA’S SACRED APPLES

Abstract:

This study applies socialist realism as an analytical tool to analyse the deployment of ideology in Ibrahim Tahir‟s The Last Imam and Abubakar Gimba‟s Sacred Apples. The study argues that the religion and cultures of the people presented in the novel provide the aesthetic framework on which the ideological paradigm of the novels are based. In the light of this, the study discusses the application of ideology with the aim of demonstrating a shift in paradigm in contemporary literatures of northern Nigeria from the sole adherence to religious dictates to an exploration of secular and social issues. This thesis therefore, applies the socialist realist theory to examine the social preoccupation of Tahir‟s and Gimba‟s writings. It argues that writing as socialist realists, these writers convey the picture of their society with historic correlations and then anchor their artistic expression on the theme of politics, child labour, religious bigotry, culture and family life, they strive to provoke an ideological reform and by educating the masses in the socialist spirit. This study further argues that as social realist works, the novels record the dreams and ideas, hopes, aspirations, failures and disappointments, motives and passions, and experiences of their society in an attempt to reveal the realities that surround the lives of the people.

THE IDEOLOGICAL PARADIGMS OF IBRAHIM TAHIR’S THE LAST IMAM AND ABUBAKAR GIMBA’S SACRED APPLES