Journal of Critical Studies in Language and Literature

Orality, Indigenous Aesthetics, and the Poetics of Memory in Maria Ajima’s My Inene, My Grandma

2026-06-30T11:25:52+00:00

This study examines the deployment of orality and indigenous aesthetics in Maria Ajima’s My Inene, My Grandma, with a view to demonstrating how the poet reimages African oral traditions within contemporary written poetry. Drawing primarily on Oral Tradition Theory, with support from Postcolonial Theory, the study explores the ways repetition, chant structures, storytelling patterns, indigenous language, symbolism, and communal imagery function in the selected poems. Using qualitative textual analysis, the first five poems from the collection, including “My Inene, My Grandma”, “Arias for the Marias”, “My Three Little Chaps”, “This Native Love” and “The Trust of a Child” selected and purposely analysed. Findings of the study reveal that Ajima’s poetry is deeply-rooted in oral literary traditions, evident in its performative structures, praise forms, rhythmic patterning, and embedded folktale elements. The findings further reveal that indigenous linguistic expressions and culturally-grounded imagery serve as important aesthetic devices for preserving memory, articulating ancestry, and affirming cultural identity. The analysis also shows that the interaction of orality and indigenous aesthetics enables the poet to bridge the divide between oral tradition and written literary forms, thereby sustaining indigenous knowledge systems within contemporary poetic discourse. Through representations of grand-motherhood, kinship, communal values, and indigenous womanhood, the collection emerges as a poetic archive of cultural continuity. The study concludes that My Inene, My Grandma exemplifies how modern African poetry functions as a site where oral heritage is preserved, transformed, and aesthetically revitalised.

Psychological Trauma in Sam Shepard’s A Lie of The Mind

2026-07-06T11:46:52+00:00

This study aims to explore and understand the dire effects of psychological trauma on individuals and family relationships, as depicted in Sam Shepard's play, A Lie of the Mind. This study also aims to understand how psychological trauma caused by violence and abuse affects individuals, families, and their relationships. Furthermore, this study uses trauma theory as the main framework to explore the dire effects of trauma on individuals and family relationships. Psychological trauma focuses on how traumatic experience such as violence and abuse impact the mind, emotions, and behavior over time. The conclusion of this study shows that psychological trauma plays a dire role in the deterioration of family relationships, and how violence and abuse can create an ongoing cycle of suffering, which enables the transmission of trauma's effects from one person to another. Traumatic memory also has a huge effect on the way characters behave, making it hard for them to stay emotionally stable. The study also shows that trauma experienced during childhood years can have long-lasting effects on future behaviors.

Speaking and Silenced: Female Agency Juliet vs. Ophelia

2026-07-08T10:58:51+00:00

This essay aims to compare the female characters Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Ophelia in Hamlet to discuss the concept of female agency in the works of William Shakespeare, particularly in relation to the characters’ use of speech or silence as tools of power. To achieve this, the essay demonstrates that while both female characters are embedded in a patriarchal society that limits their ability to make choices independently, the voice of Ophelia is under the control of people around her, especially her father, while Juliet’s voice is a way for her to gain some sort of independence as a character as she evolves in the play, shifting from obedient to somewhat an outspoken woman. On the other hand, Ophelia’s powerless condition in the kingdom of Elsinore forces her voice to be ignored; however, madness is the one way in which she can voice her thoughts, even though they do not make sense to anyone else. Another aspect that this essay touches on is how these two characters are remembered even in death. Juliet is remembered in the context of reconciliation, while Ophelia is remembered as others perceive her. The essay uncovers how Shakespeare views voice and silence in reference to gender through close reading and feminist theory.