Obiechina’s book is a fascinating cultural and literary study on the popular pamphlets sold in the Onitsha Market. Through an exploration of these pamphlets, he looks at Nigerian popular culture. It is a fascinating study of pamphlets which echo popular and cultural mores which are influenced both by Igbo lifestyle and customs as well as western customs, particularly the idea of “romance” and how it evolved between pre-colonial to postcolonial times. As Obiechina states:

“The question is not whether love of sexual attraction as normal human traits exist within Western and African societies, but how they are woven into the fabric of life, how strongly they feature in the belief system, the attitudes and outlooks and the actions of individuals within the Western and African cultures.” (34)

As such, Obiechina explores the element of hybridity which is evident within Nigerian popular literature.

The contents of the Onitsha Market pamphlets are diverse; they range from guides to letter-writing for both ladies and their suitors, plays, novellas/novelletes to public opinion pieces on society, marriage and romance. The three sample pamphlets found in the Appendix give a good idea of the general tenor of the pamphlets, with titles such as Our Modern Ladies Characters Towards Boys (by Highbred Maxwell) to Elizabeth, My Lover (a drama) by Okenwa Olisah. Obiechina explores these pamphlets at length, looking at the ethos of the writers, their projected audience and the role these pamphlets play in Nigerian culture.

This is not really an easy book to find, I first came across it in my uni library but had to buy a copy when my book-bag full of library books went missing. They resurfaced and so this book is now mine and I am glad it is. It really is an invaluable resource for people intrigued by both Nigerian and African popular culture; more so for scholars.

Note: Reviewed as part of the Africa Reading Challenge. My list of books to be read for this challenge is here.