Awhefeada Explores Link Between Literature, Medicine At DELSU Inaugural Lecture

By Pius Ashima

A professor of African Literature at Delta State University, Abraka, Prof. Sunny Awhefeada has identified a link between literature and medicine, explaining that literary works can mirror the daily lives of man.

Awhefeada made this remark while delivering the 117th in the series of DELSU inaugural lectures, titled “The literature of our state: An evolutionary engagement with modern Nigerian literature.

According to him, literature not only manifests a protean character but also “recreates how life was and is lived and how it should be lived “.

Addressing a large audience at the university’s 750 capacity lecture theatre on Thursday, January 15, the University Don averred that current dynamics in the Nigerian literature landscape have given rise to writers whose careers are in medicine and other paramedical fields, urging stakeholders to fully leverage and integrate this approach in the management of certain health conditions.

Some literary works potently promote psycho-healing and help in remedying psychosis”, he said.

“The link between literature and medicine is to give the latter a humanistic character and how health conditions such as trauma, depression and other mental health issues including psychiatric condition can find remedies in the therapy inherent in literature and that is what bibliotherapy is about.”

Commenting on the imperative of the lecture title, Awhefeada opined that literature remains the true embodiment of people’s ways of life and offers alternative pathways out of underdevelopment.

“The literature of our state matters because it embodies the totality of our lives as we lived and live it.

“The literature holds a mirror to us that is didactic, educative, entertaining and above all therapeutic.
“What is called Nollywood which is one the biggest three film industries in the world with an overwhelming global acceptability is actually literature within the purviews of film studies, popular culture and cultural studies.

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“Literature in its creative essence is endowed with the capacity to not only encode national aspirations, but also able to offer alternative pathways out of underdevelopment.

“Literature has the capacity to inspire a nation. This is the reason why many American Presidents beginning with J. F. Kennedy insist on having poetry read by a distinguished poet during presidential inauguration. Were literature not relevant there would have been no Nobel Prize for Literature.”

According to him, the post-civil war era gave rise to protest and ideological writing, as authors responded to military rule, economic hardship and social injustice.

Awhefeada also highlighted the expansion of Nigerian writing into new areas, including the rise of female writers, memoirs and autobiographical narratives, eco-literature, and interdisciplinary studies linking literature with medicine and other fields.

He concluded that Nigerian literature remains a living archive of the nation’s history, insisting that as Nigeria continues to evolve, its writers will keep responding to social change through storytelling.

The lecture attracted the top brass of society, including political office holders, traditional rulers, academics, students and members of the university community, marking a significant milestone in the scholarly journey of Awhefeada and in the intellectual life of DELSU.