Social hysteria, moral panic and the (dys)functional order of postmodernity in Amma Darko’s Faceless and Bolaji Abdullahi’s Sweet Sixteen

Abstract

Amma Darko‟s Faceless and Bolaji Abdullahi‟s Sweet Sixteen creatively interface a dialogue that centres on the prevalent social order, charts the course for salvaging the disoriented mass from the present socio-cultural pervasion. The two novels are read critically and inter-textually towards discerning the complex socio-cultural dynamics of postmodern society that seem adrift on the cleavages of moral precipice. The thrust of this paper hinges on the strategies of representation by which writers serve as chroniclers of the state of the world, sensitisers of humanity, and as advocates for the vulnerable, with particular interest on the girl child and the younger generations. Darko‟s major characters portray the grim picture of the present social order, just as Abdullahi‟s story projects pedagogically, the propositions towards arresting the prevalent situation and healing society of its falling ethical foundation. A combination of the two creative scenarios constitutes veritable platform for dialogue, for synergising discourse of value re-engineering, socio-economic justice and of moral repair. The analytical thrust of this paper is therefore guided by postmodernism as theoretical tool suitable for interrogating the complex cleavages of contemporary socio-cultural experience.