Indigenous dance and sustainable environmental development in Nigeria

Abstract

The question of environmental health has been placed on the front burner of discourses in several academic fields as a measure to  provoke conversations to rethink and atone for agelong humanistic and anthropogenic activities. Over the years, humans have  continually plundered the earth and other non-human ecosystems in the guise of development, industrialization, modernity, and  civilization. Today, we are hit by several negative feedbacks, ranging from high sea levels, global warming, environmental-based diseases,  and devastated seas and landscapes. Based on the present accelerated changes evident in society, studies about the future  predict the end of humanity or the apocalypse; a report that have received universal attention as reflected in the United Nations’  sustainable development goals (SDGs) 13, 14, and 15. Governments and policymakers have continued in their efforts to ensure  environmental protection to rebuild the earth’s resilience for the present and future generations. Given these indices, environmental  discourse has received multidisciplinary attention and the arts have tried to be part of the panoply of strategies. Although there have  been considerable responses from drama and music, indigenous dance seems not to have done much in scholarship and practice of this  new reality. The researchers, relying on the Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST) and using the content analysis and participant  observation tools of qualitative research method, submit that indigenous dances in Nigeria have the potency to become dominant tools  in advocacy about the environment despite conceptual and physical limitations.