Abstract

Western education, civilization, modernity, science, and technology as Eurocentric factors have negatively influenced the worship of African gods. The understanding that indigenous worship is barbaric, uncivilized, and outdated has clouded most African minds to conspire with Euro-North academy to undermine what is African. Speaking on the influence of modernity and the emergence of Western civilization and urbanization, this article delves into the relevance and timeous subject of the decolonization of knowledge and the recovery and restoration to dignity of marginalized African histories and sensibilities. The critical analysis focuses on significant themes that are associated with Ogun, the Yoruba god of war, which has been subject to misinterpretation by scholars, most likely due to the influence of modernity. Using the case of Ogun, the article critically demonstrates how Peter Omoko’s “Battles of Pleasure” and Alex Roy Omoni’s “Morontonu” have confronted colonial myths and stereotypes that seek to consign African histories and knowledges to oblivion. This article delinks its discussion from views that Ogun causes chaos and violence; a narrative is created to analyze the reason behind such associations. The article relies heavily on decolonial epistemic perspective to examine Ogun’s representation and archetype in Peter Omoko’s “Battles of Pleasure” and Alex Roy Omoni’s “Morontonu,” as the god of peace, harvest and obstacle remover, by exploring themes that relate to his characteristics in both plays. The article concludes that Ogun’s fury only manifests when a community’s code is broken.