Metaphors of Chaos: A Posthuman Appraisal of Violence in Contemporary Nigerian Poetry

Recent developments such as the escalation of violence and terrorism around the globe projects man as having put himself in deep crisis. Humanism appears to be under serious threat as the traits of superior intelligence and moral rectitude which distinguish man from other animals seem not to matter any longer. In this article, I identify extreme violent acts as notably overlooked dimensions of posthuman crisis. Regarding their manifestation in poetry as posthuman metaphors of chaos, I discuss their deployment by some Nigerian poets in portraying the spate of violence and terrorism in Nigeria in recent times. Drawing theoretical inference from Posthumanism, the paper discusses the poems in the context of contemporary violent eruptions in Nigeria and how some poets have imaginatively recreated such bizarre socio-political occurrences. It regards these violent incidences as part of the emergent posthuman ethos that reflects a near global failure of human relationships--akind of posthuman inhumanity.