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Abstract: Praise names are very important means through which individuals in the Igbo society generally articulate and express their ideologies, boast about their abilities and accomplishments, as well as criticize and subvert the visions of the Other. With particular reference to chieftaincy in the Igbo society, praise-naming as a pragma-semiotic act ties up with constructions and deconstructions of power, and so does have serious implications for the meanings attached to chieftaincy, as well as the roles of the chief in the postcolonial democratic system. The present paper therefore discusses the semiotics of praise names in the contemporary Igbo society, drawing data from popular culture and chieftaincy discourses. It addresses the interface between signification and politics (and the politics of signification) in Africa, arguing that change in the understanding and relevance of chieftaincy in postcolonial Africa calls for attention to how chieftaincy is (re)staged at the site of the sign.________________________________________________________________________________Resumen: Los nombres laudatorios constituyen un importante medio a través del cual los individuos de la sociedad Igbo articulan y expresan sus ideologías, se vanaglorian de sus logros y critican, así como subvierten las representaciones del Otro. En referencia a la figura del jefe tribal, los nombres laudatorios, en cuanto acto pragma-semiótico, se relacionan con la construcción y deconstrucción del poder, de lo que se derivan importantes implicaciones para el significado endosado al jefe tribal y sus roles en el sistema democrático poscolonial. El artículo explora la semiótica de los términos laudatorios en la sociedad Igbo contemporánea, utilizando datos de la cultura popular y de los discursos de los jefes. Igualmente, aborda la interfaz entre significación y política (la política de la significación) en África para concluir que el cambio en la relevancia y la manera de entender al jefe tribal en la África poscolonial se (re)escenifica en el nivel del signo.

This poem playfully addresses the slippery nature of linguistic signification, employing humour and sarcasm in presenting a wide range of human experience. It ironical twists -- and "strokes" (read ambiguously as both a giving a punishment and erotic pleasuring) -- move from the naming of location through international discourse of capital to the crumbling relationships between nation states. It reading of the signs of language is tied to the unease and fracture in cultural and political experience.

This poem playfully addresses the slippery nature of linguistic signification, employing humour and sarcasm in presenting a wide range of human experience. It ironical twists -- and "strokes" (read ambiguously as both a giving a punishment and erotic pleasuring) -- move from the naming of location through international discourse of capital to the crumbling relationships between nation states. It reading of the signs of language is tied to the unease and fracture in cultural and political experience.

The essay discusses Ezenwa–Ohaeto's use of the masquerade () minstrel as a paradigm in his experimentation with language in his poetry. Such experimentation with local African oral aesthetics is common in postcolonial African literature, and has been one way that African writers have hoped to create authenticity for their writings. Ezenwa–Ohaeto in his poetry, however, does not practise this experimentation as a mere identification and use of for the minstrel (for instance in the use of proverbs, paradoxical expressions, etc. culturally associated with the persona), but reworks and re-contextualizes the local expressions. His attention to language, though not entirely successful, reveals the project on the localization of the language of African poetry as being worth-while if it treats the local sayings as raw materials from which something new must be created. The African poet who is able to take language beyond what the indigenous sources have provided is the real "shepherd" of chants.

Many African writers have been very critical of Europe in their works, especially in relation to racism and the experience of colonization. Yet, with the conditions in African countries becoming unfriendly to the careers of these writers, many of them have had to seek refuge in Europe. The New European context of African writing (which means an entry into the space of the Other) raises a number of issues about literary style in the exilic/migrant text, especially with regard to the use of literature as a means of recreating the self and articulating the way the self experiences a new cultural space. To what extent does this entry into the space of the Other imply dialogism and transformation? The present paper discusses the stylistic and discourse patterns utilized by the Nigerian poet, Uche Nduka, who has been in self-exile in Germany, in his The Bremen Poems. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space.

Many African writers have been very critical of Europe in their works, especially in relation to racism and the experience of colonization. Yet, with the conditions in African countries becoming unfriendly to the careers of these writers, many of them have had to seek refuge in Europe. The New European context of African writing (which means an entry into the space of the Other) raises a number of issues about literary style in the exilic/migrant text, especially with regard to the use of literature as a means of recreating the self and articulating the way the self experiences a new cultural space. To what extent does this entry into the space of the Other imply dialogism and transformation? The present paper discusses the stylistic and discourse patterns utilized by the Nigerian poet, Uche Nduka, who has been in self-exile in Germany, in his The Bremen Poems. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space. It analyses the images that are enlisted in the textual politics of re/identification in the poems, especially in the articulation of Europe/Germany as a productive space.