Communication and General Studies Department, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Overwhelming empirical experiences point to social environment as, perhaps, the most important factor that determines the extent a person can go in life. In situations where the social environment is conducive and geared towards the upliftment of peoples’ lives, individuals can maximise their physical and mental development. On the other hand, a poor social environment dwarfs peoples’ development and frustrates their ability to acquire skills, develop their talents and maximise their potentials. As such, living condition leaves a significant imprint in the making of an individual. Living in a society where an individual’s physical and mental development are given all the necessary incentives to survive and flourish have become cardinal to how social environment is conceptualised and understood. Yet, understanding the social environment demands a nuanced and complicated approach that can only be handled by disciplines that can articulate and interrogate every factor that controls and shapes peoples’ lives. Literature (here understood as imaginative literature) has its being, meaning and existence in the forces that operate and shape peoples’ lives – how human society is organised, the quality of life, the physical and mental development. That is, literature is both a reflection and a reflector of the social environment. However, in view of literature’s fictional character, there is need for a more serious supervision of its ideas. Philosophy, as a conscious critical reflection on issues can validate literary ideas by exposing them to philosophical evaluation – critical analysis, exposition and reconstruction. The study’s preoccupation is to show how exploring social environment through African literature on the one hand, and the introduction of philosophy to that exploration on the other, can be of immense benefit. The paper’s main interest is on a poem, “Shanty Town”, by an anonymous South African poet. In all, by utilising the advantage of the united effort of literature and philosophy, the study will contribute to a better understanding of social environment in Africa: the problems it creates, the best solutions to the problems and the agenda for future action.
Social Environment, Development, African Literature, Philosophy, Shanty Town.
