Literature as Thought Leadership: Pathways to Nation-Building -By Patrick Iwelunmor

One of the enduring lessons I acquired during my Master’s programme at the University of Lagos was the capacity to extend literary knowledge into every sphere of human endeavor. This intellectual orientation has sharpened my faculties so profoundly that I often find myself awe-struck by the intersections it reveals, intersections borne of sheer curiosity, animated by what Soyinka describes as “the gusto of uninhibited youth.”

It was Professor Hope Eghagha who planted this worldview in my psyche. In his African Drama and Modern Drama classes, he consistently challenged us to strengthen our rational faculties with the courage to interrogate life in its fullness, rather than to accept reality uncritically. Though a devout Christian, Eghagha’s intellectual horizon was never limited by the dominant Christological narratives that conferred indubitability on certain doctrines of the faith. For him, the true scholar is one who interrogates existence and, in so doing, discovers new frontiers in global knowledge. This spirit of inquiry, he argued, nurtures in the learner what John Keats once called Negative Capability.

The essence of Negative Capability lies in its refusal to collapse the complexities of life into easy judgments or rigid dogmas. Instead, it invites an acceptance of ambiguity, uncertainty, and the legitimacy of others’ poetic truths. Perhaps the clearest expression of this Yeatsian principle is the ability to tolerate diverse worldviews without superimposing one’s beliefs over another’s. I have long called for the globalization of this ethos, for it embodies the deepest necessity for the peaceful coexistence of humankind in all its divergent faiths, ideologies, and poetic truths. It is here that literature becomes an avatar of thought leadership.

As a student of literature, therefore, I have learned to embrace the frailties of others and to reinterpret them as opportunities, even treasures of inestimable worth. In every weakness there lies a seed of strength; in every failure, the germ of greatness. What, then, is to be done with literature, after my journey through two universities—Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, and the University of Lagos, Akoka—in pursuit of its wisdom? How does Professor Eghagha’s credo of intellectual interrogation reaffirm the Ancient Argument between two towering figures of Philosophy and Classical Literature—Aristotle and Plato?

For me, the answer is clear: literary scholars must embrace their vocation as thought leaders, capable of enriching every field of human endeavor. History is abundant with examples. Aristotle remains one of the greatest pioneers of thought leadership, moving seamlessly between Philosophy, Classical Literature, and Biology. He is remembered as the Father of Ancient Biology for his pioneering classification of living organisms and for laying the foundations of natural history. As a philosopher, his contributions shaped not merely antiquity but the very architecture of Western thought.

In the realm of literature, Aristotle’s contributions remain unsurpassed. His Poetics (and, to some extent, Rhetoric) constitutes the first systematic exploration of literary art, laying the foundation for literary theory, criticism, and aesthetics. Though I may describe myself as “a shrub among the poplars, needing more sunlight,” I am inspired by Aristotle’s legacy to effect positive change in my world, especially in this era when Africa’s greatest undoing remains its deficit of true leadership. The countless intersections of literature with other disciplines bear eloquent testimony, sadly neglected, that literary scholars can offer answers to some of the most fundamental questions in nearly every domain of human existence.

Among modern exemplars, Professor Wole Soyinka towers highest. His genius lay in indigenizing Western literary traditions and reinterpreting them through the prism of Yoruba cosmology. His interrogation of the Ogun–Dionysus intersection stands as a profound testament to this synthesis. Yet Soyinka’s thought leadership was not confined to the literary sphere. In 1974, he played a crucial role in establishing the first Road Safety Corps in Oyo State. His advocacy and intellectual activism later provided the philosophical groundwork for the creation of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in 1988 under General Ibrahim Babangida. Soyinka’s professional trajectory embodies a form of thought leadership that transcends the academy. It speaks to the nation-building zeal of a humanist who scorns inertia and intellectual docility.

This brings us to the central question for all students of literature: how do we translate our knowledge of the most humanistic of disciplines into the work of nation-building? In recent years, literature has become the darling of interdisciplinary studies, inspiring emergent fields such as Literature and Medicine, or the broader terrain of Medical Humanities. Other intersections abound—Literature and Architecture, Literature and Robotics, to name but a few. Yet for me, the most compelling and urgent is the dialogue between Literature and Medicine. It resonates deeply with Africa’s realities and, I believe, holds the brightest promise for addressing the continent’s enduring crisis of leadership.