Applicability of Archetypes and the Folkloric Panacea on Societal Ills and Degradation of Morality

Abstract

Technological advancement in this contemporary age has, obviously, turned the world into a global village. The art of news gathering and dissemination has become phenomenal. All one needs do is punch the right buttons on the computer or mobile phone and the world is, as it were, at your feet! This has brought to fore an endless stream of disturbing news of chaos, violence, brutality and absurdity across the nations of the world – all of which are, surreptitiously, pushing the human society towards the precipice of self-annihilation. Over the ages value system in most societies seem to be changing at an amazing rapidity, resulting in a gradual but alarming erosion of societal morality. In this respect therefore sociologists, social crusaders, educational psychologists, guidance counselors, opinion leaders, and significant others must put hands on deck to arrest a worsening scenario. The foregoing background forms the premise of this paper which seeks to examine the nature of archetypes as embedded in African folklore in particular, and as obtained in cultures of the world in general. The paper submits that, by reason of its universality, archetypes can be employed through the use of folklore (which is essentially didactic) to bring about a reawakening of sensibilities, self-awareness and re-embrace of all that is noble, virtuous and humanistic, towards the much needed sanitization of our society in these unsettling times