Esu-Elegba’s Crossroads

This book features a collection of essays and testimonials that provide new perspectives and incisive criticism on the writings and theatrical productions of Nigerian American author, director, and theorist Femi Euba. Esu, the Yoruba trickster deity of the crossroads, brings cohesion to this project and serves as a guiding principle for its contributors who draw upon Esu’s mysteries to illuminate distinctive characteristics of Euba’s oeuvre. As a key figure of Wole Soyinka’s circle, Euba’s literature, theory, research, and artistic practice deeply engage with the works of Soyinka. The contributions to this volume uncover multiple connections between these two artists and break ground in scholarship by considering their works together through comparative analysis. The voices of leading and emerging scholars bring together African Drama, Comparative Literature, and Theatre History in an interdisciplinary discourse on Euba which greatly complements his vast achievements. Chapters delve into Euba’s cultural theory informed by Esu, particularly his theory of satire, and offer insight into many of his creative works, including Camwood at Crossroads, Tortoise!, The Gulf, and The Eye of Gabriel.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Atlantic Studies.

Eric Mayer-García is Assistant Professor of Theatre History, Theory, and Literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. He has published research on vanguard theatre, latinidad, and theatre historiography in Theatre Survey, Journal of American Folklore, Atlantic Studies, Theatre History Studies, Chiricú Journal, Theatre Journal, and various edited collections.

Solimar Otero is Professor of Folklore and Gender Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the author of Archives of Conjure: Stories of the Dead in Afrolatinx Cultures (2020), and co-editor, with Anthony Bak Buccitelli, of Emerging Perspectives in the Study of Folklore and Performance (2025).