Inter-Faith Marriages: Engaging Nigerian Religious Identity in the film North East

Abstract

Inter-faith marriage, as a challenge to religious identity is commonplace in many religious societies. In pre-colonial Nigerian society the institution of marriage was hedged with strict ethnic modalities which became weakened by western influences through colonisation. Thus, inter-faith marriage, one of the features of modern Nigeria is beset with challenges deeply reflected in the differences in religious beliefs. The prevalence of this challenge made it open to redress from different social instruments, and specifically film. In the narrative of the film North East, there appears to be a negotiation of religious identity instead of the promotion and preservation of it as a sub-set of culture. This study examined this negotiation of religious identity in relation to marriage with the aim of ascertaining the acceptability in the modern African society, and in particular, Nigeria. It employed a qualitative survey as research design, and the data collection instrument was focus group discussion (FGD). The study found that love rather than religious identity should be the foundation of marriage. In addition, the study revealed that the film industry can encourage inter-faith marriages in multi-religious societies despite the challenges as presented in the North East. Therefore, the study concluded that since inter-faith marriage is fraught with challenges, film producers, should endeavour to run a follow-up story line that may present a clear picture of aftermath challenges of inter-faith marriage and its management.