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National Character and the Narrative of Self-Image in Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and Obasanjo’s My Watch.
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Page will reload when a filter is selected or excluded.- African postcolonial text 2 results 2
- Chinua Achebe 2 results 2
- Cultural knowledge 2 results 2
- Domestic power 2 results 2
- German translation 2 results 2
- Post-colonial abuse of power and resistance 2 results 2
- Postcolonial 2 results 2
- Postcoloniality 2 results 2
- Public power 2 results 2
- sub-Sahara African novels 2 results 2
- ABSTRACT Abuse of power, an excessive use of authority in governance or homes; and resistance, the attempt to confront such abuses, have occupied a prominent position in socio-political discourses in African literature. Existing studies on sub-Sahara African novels written from the late 1980s have focused on thematic concerns such as gender issues, disillusionments and exploitation, without giving adequate attention to the issue of abuse of power and resistance. This study, therefore, examined the forms of abuse of public and domestic power, and forms of resistance to the abuses in the selected novels, with a view to establishing the features of the abuse of power and resistance. The study adopted subalternism, a variant of postcolonial theory which articulates the lopsided relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed, and the strategies deployed by the latter to counter the excesses of the former. Five sub-Sahara African novels were selected based on their thematic affinity, relevance and period of study. The novels are Tiyambe Zeleza‟s Smouldering Charcoal (South Africa); Moses Isegawa‟s Snakepit (East Africa); Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s Purple Hibiscus, Amma Darko‟s Beyond the Horizon and Jude Dibia‟s Unbridled from West Africa where abuse of power and resistance is more prominent among novelists. The data were subjected to literary analysis. Two forms of abuse of power were identified: public and domestic. Public abuse of power is manifested in democratic and military tyranny. Domestic power abuse is demonstrated through benevolent dictatorship, physical and sexual violence. Four forms of resistance were identified: activism, dissent and exile, strategic operations, and strategic confrontations. Public abuse of power in South Africa is manifested in democratic tyranny in Smouldering Charcoal. The government uses „Youth Militia Group‟ to unleash terror on those who failed to obtain party cards, and unjustly arrests and detains unsuspecting citizens. This is resisted by the victims through political and trade union activism. In East Africa, Snakepit depicts military tyranny as General Bazooka uses his position to oppress the citizens, an act resisted by some members of the military through dissent, while others in the civil society go into exile. In West Africa, Purple Hibiscus dwells on domestic power abuse revealed through benevolent dictatorship in the home. The family head, though a generous man, brutalises members of his family. The victims resist through silence and poisoning him to death. While Beyond the Horizon captures domestic abuse of power in a Ghanaian family, as women are physically abused and raped, and they resist through secret service operations; Unbridled portrays abuse of power in terms of beatings, harassments and sexual abuses in the home. The victim resists through violent confrontations, and runs away. Abuse of power, with differing manifestations, such as tyranny, dictatorship, physical and sexual abuses occur in civil, military and home contexts; and resistance through activisms, dissent, strategic operations and violent physical confrontations in post-colonial sub-Sahara African novels. Key words: Post-colonial abuse of power and resistance, sub-Sahara African novels, Public power, Domestic power, Word count: 469 1 results 1
- Abuse of power, an excessive use of authority in governance or homes; and resistance, the attempt to confront such abuses, have occupied a prominent position in sociopolitical discourses in African literature. Existing studies on sub-Sahara African novels written from the late 1980s have focused on thematic concerns such as gender issues, disillusionments and exploitation, without giving adequate attention to the issue of abuse of power and resistance. This study, therefore, examined the forms of abuse of public and domestic power, and forms of resistance to the abuses in the selected novels, with a view to establishing the features of the abuse of power and resistance. The study adopted subalternism, a variant of postcolonial theory which articulates the lopsided relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed, and the strategies deployed by the latter to counter the excesses of the former. Five sub-Sahara African novels were selected based on their thematic affinity, relevance and period of study. The novels are Tiyambe Zeleza‟s Smouldering Charcoal (South Africa); Moses Isegawa‟s Snakepit (East Africa); Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‟s Purple Hibiscus, Amma Darko‟s Beyond the Horizon and Jude Dibia‟s Unbridled from West Africa where abuse of power and resistance is more prominent among novelists. The data were subjected to literary analysis. Two forms of abuse of power were identified: public and domestic. Public abuse of power is manifested in democratic and military tyranny. Domestic power abuse is demonstrated through benevolent dictatorship, physical and sexual violence. Four forms of resistance were identified: activism, dissent and exile, strategic operations, and strategic confrontations. Public abuse of power in South Africa is manifested in democratic tyranny in Smouldering Charcoal. The government uses „Youth Militia Group‟ to unleash terror on those who failed to obtain party cards, and unjustly arrests and detains unsuspecting citizens. This is resisted by the victims through political and trade union activism. In East Africa, Snakepit depicts military tyranny as General Bazooka uses his position to oppress the citizens, an act resisted by some members of the military through dissent, while others in the civil society go into exile. In West Africa, Purple Hibiscus dwells on domestic power abuse revealed through benevolent dictatorship in the home. The family head, though a generous man, brutalises members of his family. The victims resist through silence and poisoning him to death. While Beyond the Horizon captures domestic abuse of power in a Ghanaian family, as women are physically abused and raped, and they resist through secret service operations; Unbridled portrays abuse of power in terms of beatings, harassments and sexual abuses in the home. The victim resists through violent confrontations, and runs away. Abuse of power, with differing manifestations, such as tyranny, dictatorship, physical and sexual abuses occur in civil, military and home contexts; and resistance through activisms, dissent, strategic operations and violent physical confrontations in postcolonial sub-Sahara African novels. 1 results 1
- African Foreign Culture Classroom 1 results 1
- African cultural identity 1 results 1
- African migrant fiction 1 results 1
- African migrant fiction, which recreates characters’ experiences at home and abroad, is increasingly preoccupied with the representation of dystopian realities. Critical appraisals of the fiction have largely focused on the representation of varied mobilities – migration, exile, transnationalism and afropolitanism – without adequate attention to the depiction of migrant characters’ experiences of traumatic stress, despite its ample representation in the fiction. This study was, therefore, designed to examine the recreation of trauma and characters’ responses to traumatic stress in selected African migrant fiction with a view to establishing that traumatic experiences are not limited to characters’ natal homes. Homi Bhabha’s model of the Postcolonial Theory and Cathy Caruth’s and Judith Herman’s models of Trauma Theory, served as the framework. The interpretative design was used. Ali Farah’s Little Mother (LM), Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (HODP), Ben Jelloun’s Leaving Tangier (LT), Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street (OBSS), Alain Mabanckou’s Blue White Red (BWR), Brian Chikwava’s Harare North (HN), Fatou Diome’s The Belly of the Atlantic (TBA), and Noviolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names (WNNN) were purposively selected for their depiction of loss, trauma and suffering. The novels were subjected to critical analysis. Trauma in the novels is doubled-edged, aligning with the dominant estimation of trauma as a double wound. Traumatogenic contexts and events in the postcolony as well as in the diaspora dominate the novels. Pre-migration stressors such as unemployment, poverty and sexual assault characterise the postcolony in LT, OBSS, HODP and TBA; while displacement, deprivation and violence abound in WNNN, HN, LM and BWR, all leading to characters’ experience of Continuous Traumatic Stress. Characters’ response to pre-migration stressors in all the novels is flight. Repetitively traumatised by oppressive poverty, displacement and the inconsistencies that define life in the postcolony, the characters fled their fatherland for the West through legitimate and illegitimate routes. In the diaspora, post-migration stressors are activated by characters’ experiences of disillusionment, racism, joblessness, physical and mental assaults, unhomeliness, the trauma of a paperless existence and the perpetual fear of police brutality. Characters’ responses to post-migration stressors range from developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to committing suicide. Azel in LT and the nameless protagonist in HN experience dissolution of self and suffer from PTSD. In WNNN and LM, Tshaka Zulu, Uncle Kojo and Axad suffer from mental illnesses, while Moussa in TBA commits suicide. However, characters like Massala-Massala in BWR, Aunt Fostalina and Darling in WNNN, Faten in HODP and Efe, Ama and Joyce in OBSS largely display resilience in the face of trauma. There is recurring adoption of multiple narrative voices, symbolism and journey motif in OBSS, LM, HODP and HN, while irony and traumatic realism are employed in LT, WNNN, TBA and BWR. Migrant characters’ precarious, liminal and subaltern existence, both at home and abroad, bears witness to trauma’s mobility across space and time in African migrant fiction. This destabilises the hegemonic conception of the West as the Promised Land. 1 results 1
- African prose narratives for children 1 results 1
- African-European 1 results 1
- Alrocentrism 1 results 1
- Archetypes 1 results 1
- Arrow of God 1 results 1
- Building on the view of biographical writing as a cultural practice and expression, this article adopts identity and narrative theories to discuss the interconnection between national character and identity construction in political autobiographies. It used Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom [LWF] (1994) and Obasanjo’s My Watch [MW] (2014) as primary texts. It identifies prejudice against black South Africans as the national character in LWF and postcolonial political disillusionment in Nigeria as that of MW. It further demonstrates how the personalities of Mandela and Obasanjo are rooted in role-based identity and the respective saliences that activate this identity type. Additionally, it discusses the modes of narration in the two texts. The article concludes that national character is a socio-cultural and psychological indicator that influences identity construction in political autobiographies. 1 results 1
- Chinua 1 results 1
- Colonial subjects and agents 1 results 1
- Colonial violence 1 results 1
- Colonialist assumptions 1 results 1
- Communal 1 results 1
- Contemporary French novel 1 results 1
- Counter-Hegemony 1 results 1
- Critical intercultural communication 1 results 1
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