scholarly journals A Postcolonial Reading of Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Adesanya Moroundiya Alabi ◽  
Behbood Mohammadzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Political Freedom ◽  
African Society ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Colonial Mentality ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Leadership Quality ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Bad Leadership

Post-colonial literature is concerned with the matters of decolonization, cultural, economic and political freedom of the previously colonized nations. Post-colonial theory places more emphasis on the criticality of colonialism and its establishment resulting in neo-colonialism with the accentuation of the power of the west over the colonized (Prasad, 2003:7). Post-colonial literature attempts to explore the challenges and results of decolonization of a nation, particularly those nations who have been given political and cultural independence and were formerly colonized by colonial powers. This study attempts to examine Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest to explore and criticize the season of anomy in African society in postcolonial context. The study explores how Africans began to colonize themselves even after the departure of the colonial rulers in Kongi’s Harvest. The result reveals that the reason for the impoverishment of the decolonized African nations is as a result of bad leadership quality, corruption and colonial mentality transmitted into the postcolonial era. For this reason, it is discovered that even after the end of colonization in Africa the colonizers left their surrogates (indigenous colonizers) behind to continue from where they stopped.

scholarly journals Edward Said: Post-colonial Discourse and Its Impact on Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Naifa Al Mtairi
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Colonial Discourse ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
The West ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
Colonial Theory

This paper highlights Edward Said’s ideology for discerning literary texts that followed the colonial period as a post-colonial discourse. Though some scholars disapprove that notion, Said holds the view that literature is a product of contested social and economic relationships. The West attempts to represent the East and consequently dominates it, not only for knowledge but for political power as well. He assures the worldliness of texts and their interferences with disciplines, cultures and history. Thus, the post-colonial critic should consider the post-colonial literature that might take the form of traditional European literature or the role of the migrant writer in portraying the experience of their countries. The pot-colonial theory with its focus on the misrepresentation of the colonized by the colonizer and the former’s attitude of resistance, draws new lines for literature and suggests a way of reading which resists imperialist ideologies.

scholarly journals Le Griot Dans La Litterature Postcoloniale: Une Etude De Guelwaar De Sembene Ousmane

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-77
Author(s):  
Ifeoma Mabel Onyemelukwe ◽  
Abubakar Dauda Adamu ◽  
Chukwunonso Hyacinth Muotoo
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Literature ◽  
African Society ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
The Real ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Literary Character ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
African Writer ◽  
African Writers

Le griot dans la société traditionnelle africaine de l’ère précoloniale est un personnage complexe chargé d’une myriade de fonctions. Il est bien respecté et honoré. La présente étude se donne l’objectif d’examiner profondément la peinture du griot dans la littérature africaine postcoloniale utilisant Guelwaar de Sembène Ousmane comme texte de base tout en établissant ses fonctions et ses portraits. L’étude privilégie quelques théories critiques comme le postcolonialisme, les théories marxiste et féministe. De plus, l’examen s’effectue à la lumière de l’image du griot d’antan et des sept catégories de nouveaux griots postulés par Ifeoma Mabel Onyemelukwe. Nous découvrons deux types de griot dépeints par Ousmane dans Guelwaar : le griot personnage littéraire nommé Guelwaar et le griot écrivain contemporain africain, Sembène Ousmane lui-même. Ces deux griots entretiennent des rapports de similitude et de divergence avec le vrai griot. Mais le griot écrivain contemporain africain ressemble beaucoup plus au griot d’antan en dépit des points de divergence. Nous finissons par déceler dix-huit fonctions du griot et par-là arriver aux dix-huit portraits du griot dans Guelwaar dont le griot bibliothèque publique bien documentée et le griot détenteur de la littérature écrite africaine postcoloniale. Nous parvenons à la conclusion que la littérature postcoloniale, comme l’atteste Guelwaar de Sembène Ousmane, se caractérise par une revalorisation des valeurs authentiques, honorables et louables du griot de caste. Ceci est symbolisé par l’apparition du griot personnage littéraire dans certaines oeuvres de la littérature écrite postcoloniale africaine comme Guelwaar et surtout la prééminence accordée aux griots écrivains contemporains africains tel Sembène Ousmane.   The griot, in the traditional African society is a complex personality charged with multiple functions. He is well respected and honoured. The objective of the present research is to make an in-depth study of the depiction of the griot in post-colonial literature using Guelwaar as study text while establishing his functions and portraits. Postcolonialism, Marxist and Feminist theories constitute the theoretical framework. Furthermore, the examination is carried out in the light of the image of the real griot and the seven categories of new griots promulgated by Ifeoma Mabel Onyemelukwe. It is found that Sembène Ousmane depicts two types of griots in Guelwaar, namely: the griot as literary character named Guelwaar and the griot as contemporary African writer, Sembène Ousmane, himself. These two griots have certain similarities and differences with the real griot. But the findings show that the griot as contemporary African writer resembles more the real griot, their points of disparity notwithstanding. Eighteen functions and eighteen portraits of the griot are established, among which are: the griot as well documented library and the griot as custodian of written postcolonial African Literature. A firm conclusion is reached, that postcolonial literature, as reflected in Sembène Ousmane’s Guelwaar, is characterized by the revalorization of the real griot’s authentic, honorable and praise-worthy values. This is symbolized in the projection of the griot as literary character in some literary works like Guelwaar and in particular, the preeminence given to griots as Contemporary African writers as typified by Sembène Ousmane.

scholarly journals DIASPORA ETNIK NON-ANGLO-SAXON DALAM MASYARAKAT ETNIK ANGLO SAXON: KEGETIRAN DAN KETERASINGAN

LITERA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugi Iswalono ◽  
Niken Anggraeni
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Julia Alvarez ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Self Recognition ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Descriptive Approach

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan, memaparkan dan menganalisis: 1) jenis-jenis represi yang dialami para persona dalam puisi karya beberapa penyair Amerika yang berasal dari etnik non-Anglo-Saxon, yaitu Julia Alvarez, Naomi Shihab Nye, Rhina P. Espaillat, dan lê thį diễm thúy; 2) resistensi yang masing-masing persona lakukan atas represi yang mereka alami; dan 3) bagaimana akhirnya para persona tersebut menemukan jati diri mereka masing-masing sebagai akibat dari represi yang mereka alami dalam kehidupan sehari-hari mereka. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Sumber data penelitian ini adalah puisi yang berjudul Bilingual Sestina karya Julia Alvarez, Blood karya Naomi Shihab Nye, Bilingual/Bilingile karya Rhina P. Espaillat, dan to my sister lê thi diem trinh shrapnel shards on blue water karya  lê thį diễm thúy. Data diperoleh dengan teknik membaca dan mencatat karya-karya tersebut dan dianalisis dengan teori postkolonialisme dan sumber-sumber yang relevan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa represi yang dialami oleh etnik minoritas ini sebagaimana direpresentasikan oleh persona dalam masing-masing puisi di atas terjadi dalam aspek kehidupan sosial-budaya, ekonomi, dan politik mereka, dan represi tersebut tidak hanya dilakukan oleh etnik mayoritas Anglo-Amerika, namun juga oleh kelompok mereka sendiri. Resistensi yang mereka lakukan pun terjadi dalam bidang yang sama. Jati diri yang mereka temukan berpijak pada resistensi yang mereka lakukan yang sebetulnya merupakan “counter attack” mereka. Kata kunci: Anglo-Saxon/Amerika, postkolonialisme, represi, resistensi, temuan jati diri                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 THE DIASPORA OF NON-ANGLO-SAXON ETHNICS IN THE ANGLO-SAXON ETHNIC COMMUNITY: BITTERNESS AND ALIENATION AbstractThis study aims at finding, describing, and analyzing: 1) types of repression experienced by the personae in some poems by American writers of non-Anglo-Saxon ethnic origins, i.e. Julia Alvarez, Naomi Shihab Nye, Rhina P. Espaillat, and lê thį diễm thúy; 2) the resistance against the repression they experience; and 3) how they come to their self-recognition on account of the repression which they bear in their everyday life. The study employed a qualitative descriptive approach. The data sources were poems entitled  Bilingual Sestina by Julia Alvarez, Blood by  Naomi Shihab Nye, Bilingual/Bilingile by Rhina P. Espaillat, and to my sister lê thi diem trinh shrapnel shards on blue water by  lê thį diễm thúy. The data were collected by reading and making notes on the works and analyzed by the post-colonial theory and other related sources. The findings show that the repression experienced the ethnic minority as represented by the personae of the poems takes place in their socio-cultural, economic, and political aspects of life, and it is made not only by the ethnic majority of Anglo-Saxon, but also by their own groups. The resistance which they execute also takes place in the same aspects. As a matter of fact, their self-recognition is based upon the resistance they have brought about which is a sort of their counter attack. Keywords: Anglo-Saxon/American, postcolonialism, repression, resistance, self-recognition

The Dialectic of Recognition and the Rediscovery of China: After Orientalism

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-192
Author(s):  
Chiann Karen Tsui ◽  
Russell A. Berman
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Arthur Schnitzler ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Boxer Rebellion ◽  
Colonial Theory

The cultural relationship between China and the West, including the hypothesis of a rediscovery, does not fit neatly into the binary pattern implied by the model of Orientalism associated with post-colonial theory. Even in the era of high imperialism, the Sino-Western relationship involved complexities for which the paradigm of colonizer and colonized is too simplistic and therefore requires a theorization of a post-Orientalism. As evidence, the narrative fragment ‘The Boxer Rebellion’, by the Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler, published posthumously in 1957, explores the psychological dynamic between a European soldier and a Chinese prisoner in order to demonstrate the immanent ambivalence of imperialism and its Orientalist categories.

Racination and ratiocination: post-colonial crime

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUTH MORSE
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Criticism ◽  
Crime Fiction ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Work In Progress ◽  
Colonial Theory

Crime fiction is currently one of the most globalized, most popular, and biggest-selling of commercial genres, but there has been almost no attempt to study it in relation to other kinds of post-colonial literature. There is no bibliography of crime writers as ‘post-colonial’, and no attempt to generalize about a body of fiction. This paper is a brief extract from work in progress, based on the books of over fifty Anglophone or Francophone authors who might be categorized as ‘post-colonial’ by birth or residence. I test post-colonial theory against crime fiction, to argue that strong generic conventions call into question some of that theory's received ideas. I consider two linked problems: first, so-called ‘colonial mimicry’ and its obverse, ‘ventriloquism’, because it seems to me a wrong turning in 20th-century criticism; and, second, the demand for new literatures which would create ‘national identities’. I argue that ‘mimicry’ makes no sense in the context of a strong popular genre, and that accusations of ‘colonial mimicry’ reinscribe the asymmetries of judgement they appear to attack. The possibility of imagined geopolitical units as identity-forming, especially in genres which are informed by social criticism, calls into question the demand for literature as a source of national identity.

scholarly journals Indigenous in Jackie French’s Perspective as a White Author: Unsettling Narratives in Australian Children’s Book

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Anandayu Suri Ardini
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Background ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Children's Books ◽  
Colonial Mentality ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Indigenous Child ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Child Character

How Australian children perceived the image of Indigenous from their readings is highly influenced by the authors. As many Australian children’s books are written by White authors, it is important to reveal whether their past and cultural background manifest in the image they built for Indigeneity. This study aims to reveal how Jackie French, a white Australian children’s book author, portrayed Indigenous characters and environment in her novels and to find out whether French creates a shift of the images as a form of her tendency to the major culture in Australia. The data were significant textual units from Nanberry Black Brother White novel and were analyzed using Bradford's post-colonial theory of unsettling narrative. The result of this study shows that French deliver a varying degree of Eurocentric mindset in portraying indigenous characters and characterization. It implies that French, as a White-Australian writer still possibly has a colonial mentality who, deliberately or not, positions the Indigenous characters as Others through the focalization of both Non-Indigenous and Indigenous characters themselves. For instance, in Nanberry Black Brother White, it appears that French try to justify whiteness as more civilized and a better race through Nanberry’s point of view as an Indigenous child character. It implies that the process of depicting Nanberry, the representation of Aborigines, in the novel is actually a justification for establishing an Eurocentric mindset through the character’s narratives, and therefore creates unsettling narratives.

scholarly journals Towards Cultural Clash and Hybridity, An Analysis of Bapsi Sidhwa’s An American Brat

sjesr ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Shamim Akhter
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Morphological Organization ◽  
Cultural Experiences ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Social Associations ◽  
Constant Growth

Culture is a way of life that takes into its jurisdiction to all experiences of life and social associations. Culture receives variations over time. Similarly, the culture of the Sub-continent is altered with the arrival of the English here. That is why the Literature of this area is called Post-colonial literature. Cross-Culturalism is also a part of post-colonial theory. Its chief aim is to analyze the morphological organization which takes to the origination of the conception. Culturalism indicates the tractability of the self to absorb in the transmission and understanding of spoken and written indications and to react accurately and suitably. The ‘cross’ in cross-culturalism designates the crossing of the remotest barriers from one make to another. It also reveals the constant growth of borders.  People migrate to other countries, lead life by absorbing the culture of that country but they experience problems regarding language and their own culture.  The undertaken research aims to reveal the cross-cultural experiences keeping in view Sidhwa’s (1994) ‘An American Brat’. Sidhwa (1994), explores the differences of cultures that existed between East and West by introducing the character of   Feroza. Feroza belongs to Pakistan and goes to America. She finds the culture of America different from the culture of her native country. The undertaken research is an attempt to reveal the description of cultural differences and hybridity through the character of Feroza.

Decolonising African Cultural Identity in Es’kia Mphahlele’s Chirundu : A literary Appreciation

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-45
Author(s):  
Malesela Edward Montle
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Hybridity ◽  
African Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
The World ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
The One

Though Africans are striving to re-define and re-construct themselves through re-asserting their eroded African cultural identity, this appears to be a mammoth, almost insurmountable task. It remains a nuanced terrain because, on the one hand, there is material benefit from being bedfellows with the neocolonial forces while on the other hand, there is hardship which is meted out against the proponents of African decolonisation, particularly the quintessential ones. Sanctions are one of the austerity measures which the neo-colonial powers use to suppress those Africans who genuinely want to advance African renaissance. This is the cause of identity crisis among many Africans, and unsavoury marriages of convenience between the West and African nations today. This paper, therefore, seeks to examine the dilemma faced by the essentialist adherents of African culture today and their supposed role in the advancement of Africa as a continent. It uses Chirundu's character in Es'kia Mphahlele's novel of the same name, as a case in point. The argument, in this paper, is grounded on Afrocentricity as a strand of Post-Colonial Theory (with or without a hyphen) with an implied suggestion that the solution to Africa's postcolonial challenges lies in forging cultural hybridity with the nations of the world.

Negotiating social change: Ugandan discourses on Westernisation and neo-colonialism as forms of social critique

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Vorhölter
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The West ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
The Media

ABSTRACTA common claim, in public discourses and in post-colonial theory, is that colonialism, and more recently the aid industry and the media, have created global hegemonic norms, which have been enforced on non-Western societies. While this may be true in some respects, this article takes a different stance on the debate. It scrutinises perceptions of Western-influenced social change in Uganda, and differentiates between discourses on Westernisation and discourses on neo-colonialism. Both are analysed as forms of social critique – one internally and the other externally oriented. The largely elitist discourse on neo-colonialism is explicitly critical of the West and its interventions in Uganda. But it is not representative of the more ambiguous perceptions of Westernisation among ‘ordinary’ people, who use references to the West to comment on contemporary Ugandan society. The article is based on empirical research in Northern Uganda. It focuses on discourses on gender, kinship and sexuality, and the recent debate on homosexuality.

scholarly journals Post-Colonial Theory and Literature: Sources and Problems of Development (a New Identity of a Post-Colonial Subject and Author)

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-527
Author(s):  
Nina F. Shcherbak
Keyword(s):  
White Male ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Homi Bhabha ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
The Subject

The main aim of the article is to consider major works related to the development of post-colonial theories as well as literary sources. The term “post” is considered together with main vectors in the development of Anglophone, Francophone post-colonial literature. In relation to the historic view of colonies existence main tendencies in the development of imperial and anti-imperial theories are considered including those of Fanon, his view of the three-level development of the identity of the colonized and psychic problems that are encountered in the process of this development. F. Fanon looks at the first level of colonial assimilation, which inevitably brings to the second phase, the phase of change and distruction which then is followed by the stage of the author’s identity restoration by means of coming back to the cultural traditions and struggle during which the subject of the colony starts his struggle against the oppressed. Main views of E. Said and his views on orientalism are discussed which aim at striking at the roots of the binary opposition the west and the east proposed by white male critics. Instead a more subtle view is suggested. The views of G. Spivak and a more feminist approach are considered as well as the works by Homi Bhabha applying a more lacanian approach to hermeneutics, the views that form a new identity pattern observed in post-colonial literature thus maintaining a completely different view of post-colonial fiction.

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