The Postcolonial Predicament: The Fragmenting Impact of Colonial Legacy on African Societies Case of Wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross
Loading...
Date
2020-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Post-colonial African literature chronicles the predicament as well as the prolonged struggle
of Africans to undo the remnants of colonial hegemony and, most importantly, to regain their
long-lost sense of belonging. Consequently, it is plain to see that post-colonial writings
attempt to refuse and defy all types of European imperialism because African writers have
taken it upon themselves to eliminate colonial scars which were deeply embedded in their
African societies and also espouse the cause of resistance through their different literary
masterpieces. Hence, the aftermath of colonialism on post-independence African countries
continues to receive the most attention in the African literary output in that writers attempt to
draw attention to all the problems that pervaded African societies in the periods that followed
colonization. Correspondingly, the current study sheds a considerable light on one of the most
renowned African authors namely, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, whose works continue to exert a
profound influence due to his anti-imperialist ideology. That is, in his seminal works, Petals
of Blood and Devil on the Cross which penetrate the realities of post-colonial Kenya and call
attention to the impact of colonization on the Kenyan society, Wa Thiong’o criticizes in his
masterpieces the inequalities of the existing neo-colonial order in Kenya including the society
which was swept by imperialist values discussing post-colonial identity crisis, neocolonialism,
social disparity, the rise of a dominating class, and the loss of values.
Description
Keywords
Keywords: Post-colonial literature, colonial hegemony, African societies, postcolonial Kenya, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o.