Publications and Research
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2011
Abstract
Interrogating Abiola Irele’s largely unchallenged praise of alienation, this essay is bold and insightful in returning to Chinua Achebe’s African trilogy to examine the subtler, equally dangerous agent of externality: ante-alienation, or social alienation within traditional African culture, which precedes race-based, colonial alienation. This ante-alienation challenges Négritude’s paradisiacal view of Africa and raises questions about Africans always being happiest with themselves within their traditional culture.
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Callaloo.