Abstract

This study examines the theme of decolonisation in three African novels: Ayi Kwei Armah’s Osiris Rising, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow and Femi Abodunrin’s The Dancing Masquerade. The study argues that these novels suggest that decolonisation in Africa can be accomplished through re-appropriation of African ways of life. Despite this commonality, the novels under study depict different perspectives on how decolonisation can be accomplished. The study inquires whether a perspective on decolonisation befitting Africa’s postcolonial situation can be attained. The study begins with the exploration of the way Armah’s novel uses the metaphor of ‘reversing the crossing’ to suggest a Manichaean perspective of decolonisation. It then investigates Ngugi’s view of resolving Africa’s ‘desire for Whiteness’ by depicting how he suggests a shift from the Manichaean to a dialectical approach to decolonisation. Finally, the study interrogates Abodunrin’s pluralistic approaches to decolonisation using his conception of the dancing masquerade motif. The study employs Abodunrin’s motif to examine the implications the pluralistic perspective on decolonisation has on the Manichaean and dialectical perspectives as depicted in the novels of Armah and Ngugi respectively. The thesis concludes with the view that this cultural activity of re-appropriation can only be located in a “third space”.

More details

School	: School of Education
Issued Date	: 2012

Download full document