Description
Book SynopsisChinua Achebe and the Igbo-African World: Between Fiction, Fact, and Historical Representation explores Chinua Achebe’s literary works and how they communicated the Igbo-African world to readers. Engaging in the politics of representation, Achebe sought to demystify deterministic views of race and cultural ethnocentrism. While his books and commentaries have been very influential in shaping a unique and multifaceted view of the African world, some scholars have challenged Achebe’s representations of historical reality. Through in-depth analyses of his writing, contributors examine the interpretations Achebe imposed on African culture and history in his texts. The chapters cover Achebe’s engagement with critical issues like historical representation, gender relations, and indigenous political institutions in a changing society. Throughout, contributors present new ways for understanding Achebe's literary works and show how his work draws from African historical reality and identity while challenging Western epistemological hegemony.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Chinua Achebe, Writing Culture, and the Politics of Representations
Chima J. Korieh and Ijeoma C. Nwajiaku
Part I. Chinua Achebe and Igbo-African Realities
Chapter 1: Causality in Selected Cultural Novels by Chinua Achebe: Perspectives in Igbo Metaphysics
B. E. Nwigwe
Chapter 2: (Re)Discovering the Igbo Oral Tradition in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah
Alassane Abdoulaye Dia
Chapter 3: Symbols and Images in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
Nureni Oyewole Fadare
Chapter 4: Igbo Communal Ethos: A Reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart &Arrow of God
Ijeoma Nwajiaku
Chapter 5: Things Fall Apart and Igbo Leadership: Learning and Unlearning the Lessons of Okonkwo’s Life
N. Tony Nwaezeigwe
Chapter 6: Achebe and the Pedagogy of Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Gleanings from Arrow of God
Ijeoma C. Nwajiaku
Part II: Chinua Achebe and Politics of Representation
Chapter 7: Chinua Achebe’s “‘Chi’ in Igbo Cosmology”: Revisiting a Classic
Chijioke Azuawusiefe
Chapter 8: Discourse, Imagination, and Models of Resistance: Re-reading Arrow of God
Ifi Amaduime
Chapter 9: The Collision of Asymmetric Civilizations—A Reading of Things Fall Apart
Ihechukwu C. Madubuike
Chapter 10: (Re)Memorising Igbo Traditions in Achebe’s Arrow of God: A Psychoanalytical Study
Linda Jummai Mustafa
Part III: Achebe, History, and the National Question
Chapter 11: Telling Africa’s Story: Chinua Achebe and the Power of Narratives
Chijioke Azuawusiefe
Chapter 12: Narrativizing History: Chinua Achebe and the Politics of Interpretation
Anwesha Das
Chapter 13: Achebeism and the Nigerian Leadership Problem
Ada Uzoamaka Azodo
Chapter 14: Chinua Achebe as a Voice of Reason on the Nigerian Crisis: A Historical Look at the Larger Picture
Odigwe A. Nwaokocha
Chapter 15: Chinua Achebe and the National Question
Bernard Steiner Ifekwe
