The undoing of Eurocentric view of African personality in Achebe’s Things fall apart
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Date
2025
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Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation has examined the distorted representation of African personality in Western literature, focusing on how Achebe’s Things fall apart (1958), offered a deliberate counter-narrative that deconstructs colonial racial typology. It has employed a narratological and transtextual approach derived from Gérard Genette’s theory, in combination with postcolonial critique particularly the concepts of Appropriation and abrogation as discussed by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin in The Post-colonial studies reader (2000). In deploying this eclectic approach, this research has reached the following results: A) Achebe has expanded the figure of Okonkwo a tireless farmer, accomplished warrior, social reformer and cultural guardian into a multidimensional character who embodies the dignity, strength and internal contradictions of pre-colonial African identity. B) It debunks the myth of the African as a lazy personality by confronting Locke’s theory of labour and property, which historically positioned Africans as mere labourers. Achebe deconstructed the colonial stereotype of the African as idle by presenting Okonkwo as a man of relentless toil. C) Africa is not devoid of aesthetic life and the African is depicted as a man capable of aesthetic experiences, as seen in Unoka’s love for music and the deep appreciation of Igbo oral traditions countering Hegel’s claim that Africa lacks artistic and spiritual development. D) Africa is not a tropical abandoned land as Hegel suggested, but a land of heritage, labor and human presence, as the Igbo people cultivate their land, build communities and preserve customs that reflect presence, order and continuity. E) Africa is not a land devoid of systematic reason, as defined by Weber but rather it possess organized institutions, ethical systems and a strong communal structure. F) African societies, such as the Igbo, possess structured systems of justice, governance and social order principles echoed in Aristotle’s politics, which Achebe reclaims through his portrayal of cultural resilience amid colonial disruption. Through this reclamation, Achebe has restored African voices and reclaimed a cultural heritage long silenced by colonial narratives. Things fall apart reaffirmed Africa as land of strength, beauty and enduring human presence.
Description
53p. ; (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Achebe, African personality, colonial discourse, Eurocentricism, narratology, Postcolonial theory, stereotypes
Citation
literature and civilization