An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Achebe, Chinua

doi:10.1353/mar.2016.0003

Cited by 102 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…This highly respected profession was usually handed down from generation to generation ensuring that Kings, Queens and Princes and Princesses were educated and equipped for leadership. This serves to lend credence to the idea that beyond the entertainment advantage to storytelling, oral literature serves as a means of educating and instructing as well as entrenching indigenous norms in many civil societies (Achebe, 1975).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

onstructing the Role Of Storytelling in The Preservation Of Indigenous Nigerian Traditions

Ogbu¹

2018

ASSRJ

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Since the advent of Colonialism, a real concern has been and remains the struggle to hold on to indigenous traditions and cultural identities in Nigeria and across most of Africa in the face of the crusading influence of westernization. In the view of many Afrocentric pundits, it has become imperative that decisive measures need to be taken to reverse the tide of the rapidly deteriorating cultural identity of neo-colonial African societies. These measures are especially needed in the light of the rise in criminal behavior and general moral decadence among the youths which are said to be as a result of a crisis in cultural values. This paper draws on existing works in an attempt to depict the role of cultural markers and in particular, storytelling as a tool that can be wielded towards the preservation of the indigenous Nigerian cultures. The paper specifically argues that storytelling provides a solid basis for raising culturally adjusted individuals and inculcating values or norms that can foster decency, honesty, integrity and creativity in the minds of the young and future generations of Nigerians.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

onstructing the Role Of Storytelling in The Preservation Of Indigenous Nigerian Traditions

Ogbu¹

2018

ASSRJ

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“…That is to say that there is no pure imitation in fiction work, for it to be called artistic and from that corner, the novelist can conceive his/her story with the societal objective that his people wants to live in such an imagined world which is not merely depicted, but rather built on the basis of expectations with the same artistic demands. Concrete examples can be shown through Achebe's (1972;1977) very works: Achebe's short stories collected under the title "Girls at War and Other Stories" are globally about African daily issues and specifically about survival matters in war time. The collection, purely fictional, is closely transposable to the Biafra war circumstances.…”

Section: New Perspectives For Thematic and Structural Organisation Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imagination and Thematic Reality in the African Novel: A New Vision for African Novelists

Hakibou¹

2018

ALS

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The present study on the topic "Imagination and thematic reality in the African novel: a new vision to African novelists" aims to show the limitation of the contribution of the African literary works to the good governance and development process of African countries through the thematic choices and to propose a new vision in relation to those thematic choices and to the structural organisation of those literary works. The study is carried out through the theory of narratology by Genette (1980) and the narrative study by Chatman (1978) as applied to the novels by Chinua Achebe, essentially on the notion of order by Genette and the elements of a narrative by Chatman. It is a thematic and structural analysis that helps the researcher to be aware of the limitation of the contribution of African fiction to the good governance of African States and their real development, for the reason that themes and the structural organisation of those works are past-oriented. In such a context, readers are supposed to decode the different messages so as to put forth the necessary behaviour from the depicted ones. But, when one compares the literary effort of the novelists with the actual positive change, one realises that the gap is still obvious. This brought the researcher to the proposal of a new thematic orientation that does not depict societal misbehaviour but rather builds an ideal society in which the character embodies what the African society should be, African society which is here our particular concern so as to be able to make up the challenge of globalisation. This is not to deny the "fictionality" of the novels, but to reinforce it with stories that are not only past-oriented. This change may constitute a new source of attraction for African future literary works.

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“…In Heart of Darkness, according to Achebe, Conrad uses mysteriousness, lack of language, frenzy, and common origins to construct Congo as an "Other". In "An Image of Africa", novels such as Heart of Darkness represent Africa as another because of "the desire-one might indeed say the need-in Western psychology to set Africa up as a foil to Europe" (Achebe, 2001(Achebe, , p. 1784. For Achebe, Conrad animalizes the African people, going so far as to deny them language and reducing them to grunts and "frenzy" (Achebe, 2001(Achebe, , pp.…”

Section: The Heart Of Darkness/king Kong Interplaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005): A Critique of Postcolonial/Animal Horror Cinema

Fahmi¹

2017

ELLS

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The current study examines the fictional screen figure King Kong-as envisioned by the New Zealand director Peter Jackson in his 2005 remake-to question European ambivalence towards the Self/Other binary division. The modern 2005 Kong acts as a counter visual icon to the Eurocentric version of colonialist ideologies to expose their hypocrisy and myth-making colonial history. The present study is an attempt to integrate the visual narrative of King Kong (2005) into the framework of Postcolonial paradigm and within the theory of Adaptation to highlight the points of departure undertaken by the Postcolonial director Peter Jackson. The study seeks to establish Jackson's revisit of a prior work as a "willful act" to reinterpret the screen figure Kong as a "Subaltern" subject whose quest for a voice is central to the film's message. The dialogic relationship between the old and the new cinematic narratives is investigated to challenge Essentialist Western View of "Othering" so as to provide a Postcolonial revision of a fluid relationship between a prior work and a belated one. Thus, the aim of the present study is to deconstruct stereotypical representations, to historicize and contextualize Kong as a cultural and historical metaphor in Postcolonial Cinema. Animal Studies can offer new interpretations of how nonhuman animals can deconstruct the ontological Western discourses of rationality and capitalism within Postcolonial Cinema to rethink the boundaries that separate human and nonhuman.

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An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Cited by 102 publications

References 1 publication

onstructing the Role Of Storytelling in The Preservation Of Indigenous Nigerian Traditions

onstructing the Role Of Storytelling in The Preservation Of Indigenous Nigerian Traditions

Imagination and Thematic Reality in the African Novel: A New Vision for African Novelists

Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005): A Critique of Postcolonial/Animal Horror Cinema

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