Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/25435
Title: The language question in Africa literature : orature across three generations of writers
Authors: Baker, Charlotte
Keywords: Achebe, Chinua, 1930-2013 -- Criticism and interpretation
Dangarembga, Tsitsi, 1959- . -- Criticism and interpretation
African literature (English)
Issue Date: 2017
Abstract: This dissertation will be dealing with the language question in Africa, with a special focus on orality and identity in the works of both Chinua Achebe and Tsitsi Dangaremgba. After defining the history of Africa with the advent of colonialisation and what occurred in realm of language use, the argument will move on to more contemporary evaluations surrounding the language question. Four texts from two generations of writers will be analysed: Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe; Nervous Conditions and The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga. The introduction situates the notion of the local versus the foreign with regard to language as well as identity. Chapter 1, deals with orality and identity in relation to language question and postcolonialism. This is done principally through the works of Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God. Chapter 2 will follow the same method as Chapter 1, focusing on the works of Tsitsi Dangaremgba, in Nervous Conditions and The Book of Not. Again, the chapter deals with the issue of orality and identity in relation to the language question. Chapter 3 deals with third generation writing, whilst reflecting upon first and second generation texts to draw conclusions as to how far things have evolved in terms of orature and the notion of identity of African writers. In conclusion, this dissertation will attempt to illustrate how the usage of the English language in African literature preserved the orality of the nation, in the past at the advent of postcolonialism. It will also reflect upon how the uses of it have changed in the present.
Description: B.A.(HONS)ENGLISH
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/25435
Appears in Collections:Dissertations - FacArt - 2017
Dissertations - FacArtEng - 2017

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