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Postcolonial Mythology and Ethnic Self-Canonization in Biafran Fiction and Activism explores the ways in which communities that have been marginalized in colonial discourses attempt to reconstruct their identities, histories, and narratives through the use of postcolonial myths. The deconstruction of stereotypes and creation of self-referential myths often play a crucial role in empowering marginalised communities to reassert their cultural identity and reclaim their cultural symbols with narratives of counter-history. Relying on the experience of the Igbo and the Nigeria-Biafra War event, the book demonstrates how ethnic groups in Africa articulate their resistance against subalternity. Through literary, historical, and archival analyses, it offers an unbiased reading of postcolonial mythologies and counter-mythologies in Biafran literature and activism and how they contribute to a broader understanding of colonialism, ethnic-minoritization and ethnic self-canonization. With its robust analysis, the book sets new benchmarks for scholars, researchers, teachers and students in humanities and social sciences, especially literature, history, political science and anthropology for re-reading ethnicity and rethinking the timeless value of inter-ethnic communication.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Myths Colonial History and Ethnic Selfcanonization.- Chapter 3: From Colonial to Postcolonial Mythologies: Influence on Igbo Ethnic Identity.- Chapter 4: Heinemanns AWS Archive and the Politics of Publishing Biafra.- Chapter 5: Ethnic Stereotypes in Nigeria Biafra War Fiction.- Chapter 6: Activism Counter Mythology and Ethnic SelfCanonization.- Chapter 7: Bridging the Gulf.
About the author
Abba Abba is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature at the Federal University Lokoja, Nigeria. His research has been devoted to postcolonial Anglophone literatures with specific interest in cultural mythologies, ecocriticism, clinical narratology, publishing archives, literary activism and terrorism studies. He has won fellowships from the British Academy, the ACLS-African Humanities Programme and the DAAD, as well as the Nigeria-LNG Prize and the ANA Prizes for Literary Criticism. He received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Summary
Postcolonial Mythology and Ethnic Self-Canonization in Biafran Fiction and Activism explores the ways in which communities that have been marginalized in colonial discourses attempt to reconstruct their identities, histories, and narratives through the use of postcolonial myths. The deconstruction of stereotypes and creation of self-referential myths often play a crucial role in empowering marginalised communities to reassert their cultural identity and reclaim their cultural symbols with narratives of counter-history. Relying on the experience of the Igbo and the Nigeria-Biafra War event, the book demonstrates how ethnic groups in Africa articulate their resistance against subalternity. Through literary, historical, and archival analyses, it offers an unbiased reading of postcolonial mythologies and counter-mythologies in Biafran literature and activism and how they contribute to a broader understanding of colonialism, ethnic-minoritization and ethnic self-canonization. With its robust analysis, the book sets new benchmarks for scholars, researchers, teachers and students in humanities and social sciences, especially literature, history, political science and anthropology for re-reading ethnicity and rethinking the timeless value of inter-ethnic communication.
