Colonization, Cultural Conflict and Identity Crisis: \ With Reference to, Buchi Emecheta's, Joys of Motherhood and Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions
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Date
2006-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Id e ntity is one of the most important developmental tasks of a human being, which
de fine s a se nse o f w h o ' one is, where one ha s been, and whe re one is go in g in life . The
fonnation and development o f a h ea lth y id en tity gives an individua l an unde rstanding of
the sameness a nd continuity of th e se lf over s pace and ti me. Ident ity deri ves from a
mU ltipli c it y of sources-- from nation al it y, ethni ci ty, social c lass, community, and gend e r.
T hese sources are mostl y cOllnected with what we have developed and perceived w ithin
th e kind of c ulture we are li vin g in. The co nfli ct on e fa ces to wards one's c ulture
contributes to th e development of identity c risis. Identity cris is is indicated as le ad in g to
soc ial deviance and confli ct. Th' s paper attempts to id e ntify and assess how African w riters throu gh their nov e ls ha ve
depicted th e iss ue of 'Coloni zation, C ultural connic t and Id e ntity c ri sis ' . For this
purpose, the stud y has taken two African wom en noveli sts, Buchi Emecheta from Nigeria
and Tsi tsi Dangarembg a fTom Z im babwe and th e ir nove ls, e ntitl ed respec ti vely, The Joys
of Motherhood and Ner vo us conditions. [n doi ng so, this study attempts to revca l how
these lit erary works ren ected th e con fli ct and identity c ri sis th e co loni zed Afri can nat io n
ha s faced m ainl y du e to colon ization. Different features circumcise stances, like, lang uage,
edu ca tion , vocatio n, and religion is taken for a nalys is aselements that have co ntributed
for the cultural con tli c t and iden tit y c ri sis du e to co lon izati on that th e c haracters in the
novel a re s ubj ected to Finally, it es tabli s hes how African wom en writers have showed to the wo rld through th e ir
lit erary works th e diffe re nt fundamental ps yc hological and phi losophical iss ues th at th ey
fundraiser ying th e political, re li gio u s, and cultural co nflict that their continent has faced
and is facing from a woman' sperspective.
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Keywords
Colonization, Cultural Conflict