Contemporary Sociopolitical Predicaments in Selected East African Novels in English [Ca. 2005-2015]
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Date
2021-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This project is geared towards investigating contemporary sociopolitical predicaments in an attempt to determine the trajectory of the historical, social and political realities reflected in theselected East African novels in English. The study aimed at finding out the emergent themes in the selected novels, identifying if the prevailing themes correlate with the historical realities,examining the representation of Africa and Africans, and identifying the intertexuality between
the chosen novels. A postcolonial theory is used as a reading strategy and a national/regionalmodel of postcolonial theory is employed to comparatively examine the thematic convergenceand divergence the novels under scrutiny may have. To this effect, four novels namely, TheOrchard of Lost Souls (2013) Cross Bones(2011), Black Star Nairobi (2013) and Waiting(2007) have been selected purposively from East Africa. The purposive selection of theaforementioned novels is grounded on the researcher’s motivation to fill the identified researchgap. A postcolonial theory has been discussed in an eclectic manner as a theoretical frameworkof the study. The study thus found out that the selected novels have brought out emergent themessuch as religious fundamentalism, ethnocentrism, piracy, human trafficking, and cross boundarysociopolitical problems that are unsettling the sociopolitical atmosphere of the Horn of Africa. In addition to foregrounding the impact of the aforesaid themes upon sociopolitical realities ofthe East African countries, the novels under scrutiny also reveal that the existing sociopoliticalanomalies such as corruption, lack of good governance, and gender issues are still taking theirtoll on Africans long after independence. Finally, the comparative analysis conducted on theselected novels has shown that the novels under investigation have both thematic convergencesand divergences. The study concludes that the authors have tried to call the attention of thereaders to the fact that Africa in general and theEastAfrican region in particular is confrontedwith new challenges such as religious fundamentalism, ethnocentrism, piracy, human trafficking,cross boundary sociopolitical problems, and foreign powers’ meddling in their internal affairs.