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349 Pages·2011·1.67 MB·English

CHILDHOOD IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN FICTION

Christopher Ernest Werimo Ouma

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor
of philosophy.

July, 2011

i
DECLARATION

I declare that this thesis is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been
submitted before for any other degree or examination at any other university.

--------------------------------------------
Christopher Ernest Werimo Ouma

-------- DAY OF------------------ 2011

ii
DEDICATION

To those who fell on the way, E.O and J.O, as well as my fallen colleague and friend
Kimathi Emmanuel Chabari, R.I.P.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thought writing this would be easy, but I realise now that it requires me to take a trip
down memory lane for five years. This journey started when I arrived in Johannesburg in
2006 for my M.A. The tricky thing though is that time accumulates debts of gratitude as
one traverses different places, spaces and meets different people. Therefore, I should say
that the few pages allotted for acknowledging the contributions of many people in this
activity can never be enough. Nonetheless, as Ben Okri says, “there are many destinies”
and that if we fail to keep that appointed hour with one destiny, we are bound to fulfill
the next. In this spirit therefore, I hope that this activity is a gesture to our shared yet
different “destinies,” and that this appointed hour is not the only one. We will have other
hours to fulfill many appointed “destinies” – of acknowledgement.

More modestly though, there are many people who have contributed in various ways to
my completion of this thesis and inasmuch as I would like to “observe protocol,” the list
is almost certainly endless, such is my debt of gratitude.

This thesis would not have been completed without the financial support of Postgraduate
Merit Award, University Council Postgraduate Scholarship, Doris and Tothill Bursary
and the Andrew Mellon Mentorship programme, all administered by University of the
Witwatersrand. Without this support, I would not have had the peace of mind required for
sustained academic activity. Even though I declared that this is my own unaided work, I
acknowledge the generous intellectual support of my supervisor, Prof. James Ogude
throughout my postgraduate studies. Moreover, he has been magnanimous as a mentor,
often times going beyond the call of duty. I extend my acknowledgement to the rest of
the staff at the African literature department: Prof. Isabel Hofmeyr, Prof. Bhekizizwe
Peterson, Dr. Dan Ojwang‟ and Prof. Pumla Gqola for the numerous seminars, colloquia,
conferences and informal sessions which allowed my mind to wander into rich and
diverse intellectual landscapes. Thanks also go to Merle Govind, for her warmth,
generosity and kindness; she always created that much needed sense of belonging – a
home away from home. Thank you Merle.

iv
I am grateful to a cohort of forebrothers and sisters at the department: Grace Musila, Dina
Ligaga, Florence Sipalla, Tam-George, Osita Ezeliora, Senayon Olaoluwa, Busuyi
Mekusi, Sean Rogers, Dishon Kweya and Maina Mutonya. Thank you for providing a
familial atmosphere and for giving me an ear in many informal conversations, at a point
where I was still acclimatising to a new environment. Gratitude to my colleagues and
friends: Thabisani, Jendele, Agatha, Freddy, Mosoti, Wasike, Jennifer, Naomi, Nafeesa,
Dee, Joy, Lebohang, Michelle, Amanda, Mati, Tatenda, Chrispen, Shepperd, Rhulani, Dr.
Tobiko, Misoi and Leah. My friends at Campus Lodge: Frank, Du, Gilbert, Koko (eish!
Uyis‟khokho mfowethu!), Justice, Gideon, Tony, Seyi, Nnamdi, Eddy, Leon, and Uno –
thanks for the collegial atmosphere you created in that place I consider my second home,
and of course the braais and soccer matches we watched down at the basement. To my
friend Khwezi, your friendship is one in a million. Thanks for the intensity of it and of
course the long hours we spent contemplating Ben Okri‟s narrative wisdom, theory, Jazz,
soccer, emotional heartaches and other abstractions. I particularly treasure the book-
buying sprees in Melville and Rosebank. My friend Terah, thanks for your consistency
and resourcefulness. You are a great friend and brother. Thanks as well to Kgabo, you are
like a much needed breath of fresh air.

During my research, I had the privilege of being invited for a short fellowship during July
and August 2009, at the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies at the Open
University, Milton Keynes in the UK. I wish to thank the Centre Director Prof. Dennis
Walder for giving me that opportunity and for the stimulating conversations we had about
this work. Thanks also to Heather Scott for her assistance in organising the paperwork I
needed as well as in making my stay comfortable. I also wish to thank Sharon Shamir, for
helping me acclimatise during my early days in London. To Asia Zgadzaj, thank you for
the many conversations we had about African Literature, and for your most generous and
kind spirit. Gratitude as well to the other people I met on this trip: Thembeka, Ole, Wagai
and to my friends Atela, Robert and Deno in Scotland – thanks a lot for the wonderful
time I had there. To the wonderful staff at the British Library at St. Pancrass, thank you
for making available the resources that I needed.

v
I would like to thank the Moi University family: Dr. Nyairo, Prof. Simatei, Prof.
Odhiambo, Mboya and Mbogo. You are great mentors, friends and people who have
consistently believed in me. What I am today has its foundation in the classes and
seminars, where the passion for this was established.

To my family back home, I wish to thank my Uncle Ellis and Aunt Merab for their
continued support, concern and kindness, as well as to my brother-in-law Behan
Ashilaka. To my brother Kelvin, Sister Dorothy, all I can say is Nyasaye abhalinde,
enywe nende abhana bhenu: May God bless you and your children. We have come a long
way and the future is bright. Thanks as well to my cousin Jane, and her husband Gabbs
for providing a home in Nairobi. To my grandmothers, Sellah Nanzala and Ruth
Odhiambo you have been solid rock in your determination in making me what I am
today. To Tina, your kindness, generosity of spirit and friendship has been incredible.

Parts of Chapter one appeared in the English Academy Review 26(2) 2009. I wish to
thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments

vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................................... i
DECLARATION ................................................................................................................ ii
DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv

1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTING CHILDHOOD AS A SET OF IDEAS ................................................ 1
1.1 Childhood, the Contemporary and the Diasporic ..................................................... 1
1.2 Foregrounding the Concept of Childhood in Contemporary Nigerian fiction .......... 9
1.3 Reading Childhood: A Literary Historiography ..................................................... 13
1.4 Theorising Childhood: Critical and Conceptual Contexts ...................................... 27

2.0 CHAPTER TWO
ALTERNATIVE TIME(S) AND HISTORIES. ............................................................... 43
2.1 Introduction: Representation of Childhood as an “architext of memory” .............. 43
2.2 The alternative: Archive, History and Time in the Narrative of Childhood ........... 47
2.3 Narrative Memory and Literary Historiography ..................................................... 52
2.4 Childhood as a Representation of the Everyday in Purple Hibiscus ...................... 56
2.4.1 the trauma memory of everyday life .................................................................... 67
2.4.2 nostalgia and a liberating memoryscape. ............................................................. 73
2.5 Memory of War: Trauma, Textual Archive and Cultural Memory in Half of a
Yellow Sun. .................................................................................................................... 81
2.5.1 a return to the everyday memory of war: composite consciousnesses ................ 88
2.5.2 collective memory and trauma: composite memories of war .............................. 95
2.6 Popular Cultural Memory in Chris Abani‟s Graceland: Material Cultures of
Memory ....................................................................................................................... 106
2.6.1 material cultures as a source of memory............................................................ 111
2.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 119

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3.0 CHAPTER THREE
DIALOGIC STRATEGIES AND (INTER)TEXTUALITIES IN CHILDHOOD. ........ 121
3.1 Introduction: Childhood, (inter)textuality and the Literary Chronotope .............. 121
3.2 Dialogic Childhoods: Chronotopicity in Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun
..................................................................................................................................... 126
3.2.1 childhood and the literary chronotope ............................................................... 126
3.2.2 “countries of the mind”: spacetime chronotopes in Purple Hibiscus ................ 135
3.2.3 chronotopicity and cartographies of violence in Half of a Yellow Sun .............. 145
3.3 Dystopian and Utopian Childhoods: Navigating the Lagos Cityscape in Chris
Abani‟s Graceland ...................................................................................................... 161
3.3.1 navigating the city: landscapes of desires, poetic geographies entropic realities.
..................................................................................................................................... 167
3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 178

4.0 CHAPTER FOUR
GENEALOGIES, DAUGHTERS OF SENTIMENT, SONS AND FATHERS. ........... 180
4.1 Introduction: Genealogies and Father Figures ...................................................... 180
4.2 In Her Father‟s House: The Sentimental Daughter in Purple Hibiscus and
Everything Good Will Come. ...................................................................................... 189
4.2.1 the ontology of fatherhood ................................................................................. 189
4.2.2 the sentimental disposition of daughterhood ..................................................... 200
4.2.3 the “death” and “falsity” of fatherhood ............................................................. 210
4.3 “In the Name of the Son”: Critical Legitimacy of Fatherhood, Sonhood and
Masculinities in Abani‟s Graceland and The Virgin of Flames. ................................ 215
4.3.1 “false fatherhood” and critical legitimacy ......................................................... 215
4.3.2 postcolonial sonhood(s): material dystopia and cultural utopia ........................ 218
4.3.3 “a view from elsewhere”: cross-gender discourse and androgynous sonhoods 223
4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 231

5.0 CHAPTER FIVE
CHILDHOODS AS POSTMODERN IDENTITIES...................................................... 233
5.1 Introduction: Childhood as Embodiment of Diaspora .......................................... 233
5.2 Diasporic Childhoods: Worlds “against interpretation” ....................................... 237
5.3 “Limitless vistas of fantasy”: Reading the Magic and Reality of abiku Childhood
..................................................................................................................................... 245
5.4 The Racialised Abiku in Helen Oyeyemi‟s The Icarus Girl ................................. 252
viii
5.5 Childhoods of the “New Diaspora” in The Opposite House ................................. 281
5.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 296

6.0 CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 298
6.1 Identity and Childhood: Negotiating the Postcolonial and Postmodern ............... 298

BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 316

ix
1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTING CHILDHOOD AS A SET OF IDEAS

1.1 Childhood, the Contemporary and the Diasporic

Fiction coming out of Nigeria during the 21st century seems to be marked by attempts to
deal with identity and (dis)placement through the idea of childhood. These attempts are
underpinned by the fact that Nigeria has transformed itself from a period of military
governance that shaped life in the late nineteen-sixties up to the late nineteen-nineties.
From this turbulent and oppressive political history, different narratives have been
constructed. These narratives can be traced through the works of writers like Chinua
Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa, Zaynab Alkali among others.1
Out of the turbulent history, these writers constructed narratives which represented lived
experiences. It is important to note that as these narratives were constructed, that of the
nation was dominant. As the dominance of narratives of the nation in literature continued
to spread, other complex issues related to global currents began to emerge, accelerated by
the migration of Nigerians as a result of the turmoil caused by military governance, as
well as the oil-related economic gains of the 70s. Indeed, as cultures made contact and
bodies moved across national and continental borders, new concerns began to emerge,
related to identity in view of an emerging postcolonial Nigerian diaspora in Europe and
America. The term “identity” is used in this study largely to refer to the way that “selves”
are represented in light of the individual and collective, which, in this study is influenced
by the perspective and framework of childhood and by the context and consciousness of
diaspora. Diaspora is a word with Greek origins referring to “dispersion” (Kilson, L.M &
Rotberg, R.I. 1976: 1-2). It is used in this study to refer to the product – people and
cultural products – of the process of dispersal.

1 The works of these writers featured after Nigeria‟s independence and have since been included in literary
studies all over the world, making them canonical to Nigerian literature.
1