African Literature and Social Change: Tribe, Nation, Race

225 Pages·2017·9.643 MB·English

by  Olakunle George

AFRICAN LITERATURE and
SOCIAL CHANGE

AFR ICAN LITER ATUR E
and SOCIAL CHANGE
Tribe, Nation, Race
Olakunle George
Indiana University Press
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
© 2017 by Olakunle George
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association
of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions consti-
tutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum require-
ments of the American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: George, Olakunle, author.
Title: African literature and social change : tribe, nation, race /
Olakunle George.
Description: Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017032853 (print) | LCCN 2017024198 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780253029324 (e-book) | ISBN 9780253025463 (cloth : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9780253025807 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: African literature (English)—19th century—
History and criticism. | African literature (English)—20th
century—History and criticism. | Literature and society—
Africa—History—19th century. | Literature and society—
Africa—History—20th century. | Social change in literature. |
Ethnicity in literature.
Classification: LCC PR9340.5 (print) | LCC PR9340.5 .G44 2017
(ebook) | DDC 820.996—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017032853
1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
Dedicated to Isidore Okpewho, 1941–2016
Rest in peace, Prof.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Missionary Moments 1
1 Crossing Currents: Postcoloniality, Globalism, Diaspora 23
2 Mission Tide: Bishop S. A. Crowther and the “Black Whitemen” 62
3 Decolonization Time: Abrahams, James, Wright 106
4 Globalization Time: Achebe, Soyinka, and Beyond 143
Epilogue: Gaps 183
Bibliography 197
Index 209

Acknowledgments
T
his book has taken longer than I envisaged when I fitfully started working
on it. Along the way, I have benefited from the assistance of many institutions,
colleagues, and friends. I thank the staff of the following libraries for their help
while I tried to find my way around the materials in their possession: Cadbury
Research Library Special Collections, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston;
Special Collections, School of Oriental and African Studies, London; Public
Records and Archives Administration Department of Ghana (PRAAD), Accra;
and the Divinity Library, Yale University. For permission to reproduce images
for which they hold copyright, I am grateful to the Church Missionary Society,
the Wesley Historical Society library, Oxford Brookes University, and Stuart
Franklin/Magnum Photos. In particular, thanks to Peter S. Forsaith, Ian Killeen,
Liz Millard, Ken Osborne, and Michael Shulman for responding expeditiously
to my inquiries.
Over the years, the following colleagues invited me to present talks or con-
ference papers that pushed me to impose a semblance of coherence on my argu-
ments: Susan Andrade, Yogita Goyal, Jeanne-Marie Jackson, Arlene Keizer, Luís
Madureira, Piret Peiker, Bonnie Roos, and Nathan Suhr-Sytsma. I thank Susan
Andrade also for recommending Magnum Photos. I owe a debt of gratitude to
colleagues and countless conference interlocutors who posed questions or offered
comments on portions of the book in its long road up to this point. You will know
who you are; please know as well that I am profoundly grateful. I feel privileged
to be able to salute Kofi Agawu for being a tireless interlocutor-in-chief, Patrick
Mensah for conversations that reenergize, Conrad James for helping to make my
Edgbaston visits enjoyable, and Harry Garuba for the gift of our marathon phone
conversations. Many thanks as well to Mark Seltzer for providing his distinctive
critical eye at a crucial stage of my revisions, and to Rey Chow for her collegiality
and the lunches on Thayer Street.
The following friends, compatriots, and senior colleagues contributed in
many different ways, often without knowing it, to enriching and moving this
work along: Leke Adeeko, Moradewun Adejunmobi, Remi Raji-Oyelade, Sina
Gbadamosi, Kunle Akinsipe, Akin Adesokan, Kunle Ajibade, Simon Gikandi,
Abiola Irele, Biodun Jeyifo, Eileen Julien, Neil ten Kortenaar, Loka Losambe,
Moji Olaniyan, Teju Olaniyan, and Femi Taiwo. Thanks, all, for your support and
for being there. Another round of thanks are due to my undergraduate teachers
at the University of Ibadan, most especially Dan S. Izevbaye, Molara Ogundipe,
ix