Autobiography Memory and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa

213 Pages·2022·11.346 MB·English

by  David Ekanem Udoinwang, James Tar Tsaaior

“Autobiography, Memory, and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa is a generous gift
of committed research and dedicated scholarship. The academic community
and commonwealth of letters have a treasure trough in this tour de force. With
remarkable skill and salutary, clear vision, the co-a uthors have assembled in one
volume the self- testimonies of a galaxy of nationalist figures whose pioneering
leadership and patriotic fervour galvanised the anti-c olonial movement and
resistance project in their respective national communities against imperial
domination for the achievement of national liberation. The result is a seminal
contribution to the genre of autobiographical writing and criticism in Africa
and beyond.”
David Iyornôngu Ker, Professor of English and former Vice- Chancellor,
Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria and Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria
and author, The African Novel and the Modernist Tradition
“This book is a significant achievement in colonial and postcolonial research
and scholarship on African nationalist autobiographies. It is lucid, profound,
and eloquent. Udoinwang and Tsaaior have in this seminal book an important
scholarly accomplishment that is ground-b reaking, subversive, and counter-
hegemonic. Scholars and practitioners alike will appreciate their superb depth
of analysis where historical fact and literary fiction inhere and interpenetrate.”
Iyorwuese Harry Hagher, Professor of Theatre and Drama, President
African Leadership Institute, USA and former Senator, Federal Minister and
Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Canada/ Ambassador to Mexico
“Autobiography, Memory, and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa brings history, pol-
itics and literature together in a comprehensive study that draws in the reader
to re- live the fervour, temperament and hopes of eminent African leaders’
respective nationalist struggles. David Ekanem Udoinwang and James Tar
Tsaaior define, theorise and contextualise African nationalist autobiography to
highlight the immense contributions of this interdisciplinary genre to African
and postcolonial studies. The writing captures the nationalist struggle in a com-
pelling and inspiring manner. All interested in Africa’s postcolonial history, pol-
itics, and literature must read this excellent work of scholarship.”
Tanure Ojaide, NNOM, FNAL, Frank Porter Graham Professor of
Africana Studies, The University of North Carolina, Charlotte
“This book provides invaluable and refreshing conceptual, theoretical and peda-
gogical insights into scholarship negotiating auto- writing, memory and the
fabrication of nationhood in Africa during the epochal moment of the nation-
alist ferment against British imperialism. It is a compelling critical resource for
biographical writers, critics, scholars, and researchers interested in this field of
African studies.”
Harry Garuba, Professor of African Studies and English,
Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa
and author, Animist Chants and Memorials
“…this book intentionally sets parameters for assessing both the Autobiographical
genre and the critical attention it has provoked … in a deliberate effort to
re- read auto-n arratives with particular revisionist intent. It contains its multi-
disciplinary leanings in a trompe l’oeil that will dazzle both serious scholars and
pedestrian readers alike. Its sophistication lies in its simplicity. A book apt for
our times!”
Kgomotso Michael Masemola, Professor of English and Executive
Dean, College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria and
author, Black South African Autobiography after Deleuze: Belonging
and Becoming in Self- Testimony
“This gem of a book provides a well-r esearched and eloquent investigation
into the hitherto neglected field of Anglophone African autobiographies of
national liberation. One of the many strengths of the in- depth analyses of the
well- chosen examples of this genre lies in the exploration of their usefulness
not only for understanding how past anti- colonial struggles played out but also
in delineating the different ways in which nationhood was constructed. This
excavation of the different decolonisation strategies aimed at overcoming colo-
nialism and racism surely has repercussions today by providing a valuable tool to
understand how national becoming is memorised as well as advanced.”
Anke Bartels, Associate Professor of English and Coordinator DFG Research
Training Group “Minor Cosmopolitanisms”, University of Potsdam, Germany
Autobiography, Memory and
Nationhood in Anglophone Africa
This book provides an important critical analysis of the autobiographies of nine
major leaders of national liberation movements in Africa. By examining their
self- narratives, we can better understand how decolonisation unfolded and how
activist- politicians sought to immortalise their roles for posterity.
Focusing on the autobiographies of Peter Abrahams, Albert Luthuli, Ruth
First and Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Kenneth
Kaunda (Zambia), George Mwase (Malawi), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana),
Maurice Nyagumbo (Zimbabwe) and Oginga Odinga (Kenya), the book
uncovers the social and cultural forces which galvanised the anti-c olonial resist-
ance movement in African societies. In particular, the book explores the dis-
dain for foreign domination, economic exploitation and cultural imperialism. It
delves into themes of African cultural sovereignty before the colonial encounter,
the disruptive presence of colonialism, the nationalist ferment against European
imperial domination, the achievement of political autonomy by African nation-
states and the corpus of contradictions which attended postcolonial becoming.
With important insights on how these key historical figures navigated the
process of self-d etermining nationhood in Africa, this book will be of interest
to researchers of African literature, history and politics.
David Ekanem Udoinwang is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English,
Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria, where he teaches Black and African
autobiography, digital and eco-c ritical literatures. In 2017, he was AHP/A CLS
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape
Town, South Africa.
James Tar Tsaaior is Professor of English, Media and Cultural Studies
and Senior Associate Research Fellow in the Department of English of the
University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Until recently, he was
Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Research Fellow and Visiting Professor
in the Centre for Anglophone and American Studies, University of Potsdam,
Germany.
Routledge Studies in African Literature
Autobiography, Memory and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa
David Ekanem Udoinwang and James Tar Tsaaior
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routle dge.com/
Routle dge- Stud ies- in- Afri can- Lit erat ure/ book- ser ies/ RAL
Autobiography, Memory
and Nationhood in
Anglophone Africa
David Ekanem Udoinwang
and James Tar Tsaaior
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 David Ekanem Udoinwang and James Tar Tsaaior
The right of David Ekanem Udoinwang and James Tar Tsaaior to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 27521- 5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 27522- 2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 29314- 9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003293149
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
To the memory of the Revolutionaries: Fathers, Mothers,
Youths and Peasants for their vision, resilience and faith
during the dark days of the National Liberation Struggles

Contents
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of Abbreviations xiv
1 Introduction: Autobiographies, Colonisation and
Decolonisation 1
2 Autobiography, Self- Making and National
Be- Coming: From Theory to Practice 39
3 Imagining a Continental Statehood: The Autobiographies
of Kwame Nkrumah and Nnamdi Azikiwe 59
4 Narrating Violence and Non- Violence as Roadmaps to
Nationhood: Not Yet Uhuru (NYU), Strike a Blow and Die
(SBD) and Zambia Shall Be Free (ZSBF) 88
5 Narrating Apartheid State Violence: The Autobiographies
of Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela 128
6 ‘The Negro Is Not Free’: Visualising a Humane
Nationhood in Peter Abrahams’ Tell Freedom and Maurice
Nyagumbo’s With the People 154