The Discourses of Nationalism as Anti-National in Postcolonial Studies
Autor: Rodrigo Guim | Publicado: 2017-01-28T17:06:00-08:00




Class: Postcolonial Studies

Professor Mutombo Mpanya

















The Discourses
of Nationalism as Anti-National in Postcolonial Studies









By Rodrigo
Gomes Guimarães



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I
hope here to approach, as much as possible, an analysis of discursive
formations (Foucault, 1972) surrounding certain texts read in the
Postcolonial Studies class.&nbsp; In this
analysis, I hold that power is a very important ingredient in knowledge
formation.&nbsp; Language is central to
cultural and historic events, and while not being a pure reflection of those
events, or being at the origin of all action, language is nevertheless always
part of power relations, in both their production and reproduction.&nbsp; Of the forms of language, I will discuss
texts as a mechanism through which power relations can be constructed, while
also remaining attentive to the way our assumptions on the utility of language
to describe forms of oppression can be new forms of oppression themselves.&nbsp; Thus, there is a way in which the start of
this text can be a sort of academic subversion, or altogether different from
claims to any truth about texts.&nbsp; This is
because, as always relational, texts depend upon social and cultural contexts
of interpretation, utilization, and fixation of meanings.&nbsp; If all discourses on liberation do multiple
things, so do any analysis of those, and this has to do in great part to the
interpretation of texts, their social practice in the world.&nbsp; Texts are always already social, and always
reproduce the context of their formation in many ways, in all its
problematics.&nbsp; Thus, we can try to see,
for example, how the presence of colonialism is what makes possible the
language of postcolonial studies, and what forms of statements are made.&nbsp; Just in order to try to think over to what
degree the writing of the postcolonial authors of fiction chosen for this
comparison, in writing against colonialism, reflect to us the impossibility of
a non-dualistic discourse, of “us” and “them”, the “colonizer” and the
“colonized”, although many theoretical works in the field have questioned the
basis – of violence in most cases, against sociocultural differences – on which
that duality is kept.&nbsp; 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chinua
Achebe, with his book Things Fall Apart, and Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, with Weep
Not Child, have as central to the drama of the book, the conflicts,
suffering, oppression, continuity, and discontinuity of the reality of
colonialism.&nbsp;&nbsp; Aimé Césaire, in Discourse
on Colonialism, writes, in a more general sense, an analysis of colonial
discourse and practice, directed to the role of Europe in colonialism.&nbsp;&nbsp; These three texts will be central to an
analysis here of to what degree the language created through colonialism,
particularly on nationalism and the oppositional politics of the relations
between “colonizers” and “colonized” hold their stances, as totally separable
entities.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Césaire's
text is a reminder of the presence of colonialism as defeating for all
involved, both colonizer and colonized.&nbsp;
His text is a real proof of how the colonized can speak back to
colonization.&nbsp; Though I say this, I have
to remind myself that this “speaking back” is not divided by a fine line from
the brutality of colonialism.&nbsp; The
premise of many postcolonial authors, such as Homi Bhabha and&nbsp;&nbsp; Frantz Fanon are proof, is that resistance
brings about new forms of domination, and one needs to always be attentive to
these.&nbsp; Forms of nationalism for example,
abound as both liberatory and as&nbsp; new
forms of domination in ex-colonies, for&nbsp;
most nation-states that exist today grew out of violence to their internal
differences, mainly for the sake of resource exploitation, on the backs of
exploited, cheap or slave labor.&nbsp; The
reality of violence as foundational to the nation-state, throughout the history
of European domination, persisted in the world and lives until our days.&nbsp; The modern nation-state is a direct result of
colonization.&nbsp; As such, it is needless to
say that it reproduces forms of colonialism in the world.&nbsp; Although what we could call “postcolonial
studies literature” focuses on too many topics, due primarily to its
overarching social analysis, ranging from forms of representation of Others to
forms of resistance, nationalism, race, gender, education, and many other forms
of social relations, I will deal more broadly with how the concepts of hybridity
(Bhabha), and of nationalism and anti-nationalism (Césaire, 1955, as well as
Fanon, 2005; Anderson 1995), apply to a partial understanding of the works of
Achebe (1959) and Ngugi (1964).&nbsp; It is my
attempt here to demonstrate that works of fiction can be both nationalist and
anti-nationalist at the same time, and that this contradiction is inherent in
the question of hybridity (Bhabha), or the differánce (Derrida), of
colonial discourses.&nbsp; We will reflect
here upon the question: Can the national be anti-national in postcolonial
studies?

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nationalism,
in the context of European colonialism, needs to be understood as a form of
liberation movement, with all its multiplicities of interpretation involved,
but also as a result of colonialism.&nbsp;
When reading African novels of the 20th century, as we did in
class, one gets a sense of the reality of an every-day struggle for liberation
of the Africans portrayed in the story, but the complexity of power relations
is also very present.&nbsp; It in a way responds
to Europe's lack of the stories of the colonized, in literature, which is such
an important part of European cultural production – and in this sense, bearing
our need of understanding of European literature as itself multiple.&nbsp; With the birth of postcolonial literature, a
new rethinking of forms of nationalism has been done, which includes the
process of colonization-decolonization and the multiplicity of activities
involved, but also, in a very practical sense, the question of the forms of
production of nationalisms within anti-colonial struggle.&nbsp; It is very important to note, as the authors
we will discuss here are ware, how the colonial experience is itself already
multiple as well.&nbsp; Nonetheless, in
between the forces of colonization, emerged discourses trying to understand it,
and through this understanding, hopefully shape the ongoing processes of
decolonization in Africa and the African diaspora.&nbsp; 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bhabha
and Anderson discuss how the nation is a cultural and linguistic construction,
besides the obvious mandate of the State to define many of its contours and
limits.&nbsp; Limits was indeed a central
reference in colonial discourse, that postcolonial literature, and political
forms of resistance allied with them, also took as their central concern.
However, the contours of the national, as postcolonial authors demonstrate, is
fraught with uncertainties, unequal exchanges, power differentials, and
signifiers that mean very different things to different people, particularly
within differences of culture, history, and social relations.&nbsp; Subjects are not easily subjected to
different nationalist claims.&nbsp; The very
idea of a nation, or “nation-ness” (Anderson), was introduced through violence,
extermination, exploitation, if we are to think that the language and the
practice have any relationship.&nbsp; The
introduction of nation-ness to former and actual colonies is one of the
dominant characteristics of European colonialism.&nbsp; In Césáire, Achebe or Thiong'o, one reading
that can be gotten is that these authors understood the power of nationalist
discourses, but at the same time had a very critical relationship to those
forms.&nbsp; They, as many other authors read
in class, see the formation of nation-states as in many ways a continuation of
colonialism, while also being a form of liberation from it.&nbsp; In my opinion, their critical relationship to
nationalist discourses, and their very clever responses to those many forms –
literature, film, science, politics, the writing of history – that shape
nationalism, may provide both “nationalist” and “anti-nationalist”
interpretations of themselves.&nbsp;
Postcolonial literature, as always responding to colonization, has acted
both as critical reflection of colonial power and of the always-present
resistance.&nbsp; In this sense, it asks us to
be continually critical of any claim to unquestionable authority.&nbsp; 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hybridity
is the name used by Bhabha to describe the presence of a space of&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;otherness within the process
of colonization.&nbsp; It is an ever-present
difference.&nbsp; For its author, resistance
cannot be reduced to “an oppositional act of political intention”.&nbsp; Actually, for Bhabha, hybridity is always
already present in any form of relation of domination that involves cultural
discourses.&nbsp; It is thus that modification
and multiplicity of cultural discourses always operate. In conditions where the
story that tells “this land belonged to us” was passed from generation to generation,
the white settlers could not have hoped that their story of colonization would
be normalized, scripted into the history of the place as the one and
only story.&nbsp; If the violence of
colonialism was in part the telling of stories around “land” and “belonging”,
texts of colonial resistance, such as novels and forms of social analysis in
texts, have also responded to those stories with their own.&nbsp; It is the “colonized” writing in part as
response to the “colonizer”.&nbsp; How do
different discourses operate with regards to the possession of the land in
African colonization?&nbsp; This question was
a critical perspective on history that both Chinua Achebe and Ngugi Wa Thing'o
contributed to in the making of African postcolonial literature.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]-->


&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Both
authors construct stories that are contesting the very essentialisms that are
used by colonization to enforce itself.&nbsp;
To me, they contest essentialist theories of the colonizer as much as
the colonized, showing through the lives of many besides the main characters,
the myriad ways in which colonialism impacts different people based on
divisions of race, class, gender, religion, and political affiliations.&nbsp; However, similarly, there is a struggle for
land ownership, because of colonialism, that links both books.&nbsp; In this sense, of contesting the identity of
the owner of land, and of the colonial regime more broadly, both authors bring
us very close to the critique of the representation of colonization as a
unitary Truth.&nbsp; Clearly, though, as with
any text, the critique can be obscured and in its place a Truth&nbsp; be constructed in the space of colonization,
by an interpretation that understands colonialism as inevitably linked to the
failure of the colonized to liberate itself.&nbsp;
The danger of this interpretation, of the role of liberation being that
of the oppressed themselves, is part of the contradiction inherent in many
discourses, including Western forms of Marxism, that abide to the ideology that
it is the role of the proletariat, and their only, to strive for liberation. Aimé
Césaire is most clearly making the case for the role of the proletariat as
central in the “motor of history”.&nbsp; This
question of what the underlying theories are in the works of fiction related to
here, is a more difficult one.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The
two novels referred, which we read in class, challenge the novel genre
itself.&nbsp; So much so that many
commentators interpret them as tragedies. This is a particular interpretation,
and I will briefly ponder on reasons why.&nbsp;
Firstly, because they do not have a heroic figure as a main
character.&nbsp; Secondly, because romance is
not a central element of the story.&nbsp; So
these are in a way counter-cultural to the West.&nbsp; If that is the intention of the authors in
doing this, from a postcolonial perspective this is not a central issue.&nbsp; What is actually more important is to find
connections as possibilities, not as end in themselves. Both novels show their
connections to Africa very clearly.&nbsp; Both
novels also show, at the same time, their connectedness to the Western novel,
to its language, its motifs, and cleverly know how to use these to question
assumptions about the natural dominance of European culture.&nbsp; 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The
novels have, as one of their central concerns, education.&nbsp; It is education one of the main avenues
through which the culture of the colonizer invades that of the colonized.&nbsp; But it is also through education that the
colonized can enter into the ways of thinking and sometimes, with luck, into
the ways of governing as well, of the colonizers. This higher level of somewhat
legitimate access to colonial power will always depend on social class status,
beyond others, that influence the penetrability of the colonialist enterprise
to the colonized people.&nbsp; One of these
entrances has been culture, ignited by education, through which the Western
philosophies, literature, and discourses in general that were perpetrated for
colonialism could be read and contested.&nbsp;
The language of nationalism as the basis for political authority,
related to a population and territory, was greatly introduced into most places
in the world through European colonialism.&nbsp;
Maybe this is why the literature of the colonized included -though not
exclusively- stories ending in such “tragic” tones, in one possible – and
largely Western, one might add – interpretation?

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All
of the authors analyzed here agree that colonization involves the colonizer
being in a problematic space, not devoid of its own forms of oppression.&nbsp; Colonizers produce, partially, their own
subjection to colonization, which in turn they take back to the colonizing
country, and this is when Césaire speaks of the “boomerang effect of
colonization”.&nbsp;&nbsp; The colonizer and the
colonized live thus in complex relations of power, which involve a profusion of
different, nonexistent relations before colonization. These profuse differently
with the local power struggles, no matter how forcefully the colonizers try to
be the direct masters of all of the people colonized under a certain
territory.&nbsp; Colonization is then a
multiple reality, in which many struggles and accommodations exist within the
multiple forms of both “colonizers” and “colonized”.&nbsp; However multiple, the reality is that every
colonized will discern colonizers, and vice-versa.&nbsp; The language of nationalism, then, insofar as
it refers to the colonized as a category, will always be in great part
anti-national in the eyes of another set of the colonized themselves.&nbsp; In stating this, I do not intend to state
that there is no over-arching nationalism in any single moment in history.&nbsp;&nbsp; I am only saying that it should not be taken
for granted that nationalism as an always already complex and multiple social
practice, contradicts itself.&nbsp; As a
discourse constructed and critiqued in postcolonial studies, nationalism can
partially be understood through the concept of hybridity, as always partially
responsible for producing its own forms of resistance to its own
domination.&nbsp; In a sense, then,
nationalism as a colonial form of discourse produces anti-nationalism.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This paper in no way summarizes all
there is to say on the books cited.&nbsp; This
would run contrary to all my approach here. I would rather see the three works
discussed here, Achebe, Césaire, and Thiong'o - just to counter once more the
Western imagination - like Manifestos, as always speaking about the present, than
solely about the past of Africa.&nbsp; Because
there is no bigger corporeality, materiality for the voice of the present, than
a language in the present tense, relating itself to social relations of power
that include us while we read them.&nbsp; All
language is falsifying, revealing and hiding, and we can really be in trouble
to understand language if we do not give enough importance to the falsifying,
changing nature of it.&nbsp; Thus, let us, as
a form of subversion of the dominance of science over art, and all the
violences that cultural modes of signification have superimposed on difference,
end with a short Manifesto-style aphorism. 

- Manifestos always speak about the
present.&nbsp; Because there is no larger
corporeality.&nbsp; All the rest is filled
with falsehood.&nbsp; One certain thing we do
is to fool ourselves when we believe in non-falsehood, like the West has done
for so long...And even if so, not all is false.&nbsp;
Mobility gives a strange sensation of the conciliation of the true and
the false.&nbsp; And even then, this can be
the true error.&nbsp; Maybe the true and the
false are really sensations, relations with their own corporeality.&nbsp; The question remains: is the present
possible?
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<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]-->&nbsp;&nbsp; We must note, also, however, that
postcolonial literature is a very contested space.&nbsp;