Emerging Evils in Post-Colonies

  • Daniel Tia University of Felix Houphouet-Boigny
  • Akissi Nexe Octavie N’Guessan University of Felix Houphouet-Boigny
Keywords: Colonial, Post-Colonial, Neocolonial Practices, Political Paradigm, Colonies
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Abstract

The colonial and postcolonial are two different ideological eras in the colonized peoples’ history, which are taken up by post-colonial literature. Without rehashing the ex-colonized beings’ painful past from a rebellious and revanchist perspective, postcolonial writers’ literary projects aimed at revitalizing the ex-colonized beings’ experience in the form of collective memory. In such a creative art, the narrative devices in force decry retrograde and dehumanizing practices. In terms of vision, the call for improving the relationship between ex-colonizers and ex-colonized subjects is highly prescribed. All neocolonial policies and related influences are systematically proscribed, thus favouring the creation of a global village free from inequalities, exclusions, and other injustices. In essence, the poetization of “Bournehills” in The Chosen Place, The Timeless People and “Kosawa” in How Beautiful We Were is part of those narrative techniques. Today, in a disguised form, Westerners, with their seducing offers or projects, corrupt tiny groups of undeveloped people won over to their cause and keep the masses in misery. In this context of political paradigm shift and sociocultural mutation, the study of the forms of life in the post-colonies remains a challenge. This helps to disclose on the one hand how the former colonial maintains their ex-colonies in perpetual dependence and on the other hand, highlight how the ex-colonized beings or heirs react and overcome neo-colonial policies. To account for the features of neo-colonialism, the use of Perussetian semiotic approach will be helpful. This will contribute to looking into the prevailing forms of life in both fictional imaginaries. Two points of interest will be scrutinized: “post-colonial order features” and “ex-colonized beings’ resilience”

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Published
10 July, 2024
How to Cite
Tia, D., & N’Guessan, A. (2024). Emerging Evils in Post-Colonies. East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 7(1), 398-411. https://doi.org/10.37284/eajass.7.1.2039