How Achebe provides geographical and demographical information to his readers

Chinua Achebe and M. NourbeSe Philip are both writing in a postcolonial context. This means

that they are writing from a space where their culture was/is marginalized by English as the
colonial culture. As Baldick points out:
 Postcolonial literature is a term “applied most often to writings from Africa, the Indian
sub-continent, the Caribbean, and other regions whose histories during the 20th century
are marked by colonialism, anti-colonial movements, and subsequent transitions to postIndependence
society.”

 “Postcolonial theory considers vexed cultural-political questions of national and ethnic
identity, ‘otherness’, race, imperialism, and language, during and after the colonial
periods.”
http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/view/10.1093/acref/97801992
08272.001.0001/acref-9780199208272-e-904?rskey=fOYPtP&result=1

Achebe is an important Nigerian writer.
 When he was born in Ogidi, Nigeria was a colony of Great Britain. After independence in
1960, Nigeria went through a civil war (1967-1970). Achebe supported the Biafran side
(Biafra wanted independence from Nigeria).
 It is important to know that Nigeria includes speakers of over 500 different languages.
Achebe’s family spoke Igbo. English was used as a kind of lingua franca and taught at
school. You can see how the languages are divided geographically across Nigeria at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Nigeria
 Achebe is “acclaimed for his unsentimental depictions of the social and psychological
disorientation accompanying the imposition of Western customs and values upon
traditional African society. His particular concern was with emergent Africa at its
moments of crisis.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chinua-Achebe

M. NourbeSe Philip is a Canadian writer of Caribbean origin.
 She was born in Trinidad, a country that had been colonized historically by Spain,
Britain, France and Holland. Trinidad became a British crown colony in 1797 and an
independent country in 1962.
 She moved to Canada to study law at the University of Western Ontario.
 Trinidad has a rich ethnic diversity with people tracing their ancestry back to slaves from
Africa, and Chinese, Indian and Tamil indentured labourers.
 In her works, “The tension between father tongue (the white Euro-Christian male canon),
and mother tongue (Black African female) is always present.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._NourbeSe_Philip
RENEWING ORAL TRADITIONS:

As post-colonial writers, both Achebe and NourbeSe Philip are concerned about bringing their
own heritage into their writing in English. This week’s stories highlight cultural and linguistic
tensions differently.
 In Achebe’s story, oral traditions are presented in part as traditional beliefs recounted by
Ma, the mother of Julius’ girlfriend, Janet. They are also juxtaposed with Christian
beliefs in the context of an outbreak of smallpox (Kitikpa).
 In NourbeSe Philip’s story, oral traditions are linked to a maternal character and
transmitted through a recipe.

QUESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSION FORUM

1. Achebe provides a lot of geographical and demographical information to his readers.
Give some examples of this kind of information and comment on how it sets the context
for the story. Notice how many people are in some kind of displacement.
2. NourbeSe Philip uses oral language as a writing language. This language connects
mother and daughter despite the geographical distance that separates them. Provide some
examples of their dialogue and comment on what it says about their relationship.
3. What do you think the ending of each story ‘means.’?