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Africa, Colonialism, Civil Wars and Their Reflections in African Literature

Year 2023, Volume: 11 Issue: Afrika, 256 - 271, 30.09.2023
https://doi.org/10.18506/anemon.1287854

Abstract

Wars are at the forefront of events that shape human history and deeply affect people’s lives. To date, hundreds of wars have occurred on the global scale. Apart from these wars, there have been localised civil wars within the borders of the countries. Due to the destructive effects of colonialism and the formation of social structures among various ethnicities, the number of civil wars, especially on the African continent, has been quite high. Thus, the theme of civil war is a prominent and compelling element in African literature, as depicted in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2014), Nuruddin Farah’s Maps (1999), Ismael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007), and Helene Cooper’s The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood (2008). These works provide powerful narratives that explore the impact of civil war on individuals, families, and communities in Africa. The authors of the selected works, with their unique characters and evocative storytelling, shed light on the relentless consequences of the civil war while at the same time reflecting the resilience and strength of the human spirit in the face of difficulties. In line with all this information, the purpose of this study is to investigate the post-colonial civil wars in Africa in the context of their reflections in the selected works.

References

  • Achebe, C. (2013). There was a country: A personal history of Biafra. Penguin Books.
  • Adeleke, A. (1995). The politics and diplomacy of peacekeeping in West Africa: The Ecowas Operation in Liberia. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 33(4), 569 593. http://www.jstor.org/stable/161822
  • Adichie, C. N. (2014). Half of a yellow sun. Fourth Estate.
  • Amnesty International. (2000). Sierra Leone: War crimes against children continue. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr51/038/2000/en/
  • Anderson, J. L. (1998, July 20). The devil they know. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/07/27/the-devil-they-know
  • Beah, I. (2007). A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier. Bath: Windsor.
  • Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, March 25). Odumegwu Ojukwu. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Odumegwu-Ojukwu
  • Cooper, F. (2018). Colonialism in question: Theory, knowledge, history. University of California Press.
  • Cooper, H. (2008). The house at Sugar Beach: In search of a lost African childhood. Simon & Schuster paperbacks.
  • Daly, S. F. C. (2020). A history of the Republic of Biafra law, crime, and the Nigerian Civil War. Cambridge University Press.
  • Eklöw, K., & Krampe, F. (2019). Conflicts and peacebuilding efforts in Somalia. In Climate-related security risks and peacebuilding in Somalia (pp. 4–9). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20064.8
  • Falola, T. O., Luebering, J. E., & Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (2023, March 29). Nigerian Civil War. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war
  • Farah, N. (1999). Maps: A novel. Arcade Publishing.
  • Graça, M. (2001). The impact of war on children: A review of progress made since the 1996 United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children. Palgrave.
  • Harris, D. (2012). Civil war and democracy in West Africa: Conflict resolution, elections, and Justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia. I.B. Tauris.
  • Ifeoma, E. E. (2011). The nature of conflict in Africa and its impact on African international relations: the case of Darfur. World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, 15(3), 88–112. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48504830
  • Iweala, U. (2007, May 25). Review: A long way gone by Ishmael Beah. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/26/featuresreviews.guardianreview8
  • Jaggi, M. (2012, September 21). Nuruddin Farah: A life in writing. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/sep/21/nuruddin-salah-life-in-writing
  • Kaplan, R. D. (1994, February 1). The coming anarchy. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/02/the-cominganarchy/304670/
  • Kazan, F. (1993). Recalling the other third world: Nuruddin Farah’s “Maps.” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, 26(3), 253–267. https://doi.org/10.2307/1345835
  • Kohn, M., & Reddy, K. (2023, January 17). Colonialism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/
  • Kusow, A. M. (1994). The Genesis of the Somali Civil War: A new perspective. Northeast African Studies, 1(1), 31–46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41932034
  • Kyulanova, I. (2010). From soldiers to children: undoing the rite of passage in Ishmael Beah’s “a long way gone” and Bernard Ashley’s “little soldier.” Studies in the Novel, 42(1/2), 28–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29533967
  • Lidow, N. H. (2016). Violent order: Understanding rebel governance through Liberia’s Civil War. Cambridge University Press.
  • Loomba, A. (2015). Colonialism/postcolonialism. Routledge.
  • Marangio, R. (2012). The Somali crisis: Failed state and international interventions. Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI). http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep09823
  • Michalopoulos, S., & Papaioannou, E. (2016). The long-run effects of the scramble for Africa. The American Economic Review, 106(7), 1802- 1848. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43861113
  • Osterhammel, J. (1999). Colonialism: a theoretical overview. Markus Wiener Publishers.
  • Shepler, S. (2016). Sierra Leone, child soldiers and global flows of child protection expertise. In J. Knörr & C. Kohl (Eds.), The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective (pp. 241–252). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1kk66c1.16
  • Ugwuegbu, D. C. E. (2021). Social psychology and social change in Nigeria: A systematic evaluation of government social policies and programs. FriesenPress.
  • Venter, A. J. (2016). Biafra’s war, 1967-1970: A tribal conflict in Nigeria that left a million dead. Helion and Company.
  • Vonnegut, K. (1989). Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (opinions). Laurel.
  • Woronoff, J. (2008). Editor’s foreword. In G. Arnold (Ed.), Historical dictionary of civil wars in Africa (pp. vii-viii). foreword, Scarecrow Press.
  • Wright, D. (2002). Emerging perspectives on Nuruddin Farah. Africa World.

Afrika, Sömürgecilik, İç Savaşlar ve Afrika Edebiyatındaki Yansımaları

Year 2023, Volume: 11 Issue: Afrika, 256 - 271, 30.09.2023
https://doi.org/10.18506/anemon.1287854

Abstract

İnsanlık tarihine yön veren ve insanların hayatlarını derinden sarsan olayların başında savaşlar gelmektedir. Günümüze kadar global ölçekte yüzlerce savaş meydana gelmiştir. Bu savaşların dışında bir de lokal bazda ülke sınırları içinde gerçekleşen iç savaşlar mevcuttur. Özellikle sömürgeciliğin yıkıcı etkisi ve toplum yapılarının çeşitli etnisitelerden oluşması nedeniyle Afrika kıtasında gerçekleşen iç savaşların sayısı oldukça fazladır. Bu nedenle, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’nin Half of a Yellow Sun (2014), Nuruddin Farah’ın Maps (1999), Ismael Beah’ın A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) ve Helene Cooper’ın The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood (2008) kitaplarında tasvir edildiği gibi, iç savaş teması Afrika edebiyatında öne çıkan ve merak uyandıran bir unsur haline gelmiştir. Bu eserler, iç savaşın Afrika’daki bireyler, aileler ve toplumlar üzerindeki etkisini inceleyen güçlü anlatılar sunmaktadır. Bu çalışmaya konu olan eserlerin yazarları, özgün karakterleri ve çağrıştırıcı hikâye anlatımlarıyla iç savaşın amansız sonuçlarına ışık tutarken, aynı zamanda insan ruhunun zorluklar karşısındaki direncini ve gücünü de yansıtmaktadır. Bu çalışma, aktarılan bilgiler doğrultusunda Afrika kıtası özelinde sömürgecilikten sonra meydana gelen iç savaşları, seçilen eserlerdeki yansımaları bağlamında ele almayı amaçlamaktadır.

References

  • Achebe, C. (2013). There was a country: A personal history of Biafra. Penguin Books.
  • Adeleke, A. (1995). The politics and diplomacy of peacekeeping in West Africa: The Ecowas Operation in Liberia. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 33(4), 569 593. http://www.jstor.org/stable/161822
  • Adichie, C. N. (2014). Half of a yellow sun. Fourth Estate.
  • Amnesty International. (2000). Sierra Leone: War crimes against children continue. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr51/038/2000/en/
  • Anderson, J. L. (1998, July 20). The devil they know. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/07/27/the-devil-they-know
  • Beah, I. (2007). A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier. Bath: Windsor.
  • Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2023, March 25). Odumegwu Ojukwu. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Odumegwu-Ojukwu
  • Cooper, F. (2018). Colonialism in question: Theory, knowledge, history. University of California Press.
  • Cooper, H. (2008). The house at Sugar Beach: In search of a lost African childhood. Simon & Schuster paperbacks.
  • Daly, S. F. C. (2020). A history of the Republic of Biafra law, crime, and the Nigerian Civil War. Cambridge University Press.
  • Eklöw, K., & Krampe, F. (2019). Conflicts and peacebuilding efforts in Somalia. In Climate-related security risks and peacebuilding in Somalia (pp. 4–9). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20064.8
  • Falola, T. O., Luebering, J. E., & Kirk-Greene, A. H. M. (2023, March 29). Nigerian Civil War. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 18, 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nigerian-civil-war
  • Farah, N. (1999). Maps: A novel. Arcade Publishing.
  • Graça, M. (2001). The impact of war on children: A review of progress made since the 1996 United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children. Palgrave.
  • Harris, D. (2012). Civil war and democracy in West Africa: Conflict resolution, elections, and Justice in Sierra Leone and Liberia. I.B. Tauris.
  • Ifeoma, E. E. (2011). The nature of conflict in Africa and its impact on African international relations: the case of Darfur. World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, 15(3), 88–112. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48504830
  • Iweala, U. (2007, May 25). Review: A long way gone by Ishmael Beah. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/26/featuresreviews.guardianreview8
  • Jaggi, M. (2012, September 21). Nuruddin Farah: A life in writing. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/sep/21/nuruddin-salah-life-in-writing
  • Kaplan, R. D. (1994, February 1). The coming anarchy. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 20, 2023, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/02/the-cominganarchy/304670/
  • Kazan, F. (1993). Recalling the other third world: Nuruddin Farah’s “Maps.” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, 26(3), 253–267. https://doi.org/10.2307/1345835
  • Kohn, M., & Reddy, K. (2023, January 17). Colonialism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 17, 2023, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/
  • Kusow, A. M. (1994). The Genesis of the Somali Civil War: A new perspective. Northeast African Studies, 1(1), 31–46. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41932034
  • Kyulanova, I. (2010). From soldiers to children: undoing the rite of passage in Ishmael Beah’s “a long way gone” and Bernard Ashley’s “little soldier.” Studies in the Novel, 42(1/2), 28–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29533967
  • Lidow, N. H. (2016). Violent order: Understanding rebel governance through Liberia’s Civil War. Cambridge University Press.
  • Loomba, A. (2015). Colonialism/postcolonialism. Routledge.
  • Marangio, R. (2012). The Somali crisis: Failed state and international interventions. Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI). http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep09823
  • Michalopoulos, S., & Papaioannou, E. (2016). The long-run effects of the scramble for Africa. The American Economic Review, 106(7), 1802- 1848. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43861113
  • Osterhammel, J. (1999). Colonialism: a theoretical overview. Markus Wiener Publishers.
  • Shepler, S. (2016). Sierra Leone, child soldiers and global flows of child protection expertise. In J. Knörr & C. Kohl (Eds.), The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective (pp. 241–252). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1kk66c1.16
  • Ugwuegbu, D. C. E. (2021). Social psychology and social change in Nigeria: A systematic evaluation of government social policies and programs. FriesenPress.
  • Venter, A. J. (2016). Biafra’s war, 1967-1970: A tribal conflict in Nigeria that left a million dead. Helion and Company.
  • Vonnegut, K. (1989). Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (opinions). Laurel.
  • Woronoff, J. (2008). Editor’s foreword. In G. Arnold (Ed.), Historical dictionary of civil wars in Africa (pp. vii-viii). foreword, Scarecrow Press.
  • Wright, D. (2002). Emerging perspectives on Nuruddin Farah. Africa World.
There are 34 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects African Language, Literature and Culture, British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Eren Bolat 0000-0001-8148-522X

Early Pub Date September 29, 2023
Publication Date September 30, 2023
Acceptance Date September 4, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 11 Issue: Afrika

Cite

APA Bolat, E. (2023). Afrika, Sömürgecilik, İç Savaşlar ve Afrika Edebiyatındaki Yansımaları. Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11(Afrika), 256-271. https://doi.org/10.18506/anemon.1287854

Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Creative Commons Atıf-GayriTicari 4.0 Uluslararası Lisansı (CC BY NC) ile lisanslanmıştır.