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Navigating Cultural Hybridity: The Conflict between Igbo Identity and Colonial Dominance in Things Fall Apart
University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Humanities, English.
2025 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart(1958), a seminar work in postcolonial literary studies, provides a critical examination of the socio-cutural disruptions experienced by the Igbo people of Nigeria during the advent of British colonialism. This study interrogates the interplay between indigenous cultural resilience and the transformative pressures of hegemonic colonial force. Employing an analysis of character development, socio-political structures, and shifts in thinking, this research shows how Achebe's narrative strategically counters Orientalist representations by highlighting the agency and intellectual sophistication of pre-colonial Igbo society. Drawing upon Homi K. Bhabha's theoretical framework of cultural hybridity, this analysis investigates the ambivalence inherent in cultural adaptation and resistance. Furthermore, Edward Said's concept of Orientalism is utilized to deconstruct the Western hegemonic narratives that historically marginalized and misrepresented indegenous African cultures. This study argues that Things Fall Apart serves as a powerful deconstruction of colonial discourse, demonstrating the contested and fluid nature of postcolonial identity formation. By examining Achebe's portrayal of power dynamics, cultural subjugation, and the emergence of hybrid identities, this research contends that Things Fall Apart offers a profound commentary on the inevitability of cultural hybridity and the contested nature of postcolonial identity---specifically, the negotiation of cultural continuity and change within the context of imposed modernity.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025. , p. 41
National Category
Humanities and the Arts
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-47529OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-47529DiVA, id: diva2:1974161
Subject / course
English
Presentation
2025-06-05, online, online, online, 00:16 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2025-06-26 Created: 2025-06-22 Last updated: 2025-10-02Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • sv-SE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • de-DE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf