Eldership, Ancestral Traditions and Cultural Identity in African Fiction: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ayi Kwei Armah’s Fragments Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost

Osei-Nyame Jnr., Kwadwo

Abstract

This paper explores the place and significance of the representations of eldership and ancestral traditions in African fiction. It argues that what the examples located within the selected texts discussed are not merely co-incidental, but collectively represent and articulate an engagement in a discourse of African cultural and spiritual rehabilitation. Examples are chosen from the work of three of Africa’s most prominent and well-known writers to illustrate the argument that is being made, which is that when Africans refer to their ancestral traditions, they do so both as a form of commemoration and also as a means of establishing their belief and faith in age-old spiritual traditions.

Citation

Osei-Nyame Jnr., K. (2020). Eldership, Ancestral Traditions and Cultural Identity in African Fiction: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ayi Kwei Armah’s Fragments Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost

• Report Type: Other
• Acceptance Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 15, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 15, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 15, 2020
• Pages: 1-17
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00034547