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The Body in Post-Independence African Novels

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The Body in Post-Independence African Novels National bodies: The body in post-independence African novels Madeleine Wilson A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of the Arts & Media Faculty of the Arts & Social Sciences February 2018 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: WILSON First name: Madeleine Other name/s: Kate Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: School of the Arts and Media Faculty: Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences Title: National bodies: The body in post- independence African novels Abstract 350 words maximum: Western narratives have long associated Africa with the body. In these narratives Africa was caught in a Hegelian master–slave relation influenced by the Cartesian dualism, where the body was presented as the labouring body to Europe’s rational brain. In direct response to this matrix of representation, the so-called ‘first generation’ of African writers in the 1950s and 1960s centralised the African body as part of their quest to legitimate African experience: a project largely effected through the pre-independence realist novel. However, independence ushered in its own political urgencies, with the failure of the new postcolonial elite to overcome systemic corruption and operate a truly postcolonial state. In this thesis I contend that after independence writers turned to a new figural syntax of the body. This figural shift, I argue, saw the inheritance of the symbolic weight of the human body in African fiction into a new conceptual space. Rather than ‘writing back’ to earlier derogatory representations from the West, the political literature of the post-independence period addressed new issues advanced by the State. Employing a postcolonial studies framework and drawing from recent body scholarship, including biopolitical and necropolitical approaches, this research undertakes close readings of a selection of novels from writers across the continent in order to examine four predominant political categories of the body in African fiction: the dictator’s body, engorged and grotesque; the concealed, wounded prisoner’s body, including the sub-category of the child soldier; sexual violence against women’s bodies as forming a metonymy for land in conflict situations; and the outsider body of the deformed beggar in the city. In addressing these four categories, this study forms part of a growing body of research on the recent boom in African literatures. In applying theories of the body to close readings of a range of novels, this project extends analyses of the political spectre of the body in African fiction and will contribute to future research on similar topics. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Witness Signature Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: i Originality Statement: I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. Signed .......................................................................... Date .............................................................................. Copyright Statement: I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation. Signed .......................................................................... Date .............................................................................. Authenticity Statement: I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format. Signed .......................................................................... Date .............................................................................. ii Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Fiona Morrison, my supervisor, for constantly extending my thinking in new directions and enriching my project in the process. She assisted me in transforming a vague and nebulous idea into this completed project, and challenged and supported me to engage with new ideas. Many thanks for her insight, encyclopaedic theoretical knowledge, and patience. I would also like to acknowledge how indebted I am to my co-supervisor, Bill Ashcroft, for his wealth of knowledge on the field, clear structural advice, recommendations for further reading, and for his generosity with his time. Many thanks also to the panel readers of my thesis, Sean Pryor, Laetitia Nanquette and Chris Danta for their insightful criticism and support. Finally, I thank the friends with whom I have navigated the path to thesis completion: Naoko Mochizuki, Xi Luan, Han Xu, Daniel Hempel, Rose Arong, and many more; and Paul Kopetko, for his sharp editing, encouragement, and good humour in the face of deadlines. iii Contents Introduction __________________________________________________________ 1 The body and the state _______________________________________________________ 2 African bodies in Western stories ______________________________________________ 20 The body in African literature ________________________________________________ 34 The market and translation ___________________________________________________ 44 Outline of chapters _________________________________________________________ 47 Chapter 1: The dictator body ____________________________________________ 49 Deification of the leader _____________________________________________________ 52 Father of the nation _________________________________________________________ 55 Mythification: The dictator’s extraordinary body _________________________________ 64 Demythification of the ruler’s body ____________________________________________ 68 Official narrative and counter-narrative _________________________________________ 81 Conclusion _______________________________________________________________ 94 Chapter 2: The prisoner body ___________________________________________ 96 Homo sacer, order-building and the right to exclude _______________________________ 99 The management of life ____________________________________________________ 103 The child soldier __________________________________________________________ 117 Survival as resistance ______________________________________________________ 130 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 139 Chapter 3: Women, land and nationalism ________________________________ 141 Fanon, women and nationalism ______________________________________________ 149 The politicisation of the African girl’s body in fiction _____________________________ 153 Mother’s body as the earth __________________________________________________ 161 Rape and land disputes _____________________________________________________ 169 African women overseas ___________________________________________________ 191 Conclusion ______________________________________________________________ 197 Chapter 4: The beggar
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