Things Fall Apart: Deconstructing the Humanities Canon By David Patrick Medansky B.A. 2011: Humanities, Ethnic Studies Certificates: Peace and Conflict Studies, Business Defending in Humanities Thesis Advisor Associate Professor Elisa Facio Of the Ethnic Studies Department Honors Committee Professor David Ferris Chair of the Department of Humanities Senior Instructor Cathy Comstock Associate Director of the Farrand Residential Academic Program University of Colorado at Boulder April 5th 2011 M e d a n s k y | 2 Abstract ABSTRACT The following thesis serves to critically address the overarching question, “Should Things Fall Apart be included in the Humanities canon (if it is not already)?” In examining this primary question, I discuss the canon itself, which includes: the origins of the canon, the canon maintenance, the different canon camps, and the criteria that merit a work of literature canonical. This work uses seven canonical criteria to evaluate Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, as a way of testing the work’s canonicity. In my research, I utilize the following lenses: new criticism, literary analysis, cultural studies, feminist theory, and postcolonialism in order to analyze both the construction of the canon and Achebe’s work as canonical. In addition to understanding the canon as a cultural artifact created through a series of players and ideologies, this thesis provides a concise list of criteria for scholars in the Humanities field to evaluate new texts as to their canonicity, as well as reevaluate works previously considered canonical. This thesis focuses solely on the Humanities literary canon. M e d a n s k y | 3 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................. 13 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Work on the [Humanities] Canon ............................................................................................................. 22 On the Criteria of the Canon .................................................................................................................. 22 On Deconstructing the Canon ................................................................................................................ 61 On Additional Insight ............................................................................................................................... 73 Work on Things Fall Apart .......................................................................................................................... 77 On Support of the Canonization of Things Fall Apart ................................................................... 77 On Gender and Culture within Things Fall Apart ........................................................................... 86 On Chinua Achebe’s Position in Regards to Heart of Darkness ................................................ 103 On a Case Study with Scottish Readers and Things Fall Apart ................................................ 110 ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 115 Analysis on the Canon ................................................................................................................................. 118 Origins of the Canon ............................................................................................................................... 118 Canon Maintenance ................................................................................................................................ 122 Canon Camps ............................................................................................................................................. 131 Canonical Criteria ................................................................................................................................... 133 Analysis on Things Fall Apart .................................................................................................................. 144 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................ 152 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................................................... 153 ADDITIONAL READING ................................................................................................................................. 158 M e d a n s k y | 4 Introduction INTRODUCTION My engineering friends at the University of Colorado at Boulder are currently completing their senior year “capstone projects.” Because completion of this project is required to graduate from the School of Engineering, many view their projects as simply another checkbox in their academic careers. I, on the other hand, have found that selecting to work on my own literary “capstone project,” per choice, has served as a cohesive conclusion to my undergraduate academic career; specifically because I have chosen to double major. Focusing my studies in both Humanities and Ethnic Studies has enriched my education; as each field complements the other. I have come to view the following thesis as a way to create a cohesive outcome from two polarizing fields. I have chosen to defend this thesis in the Humanities Department, because the subject of the canon is located inherently within this field. However, since Humanities, at its core, is an interdisciplinary field,1 I am heavily influenced by my work in Ethnic Studies, which is also interdisciplinary. I have 1 Johnnella Butler discusses the concept of interdisciplinarity in “Ethnic Studies and Interdisciplinarity.” She makes an important distinction between interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity. With multidisciplinarity, different disciplines work together in an additive model, with one field’s lens applied while subsuming another discipline. With interdisciplinarity, however, different disciplines work together not in an additive model but rather an intersectionality model, with multiple lenses fusing together. One cannot simply take away one lens and add another; they are linked together. The Humanities Department and the Ethnic Studies Department use the latter model, enabling my fluid use of both fields. M e d a n s k y | 5 Introduction come to view my work in Humanities through an Ethnic Studies lens. My methodology and construction of this thesis are expanded upon further in a separate methodology section. The driving force of this thesis is to critically examine and deconstruct the Humanities canon. In addition, I use Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart as a vehicle to essentially “test” my theory on or of the canon. To guide my work, I created a series of questions to examine through my research and analysis. The questions I formed on the topic of canon are as follows (in no particular order): What is the canon? Who created the canon? What is the purpose of canon? How is the canon formed? What are the criteria for canonization? Who is included in the canon? Why are they included, and not others? Does the canon still exist? Is the canon still relevant today? Do we still need the canon? What is the future of the canon? In considering Achebe’s work, I built upon my understanding of the canon by asking the overarching question: “Should Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe be included in the canon (if it is not already)?” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “canon,” is defined as follows: M e d a n s k y | 6 Introduction 1a: a regulation or dogma decreed by a church council. 1b: a provision of canon law. 2: the most solemn and unvarying part of the Mass including the consecration of the bread and wine. 3a: an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture. 3b: the authentic works of a writer. 3c: a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works <the canon of great literature>. 4a: an accepted principle or rule. 4b: a criterion or standard of judgment. 4c: a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms. 5: a contrapuntal musical composition in which each successively entering voice presents the initial theme usually transformed in a strictly consistent way. (“Canon”) At first, I was surprised to see the definition I had assumed to be the canon, was as far down as 3b and 3c.2 Through my research, I found that historically the “canon” was created and maintained by the Catholic Church (Buchsbaum). I wondered if what academia considers to be the “canon” today (definition 3c), is politically and socially constructed 2 Not even 3a! M e d a n s k y | 7 Introduction from the original canon, i.e. the Catholic Bible. Having the first two definitional options of “canon” adds to the weight of the power inherent in the Catholic Church’s shaping of the canon.