People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Djilali Liabès Sidi Bel Abbès Faculty of Letters, Languages, and Arts Department of English A Quest for the Social and the Cultural Supremacy of the West in and through the Works of Chinua Achebe, Alexis Wright and Ahmed Ali. Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctoral Degree in Contemporary British, Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literature Presented by: Supervised by: Mr. Amine CHAAMI Dr. Mohamed GRAZIB Board of Examiners: 1- Prof. Mohamed MELOUK President Professor Djillali Liabes University 2- Dr. Mohamed GRAZIB Supervisor MCA Saida University 3-Prof. Zouaoui MERBOUH Internal Examiner Professor Djillali Liabes University 4- Dr.Ahmed Hichem GHEMBAZA External Examiner MCA Saida University 5-Dr. Abdellah BARAKA External Examiner MCA Mascara University Academic Year: 2020/2021 Dedications: To the Light of Humanity, To the Prophet Mohamed Peace and Blessings be upon him. The thesis is dedicated to the martyrs Mustapha and Dahmane. It is also dedicated for one million and half martyrs. It is dedicated to my parents , whose support has been invaluable for my research and writing. It has relieved an incredible amount of stress and cultivated an unparalleled environment for exploration and learning. It is a debt I am unlikely to ever be able to repay in full. It is dedicated to Dr. Soumai and Sasi. I Acknowledgements: This thesis would not be what it is without Allah praise to Him. I wish to express my sincere gratitude firstly to the University of Djilali Liabès Sidi Bel Abbès, for providing its students with an opportunity to relentlessly pursue their scholarly interests. My supervisor has fostered an environment of inquiry and understanding, for which I am very grateful. His continued interest and attentiveness to his students has been greatly appreciated. I am grateful to my supervisor, who engaged with the project at length and in depth from day one. In addition, to his expansive knowledge, probing questions, and wise counsel. Heartfelt thanks also to the board of examiners, Prof. Mohamed MELOUK, Prof. Zouaoui MERBOUH, Dr. Ahmed Hichem GHEMBAZA Dr. Abdellah BARAKA, who have accepted, most humbly, to evaluate this research. Thanks to all of you. I also give very special thanks to whom I owe more than words can say. Thanks to all the people of Sidi Bel Abbès. I ask the Almighty to grant for all of you the best of everything in this life and the next one. II ABSTRACT: It is instituted by the narcissistic belief that western society and culture are superior to those of the Rest. This belief is tailored to achieve the inferiority of the Rest. For that reason, for much of the modern history of humanity, the Rest was written out of the humanitarian circle, and the West was written in. Thereafter, it is high time for forwarding the protection and production of positive portrayal of the rest. It is not by forgetting generalizations, but it is by designing the architecture of a truly new order between the West and the Rest. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the gist of western superiority by launching new perspectives and alternative voices. It is no wonder, then, that the corpus of the study are the works of Chinua Achebe, Alexis Wright and Ahmed Ali. The corpus is read from a postcolonial perspective. It is by debating the western narratives, and attaining a beginning of an ending of western supremacy. The thesis attempts to deconstruct a myriad of negative images twisted by the West for denigrating the Rest. It further attempts to invalidate the stereotypes that were pervasively consecrated by savagery and barbarism. It is by seeking, inspiring, and constructing a true and authentic portrayal of the Rest by criticizing and questioning the social and cultural supremacy of the West. It is an investigation of what is circulating , recycling, and ruminating by western scholars in the arena of ancient and modern times without stopping to check the logic of supremacy and the rationale of inferiorizing the Rest. The present thesis intends to unmask and interrogate the western logic of supremacy and institutionalized sets of power relations between the West and the non-west that administrate underdevelopment construction and development interventions. It is an analysis of (mis)representation of the non-west by the practice of humanitarian pretext of the West. This thesis tries to advance the argument that the inferiority of the Rest which is portrayed in opposition to the West, carrying the darker sins and vices of humanity. In order to understand this connection, the study focuses on the relation between West and the Rest. In the present thesis, the cultural and social superiority of the West is unmasked with by de- constructing a hierarchy of superior and inferior culture and society and, thus, of superior and inferior people. It directly addresses the crucial question of how Western supremacy spread through displacing other cultures and societies to barbarism, subordinating others to their own, and colonizing the mind and the land of the Rest. Thereafter, the findings of the present thesis provide support for an effort to move beyond the familiar and universal, to step outside the arena of modern times, to ignore western modes of telling and narrating , and to be out of the frames of western logic of supremacy. It is only by recalling the previously silenced story, restores outdated story and reintegrates story that was once considered unofficial, silenced, forgotten or misunderstood. The way is by the transgression the western frontiers and boundaries of telling and narrating outside the common polarities of Rest and West. III TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedications………………………………………………………………..…..…………I Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………II Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………III Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………..IV General Introduction……………….…………………………..…………………........1 Chapter One: Debating Ideological Boundaries and Visionary Frontires of Western Supremacy: Complexities and Complicities 1-1- Introduction…………………………………………………….......……..….…12 1-2- Finalities of Western Reason of Supremacy …………….………….……..….…14 1-3-Western Supremacy: Myths and Realities…………………………..….…..……..21 1-4-Interction between the West and the Rest………………………………………...32 1-5-Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..…….…..39 Chapter Two: Western Supremacy in Postcolonial Aura and Arena 2-1-Introduction………………………………………………………...……….……43 2-2- The Postcolonial Matrix of Power in the Modern Times………………….…..44 2-3-Occidentalism vs. Orientalism …………………………………....……….……49 2-4-The Anatomy of Postcolonial Aura ………………………..……………….……55 2-5- Borders of Hegemony and Bridges for Supremacy…………………….………70 2-6-Conclusion …………………………………………………….…………………77 IV Chapter Three: The Depth and breadth of Western Supremacy: Withstanding the Threat of the Inferiority Complex by Questioning the Essence of the Superiority Complex 3-1-Introduction………………………………………….…………………………..… 80 3-2- Refuting “the main raison d’être” of Western of Supremacy by Citing Instances……………………………...……………………………………………..……82 3-3- The Other’s Organism and Organ of Living: Originality and Authenticity…………………………………………………………………………….....87 3-4- The Other’s Organism and Organ of Living: Footings Supremacy Findings…………………………………………………………………………………98 3-5- An Autopsy of the Crucible of Western Supremacy: a Skelton in Cupboard……………………………………………………………………………..…111 3-6-Conclusion…………………………….....…………………………………………116 Chapter Four: Lifting Out the Mystification of the West-Rest Encounters: Results and Repercussion 4-1-Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….119 4-2- The DNA of the Clash between the West and the Rest……………………………120 4-3- West-Rest Encounters: Premeditated Bearings……………………..…..……….130 4-4- A Dialogue between the Margins: Who Speaks for Whom? ………………….… 139 4-5- The Routs and the Roots of the Clash between the West and the Rest………...…144 4-6-Specters of the West: A State of Doubt and Debt…………………………………153 4-7-Conclusion ……………..………………………………….………………………160 Chapter Five: V Su/O-ppression as Titles of Western Supremacy 5-1-Introduction……………………………………………….…………………..……163 5-2- The Supremacy of the West in Africa between the Illusion of Construction and the Reality of Deconstruction …………………………………………………..………..…164 5-3- The Supremacy of the West in Australia between the Shadows of Past and the Shambles of Present…………………………………….………..……………………171 5-4- Points of Arrivals and Departures of the Supremacy of the West in Asia: Arrivals to Nothing and Departures from Everything……………………………………….…..….181 5-5-Conclusion …………………………………………………………………..……190 General Conclusion ……………………………………………………………..……191 Bibliography……………………………………………………….…………….……200 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………228 Appendix1: Igbo Words and English Meaning......................................….….……229 Appendix2: Chinua Achebe s’ Biography ……………………………………..……234 Appendix3 Synopsys of Things Fall Apart:…………………………………….……236 Appendix4: Synopsys of Arrow of God ………………………………….…….……237 Appendix5: Synopsys of No Longer at Ease ………………………………..….……239 Appendix6: Alexis Wright s’ Biography ……………………………………….……241 Appendix7: Synopsys of Carpentaria ………………………..……………….……243 Appendix8: Synopsys of Plains of Promise…………………………………..…..…244 Appendix9: Ahmed Ali’s Biography ……………………………………….….……246 Appendix10: Synopsys of Twilight in Delhi ………………………………..………250 Appendix11: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.…253 Appendix12:Abstract in French……………………………………….……………266