Revisiting African Culture: An African Perspective on Cultural Identity

Abstract

This project brings out the transformation of African cultural identity under the impact of colonialism. Achebe creates a comprehensive portrait of the native Igbo culture, revealing all of its traditions, complex social hierarchy, and subtle phenomena of religious beliefs, and at the same time opposes the existing stereotypes and deceptions spread by Western authors and film directors. By the prudent use of the African proverbs and idioms, Achebe contrives a true depiction of an African culture in his plot structure thus enhancing the reality of his writing. Practically, the story is deeply enlightened with the incisive conscience of Achebe to the colonial encounter and the resultant effects it had on the African societies. In many ways, the narrative is shaped by Achebe’s awareness of the colonial encounter and its effects on African societies. It is a qualitative research based on content analysis method. To examine the transformation of identity resulting from the colonial influence, this study follows postcolonial concepts of Edward W. Said’s ‘Orientalism’, Stuart Hall’s ‘Diaspora’, and Homi K. Bhabha’s ‘Hybridity’. This paper exposes that the cultural identity of the Africans is a traditionally given tag, a representation, and an oriental construction.