Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:20:23.091Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Utopian Commentary on the Plight of Nigeria: Ken Saro-Wiwa’s “Africa Kills Her Sun”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

Angela L. Rodrigues
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article investigates the presence of utopian elements in Ken Saro-Wiwa’s short story “Africa Kills Her Sun,” and the extent to which they dismantle an otherwise bleak commentary on the protagonist’s reality. Ernst Bloch’s notions of “pre-illumination,” “daydreaming,” and “not-yet” are employed as analytical tools in order to unravel the narrative’s utopian content.

Résumé:

Cet article étudie la présence d’éléments utopiques dans le récit de Ken Saro-Wiwa “L’Afrique tue son soleil” et la mesure à laquelle ils démantèlent un commentaire autrement sombre sur la réalité du protagoniste. Les concepts de Ernst Bloch de “pré illumination,” “rêverie,” et “pas-encore” sont utilisés comme outils d’analyse afin de révéler la force utopique de la narration.

Keywords

UtopiadeathKen Saro-WiwaErnst BlochNigeria
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , December 2017 , pp. 127 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angrey, Francis U. 2000. “A Metaphor of the Nigerian Situation: A Socio-Political Reading of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Prisoners of Jebs.” In Before I Am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa: Literature, Politics, and Dissent, edited by Okome, Onookome, 95–106. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.Google Scholar
Anugwom, Edlyne E. 2015. “Beyond Oil: Environmental Rights, Travel, Local Knowledge, and Youth Conflict in the Oil-Rich Niger Delta of Nigeria.” Africa Today 61 (2): 20–39.Google Scholar
Baczko, Bronislaw. 1989. “Utopia.” In Enciclopédia Einaudi, vol. 5, 1–74. http://jmir3.no.sapo.pt/Ebook2/Utopia_Einaudi.pdf.Google Scholar
Bloch, Ernst. 1996. The Principle of Hope, Vol. 1. 3rd edition. Translated by Plaice, Neville, Plaice, Stephen, and Kight, Paul. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Daly, Frances. 2013. “The Zero-Point: Encountering the Dark Emptiness of Nothingness.” In The Privatization of Hope: Ernest Bloch and the Future of Utopia, edited by Thompson, Peter and Zizek, Slavoj, 164–202. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
George, Austin T. 2006. Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Art and the Aesthetics of Non-Silence. Ph.D. diss., University of the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
Levitas, Ruth. 1989. “Marxism, Romanticism and Utopia: Ernst Bloch and William Morris.” Radical Philosophy 51: 27–36.Google Scholar
Levitas, Ruth. 2013. Utopia as Method: The Imaginary Reconstruction of Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Thomas. 2011 (1516). Utopia. Hollywood, Fla.: Simon and Brown.Google Scholar
Parkes, Nii Ayikwei, and Sesay, Kadija, eds. 2005. Dance the Guns to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa. London: Flipped Eye Publishing.Google Scholar
Quayson, Ato. 1998. “For Ken Saro-Wiwa: African Postcolonial Relations Through a Prism of Tragedy.” In Ogoni’s Agonies: Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Crisis in Nigeria, edited by Na’Allah, Abdul-Rasheed, 57–80. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.Google Scholar
Saro-Wiwa, Ken. 1989. Adaku and Other Stories. London: Saros International.Google Scholar
Saro-Wiwa, Ken. 1995. A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Thompson, Peter. 2009. “The Relevance of Marxist Philosopher Ernst Bloch’s Message in the Context of the Debates of Today.” www.new-books-in-german.com.Google Scholar
Thompson, Peter. 2013. “Introduction: The Privatization of Hope and the Crisis of Negation.” In The Privatization of Hope: Ernest Bloch and the Future of Utopia, edited by Thompson, Peter and Zizek, Slavoj, 1–20. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Ugor, Paul U. 2013. “Survival Strategies and Citizenship Claims: Youth and the Underground Oil Economy in Post-Amnesty Niger Delta.” Africa 3 (2): 270–92.Google Scholar