Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 4

From Local Fabulation to Worldwide Celebration: Foregrounding Indigeneity in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Dr. Ndeye Ba Abstract- This article studies the use of Igbo language and cosmology in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart . It analyses how, by making the Igbo language and culture share the literary space with the narratorial English, Achebe un-silences and centers indigenous voices in his novel. It shows how Achebe challenges a Western-centered hermeneutic of life as he captures and realizes, on the page, the world as it is for the Igbo. Looking at the plurilingual capabilities of both the narrator and the characters, this paper analyzes how a local Igbo fabulation leads to a worldwide celebration. Keywords: igbo cosmology, indigeneity, language, plurilingualism, identity, colonialism. I. I ntroduction n response to skewed representations of Africa and Africans in narratives by Western missionaries and colonialists (Loti, 1881/1992; de Nerval, 1851/1998; Defoe, 1719/1994 or Conrad, 1899/1999), Chinua Achebe resolved to write a novel, on the continent, from an insider’s point of view. Achebe undertook to deconstruct views of the colonized subject as barbaric; a rationale that justified the imperial ideology of the British civilizing mission. Things Fall Apart (1958), Achebe’s first novel, chronicles the early encounter between people from Umuofia and the British colonizers as they settle in present-day Nigeria around the turn of the 19th century. Following the lives of Okonkwo and his fellow Igbo community members as they navigate their ways through the advent of a new language, a new religion, and new ways of life, Things Fall Apart constitutes a landmark piece in African literature. The novel received praises on the ways it un-silenced and centered indigenous voices as well as the original language of the narration as worth objects of study. Achebe challenges a Western-centered hermeneutic of life as he captures and foregrounds Igbo cosmology and worldview in the novel. More often than not, when discussing the form of Things Fall Apart , it is the different methods by which Achebe indigenizes the English language that are studied (Hyde, 2016; Kunal and Bhabani, 2020). A closer look however at the linguistic cartography of the novel reveals that Achebe’s fiction, though written in a recognizable English language with a strong presence of Igbo lexicon, is actually better understood as an original Igbo production where the author realizes, on the page, the world as it is for the Igbo. The different languages as well as the various registers used by Achebe’s characters mirror the way actual people in the author’s environment, at the time the narrative took place, spoke. In Things Fall Apart , Achebe moves past the controversial debate on language choice in African literature (The Makerere Writers’ Conference, 1962; wa Thiong’o, 1986). In accordance with his belief that “language is a weapon […] and there is no point in fighting it” (qtd in Gallagher, 1997, p. 260), he took a stance in favour of the English language and against advocates of native vernaculars in African literature. Indeed, contrary to Ng ũ gi wa Thiong’o (1986) or even his fellow Nigerian Obi Wali (1997), Achebe had faith in the ability of the English language to carry his narrative, the themes of which are deeply rooted in his African experience. By writing a novel about his native culture, in English, yet an English filled with Igbo xenims, proverbs as well as attributes of his native oral culture, Achebe uses language in a way that enables him to successfully engage his Western “outside” audience at the same time not alienating his primary local readership. Achebe writes to his fellow Africans, but he chose English as his authorial medium so as to export his subject matter beyond the Igbo community and allow the world to take part in the indigenous narrative. This paper analyzes how a local Igbo fabulation leads to a worldwide celebration. Achebe writes Things Fall Apart with deliberate linguistic intents. A multi-faceted scholar, his command of the English language suffered from no doubts. His incorporation of a non-English lexicon and obvious markers of orality participate in an overt wish to produce a work of fiction that is representative of his African culture (Watts, 2010; Chakravorty, 2012). On the content, he manages to capture the experiences of the Igbo both before and after the implantation of the British in Nigeria. In a writing style that captures the rhythm of his people, Achebe depicts the unique ways in which the Igbo view their world. By making the Igbo vernacular and its associated culture the focal points of his narrative, he rehabilitates and validates the African man as an intelligent human being. Achebe saw himself as I © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue IV Version I 21 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 A 4 Author: Assistant Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. e-mail: ndeye.ba@ryerson.ca