English Language and Literature

Abstract

This study traces the process of decolonization in the poetry of two West African poets; Kofi Awoonor from Ghana and Christopher Okigbo from Nigeria. Both poets represent two distinct models in their search of decolonization. Awoonor and Okigbo seek to underscore the importance of Africans' returning to their roots as a means of reshaping their identities which the colonizers were determined to obliterate. They undertake, as their responsibility, to resist the literary manifestations of imperialism and direct their peoples towards forming an indigenous cultural identity. They succeed to incorporate the imagery of West African myth and folklore to revive the past and connect it with the present hoping to reconstruct a bright future for their people. The present study aims at answering the following questions: how far can decolonization be achieved in Africa on the cultural level? How have those poets illuminated the way for their peoples to rediscover their true African identity? What approaches do those poets identify to fulfill their dream of independence? How does each poet represent a distinctive voice? And what do both poets have in common? These questions are answered through analyzing and representing various definitions of decolonization, the critical views of prominent critics who have tackled decolonization in their critical writings such as Frantz Fanon, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Edward Said and Bill Ashcroft, and through analyzing selected works of both poets. Decolonization came into being after the First World War, but its influential presence could easily be touched with the agitated feelings of the colonized countries to gain their independence after the Second World War (WW II) in 1945. It became popular after the (WW II) as it denoted 'cleansing changes'(Betts, 1), describing the continuing problems of political and social exploitation in the contemporary world and the struggle on the part of the exploited to terminate this situation. Frantz Fanon and Nugugi Wa Thiongo's stress the urgent need of Africans to restore their identity through coming in contact with their history, indigenous languages and traditions. Fanon and Nugugi are two voices expressing the African continent and they are aware of the suffering of its peoples. Hence, Fanon and Nugugi's critical views center on decolonization