The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe details the story of Okonkwo, a successful and well respected leader in his village who slowly descends into a cycle of depression. His depression arises when he is not able to learn how to adapt in his village when they fall victim to colonialism. Slowly his village begins to adapt to western ideals, and Okonkwo views this as a threat as he feels his village is losing their customs and their culture yet others are drawn to what the Europeans bring in terms of religion and education. Undoubtedly what made everything more frustrating for Okonkwo was that the village had a well established society with their customs, beliefs, and traditions. The village was in no need of help from any outsiders, but when the white man came all this started to slowly be lost and his death by suicide is representative of how colonialism can destroy many well established communities who never needed the influence of the west to survive.
The book Things Fall Apart provides a very important and interesting commentary on African society prior to colonization. Sadly so often African culture prior to colonization is ignored because the white man who colonized the continent are allowed to dictate the narrative of the tribes. This is where the narratives of African tribes being savages who needed Christianity arise, but in reality there was already an established society with their own religion, language, and traditions. As mentioned in the article “What Africa had before colonization” “Africa had its own forms of commerce, science, art and other measures of civilization long before the arrival of the colonizers.” This is an important distinction because as we learned earlier in the semester the privileged group is so often allowed to tell the stories of minorities and this becomes the narrative around them.
Sadly this happens constantly throughout history. History is told from the side of the victor and this has been European countries for the most part, so the story of the minorities is left out and their voice is not heard. A historical event that is reminiscent of this is what happened with Christopher Columbus. During our early portion of our school career we are told the story of an explorer who discovered places, but the reality is far from the truth as he left a vicious cycle of destruction of tribes.
Nyoni, Philani A. “What Africa Had before Colonisation.” This Is Africa, 26 Mar. 2015, thisisafrica.me/african-identities/africa-colonisation/.
History.com Editors. “Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 Oct. 2019, www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy.
I think a very important concept to keep in mind while reading this type of literature is that all too often it is read through the lens of the “White Savior Complex”. This leads the reader to believe that one account of written testimony can be applied to a plethora of events. Comparing this book to the achievements of Christopher Columbus is quite outlandish and should be approached with extreme caution.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/historical-record-shows-christopher-columbus-michael-j-knowles
I consider it is vital concept to help understand Africa literature, and it is part of human history. We cannot forget what people did in Africa. The article arise a idea for me what is developed or not. The undeveloped countries also have their own culture, education, commerce. People should be respectful for this.
I cant imagine how frustrating it must have been for Okonkwo to watch his village slowly break away from their traditions and adapt to the ways of those who took part in colonizing them. For someone who was such a strong leader in the community, it must have been hard. I agree with what you said about how African culture before colonization is oftentimes forgotten about due to the men who colonized the area. Before colonization Africa already had its own traditions, religion, and ways of life but that was intruded on by the white men.
I completely agree with the statement that the African tribes did not need any help from the white colonialists. The tribes were completely self sufficient and Okonkwo even wanted to return to his clan after a full 7 year exile. I have witnessed literature that paints African tribes out as being savages in need to colonial control. In things fall apart, there were some violent acts committed by the clans, however, these were done based on their beliefs and religion. This book revealed the native side of the story which greatly emphasizes that colonialism was not needed nor wanted by the African natives.
I enjoyed reading your Context-Research Presentation. I feel as though too often, we tend to dismiss the fact that history is always recorded by the victor. This concept is extremely important to keep in mind when referring to colonialism. In this case, we are referring to colonialism specifically in African countries, but it is important to recognize that colonialism affected numerous other nations over the course of time. While white colonists saw African tribes and lifestyles as “savage”, it important that we take the time to recognize that this was not the case. Rather, they simply had already established their own distinct culture, customs, religion, and society as a whole. There was never an indication that these African communities required assistance via colonization by others.
I really liked the way you said how the victor’s story is always heard and not the native. When it comes to colonization, the white men usually take credit for what they built and the narrative changes. You never really know the truth until you hear the story from the real people. There have been philosophers, authors, great writers that we learn in school that have talked about the continent of Africa because their ideas and religions were different, they were categorized as uncivilized in the writers books and teachings. Africa has got their stories retold and most of it is not true and if we look back on the Subaltern readings the invasion of colonialism is has helped Africa become the subaltern because the stories that make them look uncivilized.
Your assertion that history is told from the side of the victor is something that I did not realize until you mentioned it. Looking back, this has clearly occurred in almost every situation from the Roman empire through the end of the British empire. When the Romans conquered Carthage, they did not write their side of the loss and their history. They became Romans and their history was enveloped into the history of “Rome” not Rome and Carthage separately. This is like the way India was treated as uncivilized due to their beliefs and teachings not aligning with the western ideals of the majority of Europe. India is an exception compared to other countries that have been influenced by western Europe, as they have maintained a lot of their cultural individuality despite the influence of England being present. While India may have been lucky, as you have stated Africa was not and experienced unbelievable amounts of cultural discrimination as a result of colonialism.
I do agree with you that a lot of stories are told from the “Side of the Victor”. Ithink that this book did a decent job and showing that the Native African tribes had a very advanced and effective way of life before the Europeans came and settled in their lands. I can see how all of these events that happen in the book would upset Okwonko to the point of wanting to take his own life after the Europeans came and completely changed the culture and lifestyles of the native African tribes.