The Definition of African Literature: Devoid of Self-Respect, Self-Assertion

The theory of de-fetishization is not merely a debate in post-colonial theory rather it relates to the post-colonial African scenario. The critic Laura Mulvey who is the critic of the film ―Xala‖ has also demarcated the boundaries of the term defetishizing. (Mulvey 1996) [―Xala‖ is a film that propounds the theory of defetishization and highlights the trauma of alienation]. We have referred to the film so as to search out the theme and the ways where it serves for the novels also. The term ‗fetishization‘ ironically depicts the post-colonial scenario and the stereotypical image of the black continent. Well, in the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1968) Marx and Engels aver that mankind‘s consciousness changes with every change in the conditions of material existence, in social relations and social life. For this certain changes are to be made for self-development as well. Existence precedes consciousness. Mankind‘s material wellbeing determines the degree to which individuals can take part in the other activities. A person who is hungry, unsheltered and naked will hardly have time to engage in any extra-economic venture. His or her primary concern will be to meet basic needs. A basic proposition of Marxism is that the economic structure of society, the ‗real foundation‘ is the base which determines the superstructure (judicial, philosophical, religious, literary and artistic etc.). Further Engels‘s exposition on this is worth quoting at length: Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; that therefore the production of the immediate material means of subsistence and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore, be explained (Engels 1968: 429). It is clear about the genuine demonstration for the dichotomy of Blacks and Whites. To find out the updated root cause of Africa‘s suffering which has been the purpose of Wangari Mathai, that if we talk about the political scenario then it is clear that in Darfur region of Sudan, Chad, Southern Somalia, the Niger Delta and Eastern Congo, the internecine fighting caused great trouble as Zimbabwe‘s election was also devastated by the violence and great turbulence. Immigrants from other African countries in South Africa were also attacked. Not only this but also it is the human tendency to rule or to surrogate the less powered person. Hence the idea of post colonialism is the basis of debate between its post colonialility and fetishizing which emerges out as the matter of study. The notion to de-fetishizing dissolves the claims rose to protest the surrogation. Africa in the form of several micro-nations like Gabon, Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, want to form discriminated ethnic groups so that they may have their monopoly. The political leaders formed their own identity. Hence it is focused that because of their own personal identity for personal fame they divided themselves in many ethnic groups as Bioden Jeyifo observes that ―the ‗tormented figure‘ of the god seems appropriate to the ‗trouble-torn‘ personality of the writer and that it is also ―eminently opposite to a trouble-wracked, post-independence Africa.‖ (Jeyifo 2004) Somehow they make their own attempts

valley of self-centeredness. Now these micro nations / ethnic groups / tribes lead a nation towards confliction. The attempts to prove ones identity by discrimination for the sake of self-centeredness that leads a nation towards obscurity because in that way the genuine agony of a nation can never be highlighted. These ideas have been projected by Eskia Mphahlele and Wole Soyinka in their novels. The novels in the form of a mirror of society reflect the personality of common man. It is required to lead the entire continent that could lead the nation with the feeling of humbleness and sacrifice for the sake of humanity. It is not quite impossible because the leaders like Nelson Mandela in Senegal, Ahmed Ben Bella in Algeria and Julius Nyerere in Botswana, Leopold Senghor and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana are the milestones in early years. Now it is necessary to lead the society towards recognition. In fact it is the condition that the people themselves want to survive in a society that is bereft of self-identity, awakening and an arena of displacement. The good leadership could only put forward its step when it identifies its own recognition, and it might claim that yes, we have a problem in our country and as a common man, we have been cheated, used and undermined by ourselves and really we require changing these loopholes. These questions are to be asked them for interrogation that do we feel marginalized. Are we capable of acting in concert to make sure that our resources are used equitably? The novels further emit the case in those nations where people themselves do not want to leave the position because of the fear of being involved in corruption. In fact the space for democracy can only be retained by the public mass that can willingly speak out, protest, and lead a government, and have a self-determination and prosperity. Nelson Mandela in this way attempted a lot to free African nation from the intolerable pressure of apartheid. If we talk about Wole Soyinka then it is obvious that he does all his efforts through myths as Tejumola Olaniyan says about him that he reprioritizes class in favors of individual will, ―For Soyinka, the motive cause of history is not class of group but the lone individual hero who acts and catalyzes the community: the Ogun, the Atunda.‖ (Olaniyan 1995) In order to solicit the fact it is a strong step in order to establish good government in Africa. Some find it difficult to rent a house in the capital. That incites corruption among people to cling to power. In 2008 also it is reported by the US-based Organization Freedom House listed only three of Sub- Saharan Africa‘s forty eight nations as ―free‖ because the people themselves wanted to be dominated by the despotic. They are governed by more than one generation, the rift between these nations where George Ayittey in his Africa Unchained (2005) puts discrimination when he puts a tag of the term ―the Cheetahs‖, the young African, they are agile and locomotive enough to lead African Nations. (Ayittey 2005) Disempowerment prevailed itself because of lacking self-confidence. Besides it the fear too is the serious problem which Africa encounters today. The people of Africa think that whatever happens to us in predetermined by the Almighty and that is inevitable. This ideology leads them towards bearings of so many atrocities. If someone tries to make them understand to use their own human rights they may be able to overcome the sufferings as fake and useless. The common man because of illiteracy was easily dominated. Being illiterate they feel powerless so they require political and economic support. The term being applied on society can be compared to a machine that is being operated only by its efficient leaders. The people become frustrated only when this machine does not work properly. Then these people try to work around that particular area. After long decades of dictatorship and instabilities, in order to overtake the chaotic situation as the African nations got their liberty late and the founding president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah had diagnosed that the economic and political strength could only be possible if they work collectively. The collective efforts are to be proposed to decolonize the nation is really essential to appraise African national identity. But the lack of good leadership also led the nation into the valley of ignorance. It is the destruction of Africa‘s cultural and spiritual heritage through the encounter with colonialism which proved a lacuna in progress. The writers have taken certain tools to eradicate the socio-political problems in the form of their written contribution. The democracy of Africa is supposed to be on the stool of three legs. The first leg represents democratic space, where everybody feels to have power men, women and children. The second is on the survival of natural resources as when human being with his personal credential is aware of his own external supports to survive in the world and finally the third stands for the cultures of peace where every culture and society seems to maintain fraternity.

---.―English and the African Literature.‖ Transition 18 (1965): pp. 27-30.

Achebe, Chinua (2015). Morning yet on creation Days: Essays. Heinemann: London.

Agho, Jude Aigbe (2015). Standpoints on the African Novel. Ibadan: Sam Bookman, 2015.

Research Scholar, Faculty of English, OPJS University, Churu, Rajasthan