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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Pacification of the primitive': the problem of colonial violence
Author:Kunreuther, LauraISNI
Year:2006
Periodical:Philosophia Africana: Analysis of Philosophy and Issues in Africa and the Black Diaspora
Volume:9
Issue:2
Pages:67-82
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:violence
novels
colonialism
About person:Albert Chinualumogu Achebe (1930-2013)ISNI
Abstract:Chinua Achebe's 'Things fall apart' (New York, 1959) does more than present an indigenous perspective on colonialism, written in a moment when Nigeria became a newly independent country. The present author discusses the elusive and complex nature of colonial violence that Achebe so subtly depicts throughout his novel. There are at least four different levels of violence she discerns in this novel as aspects of colonial violence, viz. physical violence against another person, suicide, the law as an instrument of violence, and metaphoric violence. Each of these four levels of violence is part of a more general experience of colonial violence, which occurs within the detailed threads of everyday life around which Achebe weaves his novel. Finally, the author explores the relation of Achebe's novel to questions about Enlightenment thought. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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