The Effects of Colonialism in The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures-national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there is a cultural collision that takes the form of the missionaries coming to Umuofia and forcing their religion upon the people. Different people react differently to this clash of cultures, ranging from simply conforming to going as far as killing somebody.

The Kenyan feminist and environmental activist, Wangari Maathai, explores the legacy of colonialism and oppression in her native country through her moving 2006 memoir, Unbowed. Maathai explains that over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Africa experienced a massive influx of white settlers. In an effort to solidify control over recently acquired colonies, many European powers had encouraged large numbers of their ethnically white citizens to make a new home on the African continent. As a result, thousands of native Africans were displaced. Maathai’s ancestors, the Kikuyu and Maasai peoples were among them. The majority of these forced dislocations took

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, presents the result of colonization of the Ibo people by the European missionaries. The Ibo culture is threatened to change by the European influence. Villagers are divided between resisting a new lifestyle or embracing it for better opportunities in society. The struggle to keep Ibo traditions alive is reflected in Okonkwo and Obierika’s relationship to one another. Okonkwo represents the resistance of change by keeping traditional values in high regard while, Obierika signifies the openness to opportunity by questioning the current Ibo values. The arrival of European missionaries persuades the exchange of traditional Ibo methods, customs, and community for Christianity, resulting in the community to fall apart.

Kiowa grows to become a sort of provider of stability and some means of morality for the group, helping through

Stories that have been passed on for decades by Indigenous people have many cultural values and meanings that can help teach and guide others. In his book Earth Elder Stories: The Pinayzitt Path, Alexander Wolfe’s includes three stories “The Sound of Dancing,” “The Orphan Children,” and “Grandfather Buffalo,” that reveal important Anishinaabe cultural values. In the story “The Sound of Dance,” the value of family sacrifice is shown as a strong Anishinaabe cultural value. In the story “The Orphan Children,” Wolfe expresses the importance of orally transmitted knowledge as a core Anishinaabe cultural value. Then in “Grandfather Bear,” the keeper of knowledge emphasizes the importance of the connection to the past, especially within family relations in Anishinaabe culture. There are many cultural values that can be found in these three stories told my Alexander Wolfe. Family sacrifice is one of many values shown throughout these stories, specifically in the story “The Sound of Dancing”.

The Yurok tribe, although mostly assimilated in present times, has continued to thrive and protect their culture. The Yurok tribe has endured a sordid history. The tribe has suffered great atrocities at the hands of western culture. The Yurok went from being a thriving people, to being assimilated, almost to the point of ethnocide, (Kottak) and finally forced to live in a small area that was once a part of their vast ancestral land. The Yurok people have strived up until the present to keep their culture alive. In this essay I will be discussing what the Yurok tribe is like today, what problems they face politically and socially, and what the tribe is doing to combat these issues.

The Kwakiutl mainly reside in the geographical region of the North Pacific Coast. Stretching along the coast of present day British Columbia. This area begins near the southern border of Alaska; from the Juan de Fuca Strait and extends down south to Yakutat Bay. This region is overlaid with a diverse landscape that has greatly impacted the Kwakiutl way of life. The multitude of resource available to the Kwakiutl has prominently sustain practically every aspect of their culture and society. The ever changing layout of this area created an impenetrable home for the Kwakiutl to inhabit. The coast is shattered with numerous islands and key rivers such as the Columbia, Salmon, and Bella Coola. This opens up a system of travel, commerce, and also creating very strict opportunities for other cultural influences. With the surrounding area thick in dense forests and rugged terrain that includes mountain ranges to valleys rich with life sustaining variables such as wild game, plants, timber, and potential settlement. This varied landscape also greatly isolated the Kwakiutl, making it difficult for any outside influences or possible threats to their way of life, F. Boas 1966, page 7.

Haloanakalaukapalili died, but gave life to his younger brother by nourishing him with the kalo plant he became. In Norse mythology, Ymir the giant was killed, and from him came the Earth (Hamilton pt.7). Through Ymirʻs death came life for others, just like how Haloanakalaukapalili died and gave life to his brother. These comparisons show how very different ethnicities can relate to each other through

I support the principle view of the author mentioning of the ultimate outcome of self-determination, is to have the “right to maintain traditional culture, and to protect their land and natural resources” (p.3). It is truly a difficult outcome to achieve and many indigenous communities (tribes) are still struggling with it, including Fiji indigenous communities.

Paul Rusesabagina, a man with good intentions was married to a Tutsi woman called Tatiana in 1987. He didn’t pertain to ethnic differences and aided hisr wife in escaping ethnic prejudices at her workplace. Tatiana adopted his two children into their family and they had a child of their own. “Character makes trust possible. And trust makes leadership possible. That is the Law of Solid Ground.”(Maxwell,2007, p.64). Due to his affiliation to a Tutsi woman, bearing a Tutsi child, Paul Rusessabagina was exposed to completely clashing divides. After invasion of his neighborhood by the Interhamwe and increasing slaughters, Paul offered his home to 30 neighbor Tutsis.

in British Columbia and the Chicago’s World’s Fair”, explains how the Canadian colonialism’s selfishness affected the Kwakwakawakw’s life. The white’s expectation of the Aboriginal to be authentic in ‘their way’, not in the Aboriginal’s way prevented the Kwakwakawakw from inventing their own future; the white categorized the Aboriginal people with their own definition of Indian-ness and authenticity. According to the article, only the ‘vanishing Indians’ have the Aboriginal rights; however, the white’s invasion and frequent interference forced the Aboriginals to be modernized. The white’s demand for tradition to the Indians who will naturally be modernized

The Kikuyu tribe is one of the largest tribes in Kenya; they inhabit the Aberdares mountain range, which is located in the eastern highlands of Kenya. The tribe has done an ethno

Bonnie L Hewlett who interviews Aka and Ngandu compares different aspect of life of the women forger and farmer societies. Their life style and cultural practices of the two groups are livng in a similar ecology differs dramatically in some respects. It’s interesting how the two groups are socially and economically interdependent; their live are intertwin in complex alliance of lifelong friendship (at times) and clan membership, exchange and dependency. It is difficult, if not impossible to speak of one without speaking of other.

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.

Jomo Kenyatta’s ethnography, Facing Mt. Kenya was written in the 1930’s about Kikuyu society during 1890-1910, the early years of British colonialism in Kenya. Since the coming of the early colonization the Kikuyu people have tried to develop a religious attitude that would define it’s own culture while adapting forcefully to the European conforms of religion.