Re/Views & Critique
A Postcolonial Reading of Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest
written by
Adesanya M. Alabi and Behbood Mohammadzadeh
A review of (or essay about)
A Postcolonial Reading of Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest
Adesanya Moroundiya Alabi1, Behbood Mohammadzadeh2
1ELT Department, Cyprus International University, North Cyprus
2Cyprus International University, North Cyprus
Corresponding Author: Behbood Mohammadzadeh, Email: behbudm@ciu.edu.tr
ABSTRACT
Post-colonial literature is concerned with the matters of decolonization, cultural, economic and
political freedom of the previously colonized nations. Post-colonial theory places more emphasis
on the criticality of colonialism and its establishment resulting in neo-colonialism with the
accentuation of the power of the west over the colonized (Prasad, 2003:7). Post-colonial literature
attempts to explore the challenges and results of decolonization of a nation, particularly those
nations who have been given political and cultural independence and were formerly colonized by
colonial powers. This study attempts to examine Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest to explore and
criticize the season of anomy in African society in postcolonial context. The study explores how
Africans began to colonize themselves even after the departure of the colonial rulers in Kongi’s
Harvest. The result reveals that the reason for the impoverishment of the decolonized African
nations is as a result of bad leadership quality, corruption and colonial mentality transmitted into
the postcolonial era. For this reason, it is discovered that even after the end of colonization in
Africa the colonizers left their surrogates (indigenous colonizers) behind to continue from where
they stopped.
INTRODUCTION
Though looking at the factual existence of imperial and co-
lonial domination, it has never made the people dominated
well, rather it makes them learn resistance and animosity
against the invaders. In this case, it became very glaring
that Africans were incapable or they were made incapable
of governing themselves after the exodus of the ‘masters’;
they became repressive over themselves and their leaders
eventually became dictators who usually applied a draconi-
an measure in ruling their people. Wole Soyinka, being one
of the most erratic and critical playwrights in Africa uses, at
great length, dramatic genre to address the issue of postcolo-
nial colonization in Africa in most of his dramas. The issue
of dictatorship cultures becomes a central focus among the
African people who intertwine with cultural development.
Homi K. Bhabha in his The Location of Culture highlights
that “the borderline work of culture demands an encounter
with ‘newness’ that is not part of the continuum of past and
present” (Bhabha, 1994: 17).
This study aims to address how Africans became masters
of themselves rather than being exemplary leaders after they
gained independence from their European colonial masters.
It will also sh out those features that reect racial and cul–
tural domination and how we can nd out some elements in
About the Author
Behbood Mohammadzadeh teaches in the ELT Department at Cyprus International University, Northern Cyprus. His main field of interests are Language and Literature, Pedagogical Stylistics, EFL/ELT, ICT in ELT, and Literary Criticism.
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