Transculturation in Our Sister Killyjoy and Nervous Conditions

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Transculturation in Our Sister Killyjoy and Nervous Conditions

Postcolonial insights include theories of Diaspora, cultural hybridity

and transculturation. The latter, ‘transculturation’ is the term used

to define ‘cultural change induced by introduction of elements of a

foreign culture.’[1] The term ‘transculturation’ was first coined by

Cuban anthropologist and sociologist Fernando Ortiz in 1947 to

describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures.

Transculturation covers war, ethnic conflict, racism and

multiculturalism, hence it is a concept very relevant to the

postcolonial period and subsequently to postcolonial literature. When

transculturation affects ethnicity the term ‘ethnoconvergence" comes

into being and is opposed by ‘ethnocentrism’ the view that one's

culture is of greater importance than another’s. Ethnocentrism

manifests itself in various aspects of culture, though the main

ethnocentric divider is always religion or belief, these ethnic

divides are most frequently binary.

‘Our Sister Killjoy’ and ‘Nervous Conditions’ both show aspects of

transculturation, perhaps the most obvious sign are the narrator's

adoption of the dominant English language to write their novels. At

varying points in each novel it is also clear that both Aidoo and

Dangarembga have difficulty in choosing between the two cultures in

their own personal struggles with transculturation. I shall go on to

explore these instances of transculturation within both novels.

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s 1988 novel ‘Nervous Conditions’ is a landmark in

postcolonial literature as it was the first published English novel

written by an African woman. Set in 1960’s Rhodesia and emerging from

the shadows of apartheid, it chronicle...

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[10] Dangarembga, Tsi Tsi. Nervous Conditions. Scattle: The Seal

Press, 1988 page

[11] Okonkwo p6

[12] Odamtten, Vincent O. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo: Polylectics and

Reading Against Neocolonialism (Florida: University Press of Florida,

1994) page 122

[13] Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York: Longman, 1977) page

13

[14] Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York: Longman, 1977) page

57

[15] Odamtten, Vincent O. The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo: Polylectics and

Reading Against Neocolonialism (Florida: University Press of Florida,

1994) page 125

[16] Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York: Longman, 1977) page

[17] Aidoo, Ama Ata Our Sister Killjoy (New York: Longman, 1977) page

112

[18] Pratt, Mary Louise Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and

Transculturation (London, Routledge 1992)

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