Decolonizing the Postcolony: Of Men, Spatial Politics and the New Nation in wa Thiongo‟s Wizard of the Crow

Abstract

The advent of democracy – and in particular multi-party democracy – was thought to be relieving for Africa, especially in terms of the desire to undo the damage of colonialism. A careful look at Postcolonial Africa today, relative to the desire for economic and political freedom, reveals conditions that suggest that not much progress has been made. Ngugi wa Thiongo‘s Wizard of the Crow blatantly explores Africa‘s complicity in a seemingly cyclic colonization in the 21st century and its attendant consequences for the total liberation of Postcolonial Africa. Employing Bakhtin‘s theory of the carnival and other such concepts as polyphony and the grotesque, this paper examines the correlation between masculine representations, spatial re-organization and futurity as alternative ways in thinking about Africa‘s future. The result of the analysis is that the correlation between forms of communities and forms of masculinities is an indication of a vision of hope for Postcolonial Africa.