REPRESENTATION OF INDIGENEITY IN THE POSTCOLONIAL DETECTIVE NOVEL: A LITERARY ANALYSIS OF NII AYIKWEI PARKES' TAIL OF THE BLUE BIRD

Abstract

Nii Ayikwei Parkes’ Tail of the Blue Bird has gained critical attention as a significant literary achievement and an exemplum of the postcolonial detective novel. Nonetheless, how the novel constructs locational identity as a way of contesting western ideals, epistemologies of knowing, and globalization of the English language is less discussed. Using the postcolonial concept of indigeneity, the paper explores elements of indigeneity in Tail of the Blue Bird and how these assert the Ghanaian cultural identity. The paper demonstrates that language, naming and traditional storytelling are three cogent ways indigeneity manifest in the novel. Despite the onslaught of globalization, Parkes uses these aforementioned elements as an art form that offers incremental advance in preserving Ghanaian history and records, resisting the othering of Ghanaian languages and culture, and unapologetically projecting the unique belief systems and values of the Akan culture. Overall, the paper contributes to ongoing scholarship on the reclamation of African identities in postcolonial literature and highlights Tail of the Blue Bird as a vital text for understanding identity formation and cultural resistance in African narratives.

Keywords: Ghanaian, Indigeneity, naming, Tail of the Blue Bird, traditional storytelling