Abstract:
Examining the correlation between masculine representations, spatial reorganization
and futurity, this thesis analyzes selected works of four African
writers: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus, J. M. Coetzee's
Disgrace, Ngugi wa Thiongo's Wizard of the Crow and Nawal El Saadawi's God
Dies by the Nile. The study argues that these authors address fundamental
questions about the nature of Africa's Utopia and the fact that African literature is
forward-looking rather than the presupposed focus on the past. By investigating
this claim of retrogressive focus in African literature, this thesis draws on the
Postcolonial Literary theory, Bakhtin's theory of the Carnivalesque and Pitt and
Fox's Performative Masculinity theory in order to unearth the anticipatory
sensibilities deployed in the correlation between masculine representations,
spatial re-organization and futurity as alternative ways in thinking about Africa's
future. The findings reported in this thesis suggest that there is a relationship
between forms of communities and forms of masculinities and that Africa's future
is located within the evolution; that the fortunes of the new Africa are premised
on polyphony, collectivity and balance.
