Colonialism and Mimicry: A Literary Lens into Governance in Africa

Abstract

In the recent past, scholars have delved into the challenges African countries face in establishing Western-style democracy, often overlooking the insights provided by literary works. Most political and social science writers attribute these challenges to corruption, ethnic mobilization, and illiteracy (Forson et al. 2016). However, little attention has been given to the similarities between colonial structures and post-independent African autocracies as delineated in literary works. The pioneer modern states in Africa emerged during colonialism and were inherently authoritarian, with aims inconsistent with democratic principles. While early Black thinkers highlight colonial violence as a key aspect to mimic for Africa’s liberation, contemporary scholarship has paid little attention to imitation of other colonial elements such as negative ethnicity, autocracy, corruption, political assassinations, and murders in literary works. This study examines the nexus between poor governance and colonial heritage as represented in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautiful One Are Not Yet Born (1968), Brian Chikwava’s Harare North (2009), and David Mulwa’s Inheritance (2005). This analytical study was carried out on the three African works of fiction and drama to interrogate the impact of colonial heritage on the sparse democratic gains and poor governance in sub-Saharan Africa today. The primary texts were purposively sampled because of the prevalence of the subject. Using qualitative inquiry, I deploy narrative research to analyze data from primary and secondary texts. The study was anchored in Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial concept of mimicry as a theoretical base for interpretation.