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Contestations, Conflicts and Corollaries of Sociohistorical Conditions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun

Received: 5 May 2022    Accepted: 23 May 2022    Published: 27 February 2023
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Abstract

The nineteen sixties were a historical era largely characterised by intense sociopolitical contestations and conflicts on the African continent. Although historians, historiographers, political scientists and even sociologists have, over the years, interpreted and analysed these challenging conditions with divergent academic lenses, Chimamanda Adichie’s artistic representations and creative interpretations in Half of a Yellow Sun have thrown up enormous fresh insights. The research, therefore, aims to trace and identify the diverse sociohistorical conditions from which certain sociopolitical contestations and conflicts represented or alluded to in the fiction are derived from, and consequently evaluate them. Applying the critical tenets of New Historicism and qualitative research method, the study unveils that quite a number of the sociopolitical contestations and conflicts represented in the novel still subsist in various forms despite the multiplicity of their dire corollaries, mainly on account of the fact that their precursors have not been decisively dealt with. This implies that efforts directed so far to annihilate the ugly trees of incessant sociopolotical contestations and bloody conflicts on the terrain can be said to have been targeted at the branches and not at the roots. The study maintains that for a level of sustainable peace, stability and development to be attained on the continent, the sociohistorical and political conditions that birth and nourish the contestations and conflicts, with their associated corollaries, should be decisively mitigated.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 11, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19
Page(s) 44-55
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Contestation, Conflict, Corollary, Sociohistorical, Sociopolitical

References
[1] Abrahams, P. (1946). Mine boy. Heinemann.
[2] Adichie, C. N. (2006). Purple hibiscus. Farafina.
[3] Adichie, C. N. (2006). Half of a yellow sun. Farafina.
[4] Apartheid in South Africa: Laws, end and facts. www.history.com
[5] Audu, B. (2015). Tiv (Nigeria) riots of the 1960, 1964: The principle of minimum force and counter insurgency. https://www.academia.edu
[6] Brutus, D. (1973). A simple lust. Heinemann.
[7] Fugard, A. (1972). Sizwe bansi is dead. Heinemann.
[8] Hamilton, P. (2003). Historicism: The new critical idiom (2nd ed.). Routledge.
[9] Hammond, H. J., Massey, K. A., & Garza, M. A. (2019). African American inequalities in the United States. Harvard Business school publishing. hbsp.harvard.ed
[10] Hill, L. (2008). Voting attitudes and behaviour among aboriginal peoples: Anangu women. https://www.researchgate,
[11] La-Guma, A. (1962). A walk in the night. Heinemann.
[12] Madiebo, A. (1980). The Nigerian revolution and the Biafran war. Fourth Dimension.
[13] Mountz, W. (2014). The Congo crisis: A reexamination (1960-1965). The Journal of Middle East and Africa, 5 (2), 151-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520844.2014.930712
[14] Muktar-Janguzo, M. U. (2015, July 18). Nigeria and France: Geopolitical rivals no more. Jangzaarewablogspot.com
[15] Mutasa, C. (2020). A brief history of land in Zimbabwe: 1890-today. www.focusonland.com
[16] Onyemelukwe-Waziri, H. (2017). Impact of two wars on the educational system in Nigeria (Published masters dissertation). Clark University. Digital Commons.
[17] Streater, R. L. (2018). Zimbabwe’s struggles to break the chains of colonialism: Self-determination, land reform and international law. Temple Int’l and Comp. L. J., 33 (1), 119-171.
[18] Villar, J. L. (2016). Living in fear: Wars, conflict and natural resources in the heart of Africa. Kraft Books.
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  • APA Style

    Onyeka Ike. (2023). Contestations, Conflicts and Corollaries of Sociohistorical Conditions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 11(1), 44-55. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19

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    ACS Style

    Onyeka Ike. Contestations, Conflicts and Corollaries of Sociohistorical Conditions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2023, 11(1), 44-55. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19

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    AMA Style

    Onyeka Ike. Contestations, Conflicts and Corollaries of Sociohistorical Conditions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. Int J Lit Arts. 2023;11(1):44-55. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19,
      author = {Onyeka Ike},
      title = {Contestations, Conflicts and Corollaries of Sociohistorical Conditions in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {11},
      number = {1},
      pages = {44-55},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20231101.19},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20231101.19},
      abstract = {The nineteen sixties were a historical era largely characterised by intense sociopolitical contestations and conflicts on the African continent. Although historians, historiographers, political scientists and even sociologists have, over the years, interpreted and analysed these challenging conditions with divergent academic lenses, Chimamanda Adichie’s artistic representations and creative interpretations in Half of a Yellow Sun have thrown up enormous fresh insights. The research, therefore, aims to trace and identify the diverse sociohistorical conditions from which certain sociopolitical contestations and conflicts represented or alluded to in the fiction are derived from, and consequently evaluate them. Applying the critical tenets of New Historicism and qualitative research method, the study unveils that quite a number of the sociopolitical contestations and conflicts represented in the novel still subsist in various forms despite the multiplicity of their dire corollaries, mainly on account of the fact that their precursors have not been decisively dealt with. This implies that efforts directed so far to annihilate the ugly trees of incessant sociopolotical contestations and bloody conflicts on the terrain can be said to have been targeted at the branches and not at the roots. The study maintains that for a level of sustainable peace, stability and development to be attained on the continent, the sociohistorical and political conditions that birth and nourish the contestations and conflicts, with their associated corollaries, should be decisively mitigated.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AB  - The nineteen sixties were a historical era largely characterised by intense sociopolitical contestations and conflicts on the African continent. Although historians, historiographers, political scientists and even sociologists have, over the years, interpreted and analysed these challenging conditions with divergent academic lenses, Chimamanda Adichie’s artistic representations and creative interpretations in Half of a Yellow Sun have thrown up enormous fresh insights. The research, therefore, aims to trace and identify the diverse sociohistorical conditions from which certain sociopolitical contestations and conflicts represented or alluded to in the fiction are derived from, and consequently evaluate them. Applying the critical tenets of New Historicism and qualitative research method, the study unveils that quite a number of the sociopolitical contestations and conflicts represented in the novel still subsist in various forms despite the multiplicity of their dire corollaries, mainly on account of the fact that their precursors have not been decisively dealt with. This implies that efforts directed so far to annihilate the ugly trees of incessant sociopolotical contestations and bloody conflicts on the terrain can be said to have been targeted at the branches and not at the roots. The study maintains that for a level of sustainable peace, stability and development to be attained on the continent, the sociohistorical and political conditions that birth and nourish the contestations and conflicts, with their associated corollaries, should be decisively mitigated.
    VL  - 11
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Author Information
  • Department of English and Communication Studies, Federal University Otuoke, Yenagoa, Nigeria

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